Kayaking & Swimming on Cooper Lake!
Details
NOTE: I have 19 extra seats in kayaks (including paddles and life vests) available to borrow if you don't have your own gear. More details below.
NOTE: For legal reasons, our events begin with a live safety lecture that will be video-recorded and pan across all of the attendees.
NOTE: This meetup is cross-listed with the Seattle Paddleboard Club and Seattle Kayaking Meetup, neither of which have an age limit.
NOTE: I created a Discord community with a channel named "sunday-paddles" to facilitate communication between the three meetup groups for this specific category of events, since the meetup app doesn't work well for live back-and-forth texting. Please install Discord and join our community even if you aren’t a driver, because you may need to communicate over Discord on your driver’s behalf, or if others in your car don’t have signal but you DO. You can join here:
Attendees are required to physically sign a waiver at the start of the event :
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1j1UJCgXCKP6kpINTvB5YO9utKgKrp79a/view?usp=sharing
Please read through the waiver BEFORE the day of the event, since the waiver also contains safety information that may require personal reflection and impact your preparation or your decision whether or not to attend. Unless something changes in the future, your waiver should be valid for all future activities and you will only need to complete the waiver once.
Route & Schedule :
Join us for a pleasant weekend paddle at Cooper Lake! It's a small beautiful alpine lake situated in the mountains of Snoqualmie Pass, northeast of (and a tributary of) Cle Elum Lake, except that it's even deeper in the mountains and even cuter! We will paddle in a circle around the lake and explore the river on both ends. We will probably go swimming on the beach after our paddle as well!
We will be paddling approximately 4 miles. We will be paddling a fairly short distance and will never be very far from our launch point. It should be very doable even for beginners. It involves 2 hours of paddling.
For those who are bringing their own kayak or paddleboard, we'll meet at the Cooper Lake Day-Use Area (Specifically the boat ramp) at 11:45, and we'll try to be finished setting up and ready to launch by noon. If you are borrowing a kayak from me and meeting me at the launch, please arrive a bit earlier at 11:15 instead since I need to take a headcount and I need more time than other paddlers to set up.
Regardless of whether you are bringing your own kayak or are borrowing one, please let us know if you intend to meet us at the launch, and confirm that you are on your way on the morning of the event. When you arrive, look for a silver Honda Pilot hauling a red trailer with a kayak rack on the top.
That being said, I recommend meeting at the carpool location. Oftentimes, our launch sites lack cell signal and it can be hard to find each other, so it helps to meet in person beforehand. We may also appreciate additional vehicles for carpooling. Also, it’s a meetup, and carpools are a great opportunity to get to know the other paddlers! Carpools are discussed in more detail below.
I estimate that we will return to the launch spot at 3:15 PM and finish packing up by 4 PM, at which point we will go swimming for a half hour to an hour. I plan for us to be back in Seattle at 7 PM.
Here's the location of the launch :
https://maps.app.goo.gl/nghZshV5X8NzqDf77
Please reach out if you have any questions!
Prior Experience Required :
I require that all attendees have at least one hour of paddling experience before attending any events. This can be as simple as renting a kayak on Lake Union. If you are bringing your own kayak, I require that you have at least an hour of experience paddling with your equipment.
What To Bring :
Each attendee is required to have a life vest and a whistle. If you are borrowing a kayak from me, I will be supplying these. If you are bringing your own kayak or paddleboard, I may have an extra whistle to lend to you, but please ask in advance rather than assuming that I will have extras. I will probably not have extra life vests for people who are bringing their own kayak or paddleboard, so please do not assume that I will have extras.
Drybags are great at protecting your valuables from water damage during the paddle. You are welcome to bring your own, but I will also bring drybags for you to use during our paddle.
Be sure to bring snacks and water to consume before, during, and after the paddle! Kayaking can be more draining than hiking, and you will need energy!
You will have time to eat a bagged lunch before and after the paddle, and we will also stop for a lunch break at the mid-point of our paddle. You will also still have a minute here and there during the paddle to grab a quick drink or a bite from a quick snack like a trail mix bar.
Please bring clothes and especially SHOES that can get wet! Sandals or flip flops can leave your feet exposed to injuries from rocky terrain if we encounter it. I recommend close-toed shoes like beach shoes, crocs, or best of all, neoprene diving boots like these:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J86CN66
Don't forget SUNGLASSES and SUNSCREEN either! For the rest of your outfit, I recommend SYNTHETIC or wool fabrics that will dry quickly. AVOID COTTON in all layers. Swimsuits, sun hoodies / fishing hoodies, and polyester running shirts are great for warm weather. For colder or rainy weather, I recommend a fleece or wool sweater and/or a rainproof/hardshell jacket. In my experience, legs are better at tolerating the cold and are less important to cover (especially if they are tucked inside a kayak), but you may want to consider softshell or hardshell pants.
