The river was a surprise to me and most others. The problem wasn't about enough water to "float" it but RUN it! :shock:
Cowboys.... and some of us didn't know how to ride a bull....
Let me say that Bro Bar, Yak, Al and Joe were rodeo riders from the past. The rest of us had seen pictures of whitewater but never ventured on it. No classes, no preparation, and not the type of boats to ride out on those waves and haystacks. But being the geezers we are we pushed forward and took up the challenge. After all these were small waves and such.... :roll:
The pictures below are the first day out. Even the put in had some technical strokes to keep dry in. Al has explained it perfectly in his comparing pool playing and whitewater running. You have to look ahead and plan how to manuver up-on-around- and inbetween the rocks and haystacks. You still shipped water regardless of making the turns or not. Both wipeouts happened from shipping to much water. Both happened the second day out.
Joe coming through some surf.
Next Sparkey makes it though.
Bro Bar comes through again.
Yak moves like a swan in high water.
Ray and Harry look like pros here.
Up comes Van and Harry Jr.
Al makes it look easy.
These where the small ones of day one. None of us knew what laid ahead. But they limbered us up for day two...
First night on the banks was a social seperation of the River People and the Hill People. The hammocks were tied down close to the river's edge. Rocks for the floors and water for a baseboard. The rest climbed up and over a steep hill to find grazing for their tent floors. Beautiful up there... but that is where they elected to build the nights fire....
Think reality TV. I was voted off from the River people but was granted one free ticket.... I had the large tarp opened in case a drenching rain came along... and it had the makings to do so. Several of the Hill People came down and spied on us. We offered peace and coffee. this in turn allowed us to crawl up the hill and join them at the fire. Jimmy the Greek sat down and began a talk. Both "chiefs" ( Harry and his robe and Swampy in his blue one) bartered and came to an agreement. Everyone would share the tolet paper.
To cement the agreement ( No Jimmy .... put back the cement bags...) we began the Old Geezers rapping tournament. Jack and Mac were held in high asteam... er.... back bitten .... cause they weren't here to take it all in. They ought to take sleep better tonight cause the curse don't last that long anyways... BB had a good excuse... so we let him off easy... ( maybe one night's sleep lost fer him...) But Jack and Mac... LOL ... well there were no short cuts about it.... their ears may still be burning... whoa to anyone who doesn't come on down fer the next roundup.
Next morning we planned to travel around 5 miles of river and camp again at a park.... Kyles Landing.... but the morning didn't take to good...
We wanted to go to Hemmed In Hollar to look at the water falls there. But the group that had taken the first night's camp site passed us up and beat us to the shores where we'd have putin to see the falls.
I was in the back and pulled in against a heavy flow into the small eddie where others from our party had pulled in thinking that Bro Bar had landed there. he hadn't. He was down river and Chuck stayed in the middle and off from the turning flow of a forcefull river to tell us to keep going. He insited that i continue on even though I was second from last in formation. This formation was to lend help from anyone who "blew out". Yak was the rear end and the experinced WW paddler. I moved forward. It was a major task to stay afloat with flows converging from many directiosn. I shipped water but went on ahead and found Bill at the next rappids pointed up stream. As I went by he shouted that someone had blown out. He next shouted for us to get ready to pull anything floating down stream out of the wqter. I was second behind Bill and Yak placed hisself third in line. A line that spread just about accross the whole river at this section of it. Then here it came. Items... it was the floating wooden ice chest that claimed who had blown out. Chuck. One of his shoes that he was wearing came down on me. I swept it up and turned it udside up..."He's not in this one!" .... Bill grabbed the second shoe.."Not in here either!"..... next was bags and such.... Next we went ashore and began collecting wood for a warming fire. I went up river opposite side of where Chuck wound up at. He was back at his canoe and shouted all was well. He asked if his medicen bag was OK. Yelled back that we thought we had ever thing that floated on shore waiting for him.
Back to the fire. In came the rest of the crew. Harry Jr and Van, Harry and Ray and Chuck. Chuck said he was fine but we pushed him into the fire just to make sure he wasn't. Sortta like burn'in the survivor huh?
Gear dried. Inventory taken... one lost T shirt and a pair of socks. Medicine bag was almost dry. Would have been bone dry except someone didn't close the zip lock type closure on the bag... but due to its structure and having to turn down the top just a few drops of water entered the little bag. (Note to self: Close the friggin bag like its suppose to be). Harry lost a camera.... :cry:
After everyone's nerves settled down off we went. We came up on another rapid. This one was loaded with rocks and foam. Bar ran it good time. But only after getting out and we all scoped out the rapids. I asked Bar if he wanted to run my canoe loaded. "No.".... that made me think some more on it. To much in my canoe to hav going down river. I am in a fiberglass Old Towne recreational canoe. That means flat bottom and with a keel 1"X1". Not good for running waves and rocks. Al went second... he got stuck for a moment and I thought... he' gets stuck, I know I'll get stuck. My desition was made then.... I line my canoe with the rest. We set up a line and passed the canoes with that line around a set of rocks and fast moving waters. I got stuck three times in that stuff.... Jim ran it next and did the best job running down the middle.... sorry Bar... I can't give ya number one on this rapids... you actually told me that you didn't see that rock between the haystack and it.... Jim rounded them both... except for that minor flaw thye ran it with gusto and looked great from the shore.
