Now we're at Heron Lake
We do get around. Now we're at our cabin near Heron Lake. The sun has been up for a couple of hours, yet the mercury has just barely inched above the freezing mark. This time of year, we can experience a temperature difference of 20 to 30 degrees F or more between the northern (Heron) and southern (Elephant Butte) lake areas. The few hundred miles of latitude and three thousand feet of elevation difference that separate the lakes also span mutliple bio-climate / life zones. Even the fish species in the lakes are quite different.
The Heron Lake marina is closing, but a few hardy souls still need to show up to remove their boats. One boat was even sailing yesterday in spite of the chilly weather; consistent winds were just too good to ignore for the owners and guests aboard a Moore 24 (somewhat like a J-24). Also tantalizing is the fact that the lake has continued to rise, leaving the lake the biggest it's been all year. A J-24, a MacGregor, West Wight Potter, Catalina 22, and a couple of other boats also need to leave the marina before the chill of fall turns into the snow and ice of winter.
Still to come for the marina are a couple of work parties to prepare it for winter and make some improvements.
posted by Pat @ 10/22/2006 10:05:00 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Lake level update, Sunday morning:
Heron is at elev. 7,147.91, with 210,997 acre feet. It's up an inch and 325 a.f. in 24 hours and 4 inches and more than 1,300 a.f. in 72 hours. Usually Heron does not go up in October. Contractors are expected to start withdrawing water in November.
Elephant Butte lake is at elevl. 4,330.24, with 386,222 a.f. It's up 1-1/2 inches and 1,575 a.f. in 24 hours and about 5 inches and 4,500 a.f. in 72 hours. It is up 3 feet, 1 inch so far in October.
It should continue to rise the rest of this fall and winter. In spite of the sub-par spring runoff, the Butte is very likely to end the year higher than the 4,339.88 foot level at which it began the year.
We removed the last Sunfish and kayak from the Heron Lake marina, which is down to just a handful of boats. "Tadpole" enjoyed sailing the fish across the cove while I padded the kayak.
The "mosquito fleet" is converging upon Albuquerque where the Sunfish will get some work done on them during the winter before being moved south for spring sailing. Two of the Sunfish are now in Albuquerque, with two more remaining at our cabin near Heron.
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