You should also consider bringing BUG SPRAY for this event.
Borrowing Kayaks :
I have 19 extra seats in kayaks (including paddles and life vests) available to borrow.
Each seat has a weight limit of 250 lbs per person including gear. My collection includes 13 boats: 4 plastic single-seater sea kayaks, 1 plastic two-seater sea kayak, 6 two-seater high-pressure inflatable sea kayaks, and 2 high-pressure inflatable paddleboards. I will do my best to put everyone in a boat that they like, but I may need to shuffle people around depending on skill and fitness level. I need people to be flexible with me on this.
I require $20 to reserve a spot. If you cancel or do not attend for any reason, only half of the fee is refunded; this is to discourage cancellations. However, if you DO attend, you will be issued a refund equal to the difference between what you paid and the cost of the gas for towing the trailer (and riding in my car, if you ride in my car as well). Usually, gas for the kayak rental costs between $3 and $10 per person, and gas for riders in my car is between $5 and $15, but it depends on the number of attendees.
To reserve a spot, please check that there are still spots available in the Google Doc for kayak borrowing :
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vG_oL2S-Qdwyz3h9QFhLhLuOjOIztYWLyo4hU95G8ug/edit?usp=sharing
Please note that this is a separate Google Doc from the carpool signup! After making sure that there are available spots, please venmo me or zelle me and then add your name to the Google Doc. You can zelle me at 314-898-2150 or venmo me at andrew-davidson-26!
In addition to the payment for gas (which is required), I would appreciate (voluntary) donations! I am not trying to profit off of these events, but I would like to be able to build up a nest egg to (at least partially) cover repairs or replacement for lost or damaged kayaks and gear in the future. I also spend $100 per month on a parking spot for my trailer and $400 annually on my Meetup Organizer subscription. I would generally ask for a donation of $10 per person, but this is optional, especially if you are having a rough time financially. That being said, if you are doing well and are able to donate more, that is appreciated as well! In case this wasn't clear, these fees and suggested donations are only intended for people who are borrowing kayaks from me, not people who drive themselves and bring their own kayaks.
If you own extra kayaks and are willing to loan them to people, feel free to post a comment on the event page or in Discord! A life vest, paddle, and whistle must be supplied to each person. You may charge fees to the people who borrow them, but the pricing structure must be split into two parts like mine :
- a required gas fee, which is a good-faith estimate of the ADDITIONAL cost of gas for bringing the extra kayak(s)
- a voluntary donation for wear-and-tear on the kayak and gear. You may SUGGEST a specific donation amount. You must clearly state that you do not pay the meetup organizer subscription dues.
Also, please reach out to me to make sure that the kayaks are adequate for the event.
Transportation and Carpooling :
We'll meet at Caffe Umbria by the long narrow public parking lot along Westlake Ave at 9 AM and split into our carpools at around 9:15! Let us know before 9 AM if you are on your way. We generally wait 15 minutes for people to arrive. If you are arriving with your own car, be sure to park in a spot marked "ALL DAY" parking (in case you end up not driving)! Please post if you can drive or if you need a ride! Please coordinate carpools in the comments or better yet, the google doc!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1w0YDmSK3IpQ656-Fn38U_K5UcDkr1gkTxieZCgZrPxg/edit?usp=sharing
Please keep in mind that even if you can’t find an open spot as a passenger in the doc, you will likely find someone to drive you if you show up at Caffe Umbria at the scheduled start time. Oftentimes, drivers are afraid to agree to drive ahead of time in case they need to cancel, but are willing to drive if they show up on the day of the event. Also, oftentimes there are drivers who RSVP last-minute. I can’t guarantee you a spot if you show up without having found a spot in the doc, but we haven’t YET hosted an event where we didn’t have enough seats in cars.
Riders are expected to (at a bare minimum) split the cost of gas evenly between the driver and the other passengers, as well as a reasonable amount for projected wear and tear on the vehicle.
If you are going to arrange your carpool to meet somewhere OTHER THAN the Caffe Umbria on Lake Union, I suggest a park and ride such as Greenlake, Northgate, Eastgate, or Tukwila/SouthCenter. Passengers, please do not ask to be picked up at your home; drivers, please don't offer to do so. It usually creates problems and makes the timing and logistics much more complicated, since people often aren't ready on time, cancel last minute, or just plain don't show up. On the other hand, dropping people off at their home after the hike is much easier.
Photo :
Cover photo taken by me personally on a previous similar meetup trip.