The lining cost us three hours of wet work and we went on from there. Some rapids down further and it was about the same thing but we all ran them because there were less rocks showing... but there were as many there. It was a bronco busters ride... water up and out everywhere. I again shipped water as everyone else did too. Harry and Ray got stuck on a rock but kept their boat afloat. Water ran in anyways and after getting un-stuck they headed down stream.... they wanted to "eddie out" along the shore to watch others come down the chutes but being over loaded with water the center of gravity was about two canoe widths out from center... they sunk.... I had passed them while they were still stuck on that rock and didn't see them again til we continued on down the river and made Kyles Landing some minutes later. That is where I learnt that they had swamped out too.
Everyone was soaked. Yesterdays venture had soaked everything and we were now looking at day three without dry clothes. That landing was heavy in wind.... clothes lines strung everywhere. Spirits where high but dampened. This was not a river for floating. It was a river to look at and either accept its challenge or not. If one wished to continue on, things would have to be done for the safety and the gear that we had on board. Two of the canoes where made of aluminum... with keels.... and loaded over the gunnels.... Two guys in each one elected to not swim the next day. Chuck had already proclaimed he was out of the race. Wet, and without any more dry clothes , his mind was made up. His offer to carry any gear of anyone who wished to continue on in the river made it possible for me to "Yeah!" I figgered that without my gear that the Old Towne would have enough bottom to clear the hidden rocks and I would have control over where I wanted and didn't want to go. Control was the malady of this venture. Chuck's delima was the amount of freeboard on his canoe. There wasn't any... well not enough to keep any water out of the inside of the canoe. Had I had his canoe and after seeing the first day what lied ahead, I would have pulled the s4econd day... but could... there had to be the trip to Kyles Landing first to call the outfitter to come and get me... that is what Chuck, Harry, Van and Harry Jr did. Their smiles told the story. Next day thinking that with just the five of us left and without heavy gear we'd make the distance quicker. It was agreed for the trucks to meet us down stream at Elbey (?) where we had planned to finish day three at. If time was good we'd ( 5) would proceed down to the Ozark camp ground.
On the water at 11:00am.... and it was run a small rapid before we hit the main stream... Such beauty and fun is rare. Like I said I have never ran white water before but with a lite canoe and about 190% more control I fast became a white water runner. When the river was split up by an island several would go one way and the others the other course. Chop... haystacks... hidden rocks... it became high ... a high .... it was more than a blast. Better than a fast motorcycle ride around curves.... there was no fear... no concern about blowing out... no worry on gear being tossed down stream at the currents whims.... pure thrills... I'll go again for certain now... but a lot more prepared.
At Elby we found no one there. Yak fed us as he was the only one who thought to bring snacks. Looking for the trucks we spotted wolf prints and other animals. We looked at all the blooms around. You could take a bunch of pictures in this one spot for a vacations worth of pictures. Talking about how we could leave a mark- or message that we had been here (time was pressing if we were to take on the next section) up popped Chuck and Harry's trucks/van. Here is Chuck and Bill with me talking over the next step.
Off we went.... the finial leg of this river for us. Remarkable beauty again and again. Saw several canoes that hadn't made it.... wondered what the river was like when they didn't make it out dry? Any more water level and the river wouldn't have had the rocks that lurked just under the surface... but the one blowout where the new looking canoe laid under the surface was just in front of a huge rock. maybe that is where their ride ended.... but surely we had witnessed the highest water mark for this year. After June I hear that the river at this end dried up... That is when I suspect that the owner would come down and pick up their boats and a raft.
I got to confidant on the river... I even asked if it would be cool to stand up on the next rapids... Bro Bar thought me serious and said "No". LOL I waz jest kidd'in.... I did want to stay dry... but that was how relaxed it became out there with whitewater everywhere. We hit rapids that were more mosterous than day two. But with zeal and a laugh we hit them heads up. Yak showed his expertise and bar his... Al and Joe ain't sloppy either. One chute that Al shot through made me wish I had a moving camera to film it in. Plum beautiful.
We met the guys at Ozark campground and they had coffee ready! We set up our places to sleep at night... I talked Yak into sleeping under the giant tarp that Bar strung up. The night was full of talk and some drank themselves to sleep.. :wink: ... Yak and I put them all to bed... well maybe not Joe... but we did wake up the sleeping giant Chuckles.... I said something like "You on pot?" and that's when I saw stars... :lol: :lol: :lol:
It was heart felt going our own ways the next morning. Some will never paddle in whitewater again. Not wanting to get another kind of canoe and have to go into all the gear needed to correctly spend time in the rapids. but all agreed to meet again where ever... some would stay ashore and others could paddle... but I see us all again on some stretch of water laughing at what all we have been through. After all that is the Path of the Geezer....
Jim and I rode together into Tennesse and spent the night in N.B.Forrest stae Park in a primative campground. We used the showers to get clean and Jim made up some potatoes with cubed ham chunks... with a special spice... man-o-man was that heavenly too. Breakfast the next day in a small town ( Camden) where we met a local who bragged on the waters around there. Said a person could camp at one place and paddle either white water or slow water from there... there was a new idea to look into.... Jim and I separated in Nashville and I headed south.
I was torn on leaving the last of the brothers till the next meeting of souls somewheres on a river bank....
swampy
