Wednesday, January 8th was a rare day - a sunny shirt-sleeve-weatherday in January. Do anything out of the ordinary to celebrate it?
I'd been in St. Joe and came back to KC on US 169 and decided to take advantage of the rare weather and stop by Heartland Cove on Smithville Lake. Grabbed a rug and towel from the van and thought I'd lay out for a while - it was warm enough and maybe the shape of the cove would cut the wind back a bit.
I did that - make a whole lot of barefooted footprints in the shoreline mud and waded in the water a couple of times. I actually thought about going on in the water - skinnydipping in January but my feet were cold to the point of pain after just a short time so I back out pretty quickly.
Walked the shore stem to stern, east to west and set up shop on the left or west side of the Cove - laid out a while. The sun's so low I think you'd have to be there for hours to get any real sun but it felt good.
Decided to try the water one more time - waded in and thought I'd just keep walking to deeper water and see how far I could get- ankle high, knee high. Feet were in pain for I noticed the actual pain didn't move on up. Something about cold feet make for pain but a cold leg isn't painful, just cold. So stayed with it, wading deeper and the feed still hurt but didn't get worse and in fact the cold torso by then sort of overshadowed the feet thing -- but it looked like I might be able to do it - go skinnydipping in January.
By now waist deep things weren't too bad and I was close to committing to go all the way. I'm sort of a purist - I don't consider it a swim unless you're all the way in the water - head under with wet hair to prove it. Moved on to chest high - lots of sucking in deep breath due to the shock of the cold but it felt more doable all the time by now.
OK, neck deep, lay back and float - head still out of the water the only thing keeping me from pronounding it a real swim. Go for it! Uprighted myself and duck the head, holding onto my ball cap so I wouldn't lose it.
Done! A January swim at Heartland Cove.
I won't pretend it lasted for long - just long enough to make it a "counter" -- by now I forgot about the feet, put my wet cap on and waded back out to the shoreline. Felt good and it made for the first January outdoor swim I've ever done here in the midwest. Always sort of admired/envied/thought nuts the Polar Bear Club folks who do it on January 1st and they're rugged souls to try it in cold weather but for me this was a stretch and fun enough. Rare 70 degree day, sunshine, lonely cove, and a short, satisfying January skinnydip.
Cove Notes -- something's been going on at Heartland Cove. The hay field just above the cove appears to have been well used this fall. Sometime between my last visit of the summer and now the field and the cove has seen a lot of visitors.
There were about 8 picnic tables set up in the field, signs that a lot of trucks have been in and out from the track marks across the field and down at the cove itself lots of recent footprints - booted prints, not barefooted like mine.
I don't have any idea what group has been in there but somebody's had access and has been using the area pretty heavily and fairly recently.
This could bode ill for our use of the cove - if the tables stay and if some club or group gets in the habit of using the cove. I'd guess the tables are moved out so they don't interfer with the brome grass and hay that's taken off the field but still I'm concerend that somebody's been there in big numbers.
Will just have to keep an eye on the place next spring - and who knows might have to find a new Heartland Cove. Shouldn't be too hard to do, lots of shoreline. If you already know of a lonely alternative might let me know just in case.
OK - who's next? Come on in - the water's fine.
Dick - don't tell me it's too cold for some good outdoor skinnydipping - it's just right.