first camping trip of the season.

[jdupre']

Made an overnighter on Lake Verret. Highs in the mid 80's , lows in the mid 50's. Beautiful. Gotta go clean up and unload, but I'll leave something for those that haven't made it out yet or haven't gone as much as they would like. More later. Listen for the crickets.

Click on picture.

 

[oldsparkey]

I knew this cooler weather would be getting to you , it is driving me nut's having to be at the house. Hopefully that will be corrected really soon , just an overnight one.

 

[jdupre']

I'm back..........showered and gear mostly put away and boat cleaned. It was a nice trip. I've been reading the backpacking forums and getting space and weight saving ideas. My cook kit reflects that. I found some small zip top bags at work that work fine for small quantities of food for a two or three day trip. Coffee, sugar and grits..... 3 basic food groups.

Tried a new dish. I simmered a can of chicken with broth until it thickened up some and stirred in the water and grits. Cooked that down until about 75% done and put it in a covered bowl to finish up for about 10 minutes. Backpackers use that trick to conserve on fuel. It made a really tasty and filling meal.

The lake was pretty rough but I felt like the Swamper could take it so I went and did a little exploring. I have to put in a little gratuitous boat pic.

Earlier, I broke out the RWS air rifle for a bit of plinking. Sitting in my camp chair with my elbow rested on the arm rest gave me a pretty solid hold. Check out the big hole in the can. From a stepped off 40 yards.

When I left for home this morning, the lake had kicked up with 1 and 1/2 foot whitecaps. I hit a few rogue 2' plus waves that came over the deck and made it all the way to the cockpit. All I got was a couple of tablespoonfuls of water in the cockpit. It never bothered the Swamper--- she kept going like nothing happened.

 

[tx river rat]

Joey
Great report ,hey what would have happened if you had been in the perow instead of the swamper :lol:
Ron

 

[jdupre']

Joey
Great report ,hey what would have happened if you had been in the perow instead of the swamper :lol:
Ron

Watch out fishies, hear I come. Bubble,bubble,bubble, bubble....................... :lol:

It would have been a nail biter but I probably would have paddled an extra 2 miles and hugged the bank. Traveling among the cypress trees often helps tame some of the wave action.

Other than a bit more capacity and ease of entry/exit in the pirogue, the Swamper is a much better all around boat for my use. I just love the watertight hatches--- load em up and forget about it.

Joey

 

[jdupre']

Score one for paddlecraft. I was talking to a big tournament bass fisherman at work about my camping trip and how I came back across Lake Verrett in all that wind and waves. "You paddled in that mess?! I wasn't going to fight those waves so I went somewhere else." Not sure if he thought I was crazy or brave. :mrgreen:
I know ........crazy, huh?
Joey

 

[tx river rat]

JD
I have been in some rough water with my boats and never really felt like I was close to being in trouble,never taken over a cup ful of water in the cockpit.
The most water I ever took on was wit5h Jack on the Brazos when we hit a rapid and a 2 or 3 foot standing wave ,took about a half gallon on that day.
Ron

 

[jdupre']

I never really felt in trouble either, Ron. With the Swamper's thin bow, it just speared through the waves with very little rise and fall. The only thing I would be cautious of is paddling in waves coming across the beam. With only about 5" or so of freeboard and no spray skirt, I would probably take on a bit of water.

 

[tx river rat]

Jd
I have paddle with waves coming in from a side angle and I did the same as in my power boat ,kept the nose into the waves and angled accross the didnt have to fight the side waves but a few feet when I landed.
Ron

 

[tx river rat]

JD
Tell us about the area you are camping in.
Ron

 

[jdupre']

I camp mainly on Elm Hall Wildlife Management Area. It's on the edge of Lake Verret. The lake is shallow and surrounded by cypress and tupelo swamps. It's about 13 miles long and 2 and 1/2 miles wide. The shores ???? are probably 98% swamp with a short 1/2 mle section of relatively high ground occupied by many camps. The only camping is on spoil banks of oil field canals dug 50-70 years ago.

I'm really limited in my camping spots because we have no sand bars or mud flats below the high water mark on our waterways. Technically, it's legal to camp on land up to the regular high water mark. But that mark might be 1/2 mile inland. Don't think the landowners would buy that. It's basically Elm Hall or on a small hunting club I'm a member of.

Interesting thing about the lake. Most of my pictures show the trees are sitting in water 100 yards or more from the shore in as much as 4 feet of water. Every one of those trees sprouted and grew for at least a year or two on semi dri land. The lake and all the surrounding land has been sinking mostly in the last 100 years because levees have stopped the annual flooding that used to replace the land lost to compaction. Low ridges around my old hometown where I used to hunt on dry land have over 1 and 1/2 to 2 feet of water covering them.

Joey

 

[Kayak Jack]

<SNIP> Low ridges around my old hometown where I used to hunt on dry land have over 1 and 1/2 to 2 feet of water covering them.

Gee, what with all the global warming and all, one would expect evaporation to lead to receding waterlines. I guess the real situation, global fluctuation as always but cooling now, just doesn't fit a politically correct model.

Hmmm. The future isn't what it used to be.

 

[oldsparkey]

It's the global warming that is causing the ice caps and ice burgs to melt and drain directly into Lake Verret. :lol: :lol:

Joey , there was a documentary about your neck of the woods and it seams that a lot of the territory is losing ground due to settling and not being refurbished. My guess is you can thank the Coups of Engineers and progress for all the levies and what they have done.
Nature did a lot better job and even knew what it was doing.

 

[jdupre']

You're right, Chuck. The Army Corps did do some harm in our neck of the woods. But, if they wouldn't have built levees, New Orleans would have turned into ghost town and , along with Baton Rouge , would no longer be a deep water port. The Mississippi River would have long ago cut another channel at the Old River control structure and there would be many other towns that would have been destroyed. Mother Nature never sleeps.

Joey

 

[Jimmy W]

The Mississippi River came very close to destroying the Old River Control Structure and getting it's way in the 1973 flood.
If anyone happens to be interested in learning much more about the Corp of Engineers, the Mississippi River and levees, read "Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America" by John M. Barry.
http://www.amazon.com/Rising-Tide-M...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1286647692&sr=1-1

 

[gbinga]

It's an interesting topic. You can control the river and have a certain amount of stability, but you are interfering with natural processes. Or you can let the river have its' way and you get long term chaos - which is a big deal when you consider what an important commercial shipping route the Mississippi is all the way up into the center of our nation.

A real catch 22 situation.

George

 

[Kayak Jack]

If people had fewer children, there would not be the competition for land and space. Nature is relentlessly teaching us the lesson; only eventually will we learn it.