Monksville Reservoir Full Moon Paddle
by Dave Miller

June 4, 2023

Monksville Reservoir Full Moon Paddles are always one of my favorite trips! Long time members get to meet new members to discuss gear, equipment, lights, etc. Someone is always available to help loading/unloading boats onto your car.
This trip did not disappoint. If you did not come, you missed a wonderful paddling adventure. Consider signing up for the next full moon paddle on July 3.

It was amazing that everyone showed up on time.
Robyn coordinated the sign-in sheet and Phil coordinated getting everyone’s boat down to the water. It was smooth and seamless!
Introductions were made and Robyn presented her pre-paddle talk, emphasizing safety with careful accurate head count and the importance of always coming back with the same number of paddlers that we started with. We kept with Martin's standard - “No one died.”

We were successful in keeping our group away from fishermen and their motorboats and trailers.
Just before dark, the air was cool, but we kept warm from running around and preparing to launch. We sorted out our food, beverages, headlamps, lights for our boats and headed north. We paddled through the causeway towards the power lines. Two paddlers wandered into a cove, but quickly caught up with the group.

Robyn timed it perfectly so on our return to the put-in, we were in a great spot to view the full moon in all its splendor. We waited and watched for the moon to pop up over the dam, as it always does.
While paddling back, one new member, Otto, commented that the water was very warm. Miraculously, all the paddlers heard Otto! Everyone then had one hand in the water, and all were amazed at the temperature.

Paddling in the dark is such an amazing experience. It is so very quiet.
One paddler shined his headlamp towards the land and noticed a “wild animal.” Although it turned out to be a racoon, it was very memorable.

We saw lots of stars. Then the moon came up, but nobody saw it because of the clouds. We paddled back to our cars, packed up and started going home.
We all saw the full moon while we were driving home!
Thanks to Robyn, Phil, Claire, Otto and me (Dave) for such a memorable paddle!

Respectfully submitted,
Dave “Otto” Miller