The Tenmile Lakes watershed covers approximately 98 square miles, and includes four large lakes. There’s also many smaller lakes in the area, mostly caught behind the dunes near the ocean. The majority of the watershed feeds into North and South Tenmile Lakes, and from there drains into the Pacific via Tenmile Creek (which drains almost the whole watershed):

When we first moved here, we had heard that you could kayak down Tenmile Creek, all the way from South Tenmile Lake to the Pacific ocean, floating between serried ranks of sand dunes on the way. That sounded magical to us, and we earmarked that pending experience as ‘something we need to do while we live here before we get too old to do it’. It was a year and a half before we found the time to try it, when we had some good friends staying with us for a couple of weeks in June last summer.

We resolved to kayak the length of the creek, from where South Tenmile Lake drains into it all the way to the beach on the Pacific. This is about 2.8 miles as the crow flies, but approximately 5 miles in terms of actual distance covered. Moreover, the current is not strong in the creek, so we thought we’d kayak both ways and return to our boat in the marina, which meant we wouldn’t need to leave a vehicle at the far end of the creek for transportation back home. That’s 10 miles of kayaking, but we count ourselves as being fairly fit, and the days in June are long.

We kicked off our adventure by loading the kayaks (four in all) into our boat, then leaving our dock and heading south. After transiting the canal connecting North and South Tenmile Lake, we moored at our marina (Osprey Point RV Resort and Marina) and launched the kayaks from there. Soon after, we entered Tenmile Creek. Here we are about to cross under the Hilltop Bridge in Lakeside:

The current was barely detectable, and we floated lazily along, first with businesses and homes lining the creek, but soon we were surrounded by trees and bushes. It was a beautiful June day without a cloud in the sky. The outing was off to a picture perfect start.

Soon, however, we hit this feature about a mile from the boat, or 0.6 miles down the creek:

Note the ladderlike structure at the bottom – this was a mazelike series of barricades that allow salmon to pass but keeps the lake level from getting too low during the summer drought period. It’s not really navigable so you need to do a short portage there. There was a path to right (east) bank, so we took it and carried the kayaks downstream beyond the dam. Here we are putting the kayaks back in the water after doing the portage:

After that, it was a very short trip before we ran into an impenetrable logjam. We tried to skirt the shore on either side to no avail. Given the beautiful day, good company, and gorgeous surroundings, we did a group mental shrug, turned our kayaks around, paddled back to the main lake, and spent several enchanting hours investigating the shores of South Tenmile Lake and the canal. It was an amazing day.

Not being able to reach the ocean always did bother me a bit though – I had a feeling we missed something. The other day, I examined our route again, and upon closer inspection, did a Homer Simpson ‘D’oh!’. Check out this map again, but this time in street view:

The dam would be at the bottom near the ‘Google’ symbol. Instead of getting out on the right, we could have portaged perhaps 20 – 30 yards to the left (west) and cut off the whole troublesome loop! The moral of the story is to do your research before embarking on an adventure. At the very least though, we should have checked our phones to see if there was a way around it. Given the relaxed ‘be happy with whatever happens’ vibe of the day though, it doesn’t surprise me that this happened.

We’re already planning with our friends to have another go at this – Pacific Ocean or bust this time! I’ll blog about it when it happens.