NovaEagle, TeaBird and I arrived at the Suwannee River State Park around 4:30 Thursday evening. We signed in and found our campsite. We then checked out the area and the put-in. We tried some fishing but hung up a lure so we put the kayak in to see if we could get it off what ever had it hung. This also allowed NovaEagle and TeaBird the opportunity to test out the kayak in the river and get used to the current. TeaBird had been in a kayak before but only in a lake. The current was something that surprised him at first. However with some coaching from the sidelines he quickly caught on how to maneuver in the current.
We headed back to the camp site and Papa Chuck and Uncle Frank were setting up camp. They had snuck in on us. TeaBird had never set up a tent before so I walked him and NovaEagle through setting up their tent. NovaEagle had helped set it up before but it had been long enough that he had forgotten how. After they had it setup we proceeded to cook some food for dinner. I tried to cook some Ramen noodles but the water kept boiling over and putting out my stove. I finally figured out how to keep the flame at a very low level by holding my mouth just right while adjusting the gas valve. The boys then had a good bowl of noodles. I just boiled some water and rehydrated a meal of MamaCacher's that I had dehydrated. It was very good in the camp site.
The boys retired to their tent and Uncle Frank and I were hanging out talking when I noticed that we were being invaded by blinking lights. The fire flies were coming up out of the ground by the thousands. It was the coolest thing I had ever seen. I got the boys out of the tent and they were totally amazed. They began to try and catch a few. NovaEagle caught three and showed them to Uncle Frank and myself. He then proceeded to let them go back to their friends. The natural light show was probably the coolest event during the whole trip.
As everyone retired to their bags and pads, I ran off to the little boy's room. I then snuck out and found a cache in the dark near the river. I got to another cache but couldn't find it. I planned on getting the boys to help me find it in the morning but we slept in late and the canoe brothers showed up and it was time to hit the water. After I got to bed that night I did have a visitor that came right by my tent. When I turned on my flashlight he quickly scurried off into the night. I can only assume it was a possum or a coon. At 4 the next morning, according to Uncle Frank, a big hoot owl cut loose several times and woke us all up. Those things are worse than a rooster.
The next morning we got breakfast in a hurry and packed up for the trip. We got down to the water's edge and it seemed to take forever to get everything in the canoe. Being as this was the first time for me to camp in the canoe and also have two inexperienced 10 year-old boys with me, it was somewhat of a daunting task. However with a little help from the brothers four, we were soon in the water and headed on our water adventure as our overall adventure had already begun the evening before.
The water was dark and cool and as the sun began to come up we quickly learned to paddle next to the shore and stay in the shade. The boys of course were snacking and drinking as we went and occasionally needed to pull over to the shore for pit stops. Also NovaEagle and TeaBird were swapping out between the kayak and the front of the canoe. This also required pulling over. These activities proceeded to put us way behind the rest of the paddling crew. The guys pulled over eventually on a sand bar for a break and to let us catch up.
TeaBird jumped out and grabbed his fishing pole to start fishing. He had used mine that I brought the evening before but decided to leave it in the car and bring his for the water trip. Well it immediately became apparent that his reel was jammed and wasn't going to work. He then vowed to test his fishing gear before the next trip. Nothing like learning things the hard way to make them stick.
Stephen threw his lure in and got it wet a couple of times but couldn't get anything to bite. Then a snake showed up and swam along the river past us and past our canoes and into a tree top in the water. You can see the picture in the slide show of where he wound up. We drank some of our water and then headed back on down the river.
We paddled on until we got hungry and then we pulled over for a quick lunch. Everyone else pulled cold sandwiches out of their coolers. I however didn't have a cooler and had to rehydrate some food. That took longer than expected so I learned the hard way to have something quick to eat for lunch that didn't require the stove. NovaEagle found a rather large turtle shell while checking out the upper bank area.
