Navigation on Kawagama Lake

Hello from Navigation, Everyone! 

It has finally come. Those of us "outliers" who are boat access on Kawagama Lake have for the most part closed up our cottages for another season and I for one can't wait until there is enough ice to get back to Long Island by snow machine.  Come on deep freezing nights and sunny snowy days! I spent the weekend of November 10/11 in a mildly depressed state with my great pal and fellow cottager Tony Frank, performing the mundane tasks associated with closing our cottages, final clean out, draining the water, stripping and pulling docks and cleaning out my work shop.  Finally, I locked the door, warned off any critters about the risks of entering the cottage and took my final boat ride back to the marina for the season. 

The 2012 summer season proved to be just great. As usual, my good friend Eric Doetsch helped me place the markers in May and pull them in October. Other wonderful folks around the lake also took care of their various charges such as Jim Kaufman and family, Zoltan Zongor, Jim Coulson, Don Sanderson, Bruce Norman, Gord Henderson and Rob Wallisser. These folks have been just great and I hope to expand our troop of good Samaritans to take part in the "One Cottage, One Marker" program going forward.

The newly revised marker system seems to be operating wonderfully so far. This summer we only had one instance of "wandering marker syndrome" as the white and yellow marker from the old system at Echo Island disappeared during a late summer storm. I was absolutely tickled to see that a good Samaritan found it and returned it to it's correct spot even before I was able to track it down.  All I can say is a BIG THANK YOU!! I have no idea who you are but I very much appreciate your help . . . With the new system in place the job of marker control has become much simpler. It is literally "spring in" and "fall out" and little maintenance in between. This, combined with the fact that the new markers are very robust, makes for a much smoother management and logistical experience! 

"One Cottage, One marker".   Is your cottage in the site line of a marker or set of markers? Would you be willing to help out? We are looking for volunteers around the lake who would be willing to participate in dropping a marker or two in the water in the spring and pulling them out and storing them under your cottage in the fall. The system is so simple now that it would literally take just a couple of minutes to set or pull each marker. If you are interested and willing to be a part of a team that benefits all cottagers on the lake, please email the KLCA, express your interest and I will contact you directly with details!

So, until next spring, I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah and look forward to seeing you on the lake this winter or next spring!!

Cheers,

Adrian McInerney, Navigation Chairman, KLCA

December, 2012