Canoe-dling

It turned out to be the perfect weekend. Quick outcomes to my previous concerns...

(1) Sleeping Bag worked great.
(2) Reds had a 2:55 rain delay. Even though we only stayed for the first 6 innings, I didn't get home and to bed until 1:45. I delayed getting up until 5:30.
(3) Krispy Kremes -- not even a consideration

It was pouring when I got up in the morning. Like pouring so much that when I backed the car into the garage to load my gear that a rabbit almost came inside to get out of the rain. (I would have let him if he had asked politely, but would have considered trading him for the steaks for dinner). I got out at about 6:15 and made it across town to David's by 6:45. We loaded our gear and strapped on the canoe. We were running a little late and didn't leave town until about 8 -- making it right on time to the shuttle by 10 on the nose.

There is a little joke about the shuttle in that the bus ride to the drop off is the most "exciting" part of the trip. I believe that the bus and I share a birthday and I must say that I have aged more gracefully. To further the comparison, it is a short bus. So picture the old short bus pulling a trailer of canoes/kayaks stacked 2x2 and 3 high going a bit speedily down twisty mountain 1 1/2 lane roads. After my experiences in Asia, I sat peacifully and watched the scenery go by.

There were two other groups in the bus.

The first group was a man & wife with I believe a younger brother. They were engaged in diligently looking at the topo map to memorize landmarks, etc... I found this funny for 2 reasons: (1) It is a river without any forks or tributaries so there is only 1 way that you can go, and (2) I did the same exact thing my first trip. We saw this group on the water and they probably ended up fine.

The second group was what appeared to be 3 buddies with a girlfriend thrown in to round out the group to 4. I am sure that somewhere in a night of drinking one guy suggested the idea, the buddies said that they were "in", and the girlfriend asked to come so that the boys wouldn't get into trouble. We saw them three times on the river:

1. After the very first small rapid and each of them had almost flipped the canoe there were phrases heard from a distance like "I don't know what you want me to do" and "Fine, paddle on your own"
2. After we had landed for the night, set up camp and were well into cooking our steaks -- when they passed by us on the river looking remorsefully at us and stopped, looking exhausted almost as if they wanted to share our site.
3. The next morning as we passed them about a mile downstream where the two buddies were out canoeing circles (but improving their skills) so that the other two could argue back at camp.

Regardless, this trip was not about other people. In fact, we only saw people for a few minutes total out of the two days. The weather was perfect. The scenery was gorgeous. The camp site was soft sand. The bugs were almost non-existent. One of my best trips.

David also broke my curse of the fish. He caught 10 in the boat, but about 13-14 total. 3 of them were probably big enough to keep (small mouth bass). We saw deer munching by the river banks. We saw heron, ducks and all sorts of fish/turtles in the water. The water was clear enough to see the bottom to 6-8 feet.

The ONLY downer on the trip was that the water was a bit low so we had to drag the canoe a couple of times. David has a new canoe (a Dagger) that keeps a line in the water better, but is slightly less maneuverable. I was steering and there were a couple of rapids where I missed my line. I blame the boat (not the fact that this was my first time in 4 years.)

Anyway -- great trip that ended perfectly. I returned home, kissed the wife (quickly due somewhat to my odor and her gag reflex) and took a long hot shower.