We headed on down the river and Uncle Frank, the Golden Pathfinder, found us a really nice sand bank to spend the night on. The guys quickly threw up their camp site while I waited for the sun to drop below the trees so my tent wouldn't turn into a sauna. This was a neat little trick that I learned from reading Backpacker magazine. While we were waiting for the sun to drop, the boys played in the sand, then the water then the mud along the edge of the river. Needless to say, despite all my advice on how to remove the sand from their bodies, there was still a good bit of sand in their tent by bed time. Oh well, nothing like learning the hard way to make it stick.
The boys were pretty much able to put up their tent by themselves this time. I gave them some advice on how to keep all the accessories in one spot so they could find them in the morning while taking the tent down. I rehydrated some Mountain House food and both boys really liked it. In fact the two serving package wasn't enough for them after a day of paddling. A batch of one of MamaCacher's rehydrated meals and they were good to go.
I put some stink bait on a hook and sat on one of my removable canoe seats on the beach. It was very nice and relaxing. The boys sat beside me and pointed out the stars and such that they knew. Around 9 pm, after no bites from the fish but plenty from the mosquitoes, we headed off to bed. Not 10 minutes after we turned off the lights the local flock of hoot owls cut loose. In the darkness of the night I heard, "Daddy!" "Yes?" "What was that?" "Owls." "Oh." We were soon all asleep after that.
The next morning I got the boys up and we got a quick breakfast and broke camp in a hurry. The boys were starting to get the hang of it and know what to do without being told a jillion times. So we were down and packed before anyone else. We went ahead and headed on down the river since we were the slowest in the pack. This was probably the most relaxing and enjoyable part of the trip we had. We were just paddling at our own pace in the shade of the trees along the bank and not worried about catching up with anyone.
After a couple of hours on the water though the peace and tranquility were interrupted by the canoe brothers, Dennis and Skip, pulling a kamikaze run on the kamikaze kid (NovaEagle) in the kamikaze kayak. The kid was lost in his own little paddling world when the canoe slammed into the back of his kayak and the brothers yelled at the same time. I just hated I wasn't looking in that direction when it happened. They said he almost left the kayak. They thought they were going to have to hold him in.
It is at this point in the story that I will mention that NovaEagle was referred to as the kamikaze kid because that is what he had been doing to the canoe brothers and me all day yesterday. He would catch us talking or not paying attention and then ram us from behind or the side. I had a few opportunities to get him back but this was Dennis and Skip's first opportunity. They made it a most excellent one. This story was told more than once after the trip was over and I am sure will be told again and again. Revenge is sweet.
Soon after Uncle Frank and Papa Chuck caught up with us and spotted a bald eagle flying over the river. It was way cool to watch him catch the updrafts as he drifted higher and higher to spot a meal. NovaEagle was most definitely pumped to finally see his first eagle in the wild. That was his pinnacle moment of the trip.
We stopped later at a sand bar discovered by the canoe brothers and grabbed a quick snack. The boys devoured Papa Chuck's PB&J supplies and we had another snake come by our boats and hide in a tree top in the water.
On the river again, we paddled until we came to a state park landing. We docked and used the porta potties, loaded up our water bottles, grabbed some hot lunch and headed on down the river again. It was at this point that TeaBird and I got way behind. We finally made it up to NovaEagle and then no one else. An hour or so later when we saw them, they were pulled in at a landing. As we pulled in, we discovered the call had been made to end the trip there.
We had covered 29 miles in two days and still had another 18 to go the next day to make our planned destination. Everyone decided this was too far and too fast and since we were at a good take out spot, now was a good time to end it.
We had a great time and are now planning a canoe trip in Alabama on either the Sipsey river or the Cahaba river. This is definitely something that we want to do more than once. Thanks to Papa Chuck for pulling this together and thanks to Uncle Frank, Dennis and Skip for all the help and advice and encouragement to the boys. Also thanks to Skip for putting us up in his house that last night and letting us adults get a shower.
