Trip 2 - Alum Creek

Put in at the Boat Ramp near the Equestrian Camp at Alum Creek - on Howard Road, just off of N. Old State.  It has a great Kayak launching dock.

We paddled north up to Hogback Rd and where Salt Well Run empties into the northern end of the Reservoir.  Hubby forgot his floating strap so we MacGyver'd a floating strap using a zip tie, paracord and a piece of pool noodle.  Good thing since he dropped it in the drink and it saved the camera.  It appears to be waterproof as he was still able to take pics.  The north end of the paddle has posts in the water with nesting platforms for endangered species - think large birds.  The water was still, wildlife stunning and we got to see one of the large birds leave the nest, catch a fish and take it back.  Saw lots of heron's, ducks, etc.  No bugs.  It was a really enjoyable paddle - about 2 1/2 hours on the water.  The yak grips were awesome.  No blisters, not really any hot spots either.  Grips were solid, no slipping.  Hopefully he'll post pics on facebook that I can steal and add to this blog.

Paddle Grips

After trip one I decided I needed either paddle grips or paddling gloves.  I tried on a few paddling gloves and don't really like them.  They'll leave a funny tan and they cover my watch.  So I read online reviews of paddling grips and despite several concerning reviews, purchased Yak Grips.
I got my Yak Grips from Amazon, this link:  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000DZXN2Y/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Some Amazon sites reviews stated you could not tell if you were getting slide on or velcro.  My paddle is a take apart and I wanted slide on as lots of velcro reviews complained of sliding grips.  The slide on's still had reviews of the grip sliding on the paddle.  I placed rubberbands on the paddle just at/under each end of the grips to hopefully mitigate sliding.

Also, people report that the outer fabric deteriorates with use.  But, the price was right and there were enough good reviews that I decided to give them a try.  I wet the inside of the grips with water and the slid on the paddles pretty well.  So, we'll see how these hold up over time.