"Moss-Hanne"

Black Moshannon Lake is 250 acres and yesterday morning, I had the chance to explore a small portion of it.  When my wife and I were leaving our house around quarter 'til 9, the rain had already begun to fall.  Since we don't often get the same day off, we decided that regardless of rain, we were taking the kayaks out.

Local legend holds that Back Moshannon comes from the Native American word "Moss-Hanne" which means "moose stream."  The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources' website didn't mention why it was given the name "moose stream", however I suppose we can use our imaginations.





Aside from a drizzle, it was a beautiful day to paddle.  The fog was resting on the mountains, the flowers on the lily pads were open and because of the cool weather and forecast of rain, there were only a handful of people at the park and only one other boat on the lake.  It was a great day to explore.








At first glance, the Black Moshannon Lake doesn't appear to be breath-takingly large.  However, it does offer a lot if you're willing to work for it.  Lily pads cover large parts of the lake and if you take a few minutes to look around you can follow narrow paths through the pads and go very deep into the corners of the lake.  This gives some seclusion, quiet and the opportunity to see parts of the lake that few people see.  Truth be told, because of the immanent threat of a storm and the rumbling of thunder in the distance, we stuck moderately close to our dock.  That is one clear advantage to a warm, clear day.




We decided to bring Delilah with us despite the pain it is to counterbalance her fidgeting.  She did fairly well, but we learned that she demands to be in the lead.  At one point, Bethany paddled around Delilah and me and Delilah jumped out of my boat and after spending a second or two under water, shocked at the lack of solid ground beneath her paws, she swam to Bethany.  As she got closer to the edge it turned out was able to "trot" anywhere within 10 feet of the shore line.  Despite Delilah jumping ship with no warning I actually enjoyed having the extra leg room for a little while.

After paddling we found a pavilion on the lake and had lunch.  Our intention was to play an intense round of Yahtzee, but the temperature was only about 60, so we headed home.  We also managed to snatch a picture of the Black Mo sign on the way out.