Wind whipping up whitecaps across the reservoir would keep most paddlers on shore. A team of six men and women, however, defy the challenging conditions.

It's not true that you need a rubber boat capable of bending around corners to float the Wood River.

In May, the peaks that ring Upper Klamath Lake still hold their snow. Fingers of water that wrap around patches of marsh grass sparkle with the early morning sunlight. The only sounds are the flutter and dive of a white-beaked American coot and the furious flapping of a merganser taking flight. Welcome to spring on the fringe of Oregon's largest lake.