Cahaba Wildlife Refuge to Pratt's Ferry Preserve

This was a really great canoe trip. The subject was brought up Sunday at church, I researched some that evening and then late that night we decided which section of the Cahaba River to tackle. The Buck Creek to Alabama Small Boats run on Hwy 52 had gotten boring and the water was way too low for that any way. It was Cahaba Lily time and I had missed them blooming the last two years so we chose to take on Hargrove Shoals, the largest stand of Cahaba Lilies in the world. It was a great decision.

We dropped off the canoes at the Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge and left the women in charge while us men folk got the pickup vehicle down to Pratt's Ferry. We made it back in time for a whole crowd of folks to be putting in. It was nice seeing all the families with small children coming out to enjoy the river. We started down the river and didn't get anywhere before the kids saw a rope swing. Since we weren't on a mission to get somewhere in a hurry we pulled over to watch the fun.

They swang and swang. Older couples just driving through would stop and watch them occasionally. Finally two women pulled up and got out their chairs and watched the kids swing. One lady even took pictures. The kids then were able to show off their new found skills developed on the rope swing. What fun.

We finally got them to get back in the boats and head on down the river. We had already gone through one patch of lilies and quickly came up on another. We were able to make it through with some scraping and pulling. NovaEagle was riding in a kayak and with him weighing less than a 100 pounds he was actually able to easily float on through. With the wife in front, then a full cooler, then my daughter and then me in the back of the canoe, we didn't do so well. If the front of the canoe would clear something then the back would scrape. If the front of the canoe would scrape then the back would stick us. Not sure why that kept happening. :-) Again there was a group of people sitting on the bank watching us navigate our way through the lilies and over the shoals.

We stopped and snacked on a small sand bar and sponged out the water from our canoes. A sponge is a life saver in a canoe when it comes to trying to keep more water on the outside of the canoe than on the inside.

We then had a very nice little rapid that we didn't drag on and then some deep water. Just about the time we would get bored with paddling in the deep water we would hear the roar of a rapid and NovaEagle would be off like a bullet to be the first through it. We came upon an large stand of lilies down the river that I thought must be Hargrove Shoals. It took some time to get through until we found the right line to run and then SugarPie and I had a quick scary ride while MamaCacher slogged her way to us through the shoals.

We took time for a quick dip in the river and to play in the shallows. We had two squirt guns so the kids made sure everyone was wet and there was plenty of water in the canoes. :-) We then headed on down the river again. After a bit we rounded a corner and there was a bunch of canoes and folks and lilies as far as the eye could see. I knew then that we had actually reached Hargrove Shoals. It was truly amazing.

The river widens out at this point and has a long straight stretch. You can stand up in your canoe and see lilies as far as you can look. Bank to bank and all the way to the end of the straight stretch in the river are lilies. They were all in full bloom and looking very nice today. Of course the water was down and we wound up walking some of the way as you can see in the pictures above. Finally though we found some deep water and a channel down the right side. We paddled to the end and found a sand bar to the right. We pulled over and had our lunch.

At this sand bar there is a small rapid at the end of the lilies. After lunch the kids and Mister H played slide down the rapids with their life vests and seat pads. I was checking out the trail at the top of the bank. There is a walking trail from the end of the road along the river all the way down to the lilies. It actually wound down the bank to the sand bar and ended there. However there was a Y in the trail and it also led off into the woods. I could see where horses had been on the trail also. This fall I will have to see where that trail goes and map it with my GPS.

After a while we loaded back up and headed on down the river. We had quite a long run this time and found a large island in the river and saw a hover craft come down the river. We had swapped SugarPie for Master H in our canoe. Somewhere in the middle of this run his daddy told him he could jump out and cool off. Well he did and then climbed on the back of NovaEagle's kayak. His dad handed him a spare paddle and off they went. It was pretty funny and I have a video of it below. They rode like this for the remainder of the trip, even after we took another swim break.

Speaking of swim break, we had all gotten the munchies and hot so we found a gravel bar across from a pretty cliff and pulled over for a break. After a batch of GORPM it was time to float down the river to the rapids at the end of the gravel bar. We would start at the top of the gravel bar and wade out to the middle of the river in our life vests. Then we would lay on our backs with our feet out front and float down to the rapids. It was neat to feel ourselves speed up as we approached the rapids.

What made this real fun was the snake that I saw while we were chowing down on GORPM. I just happened to run around and there was this big snake coming down out of the woods headed toward the water. The girls screamed and the boys came running. This dude wasn't scared and came right on down through us and into the water. He swam across to the other side and got up on a big rock. We got the courage up to get in the water anyway. However as we would float down by him, he would come off the rock and into the water toward us. This would get the girls to screaming and the guys to flailing. I guess all the commotion would run him back up on the rock. After a couple times of this he got caught in the current and went over the rapids and down the river. We were able to float in peace then.

Eventually the two boys and I floated over the rapids and down into the next deep water area. Mr. H said everyone would come pick us up. So MamaCacher came floating down the river in that big canoe all by herself. Well I grabbed on to the front of it and hooked my feet over the side. I asked Mrs. H if I made a nice figure head. For some reason she didn't think so. About that time a family of Alabama fans came floating by in a canoe. I told them that this was how we did it in Auburn. They just smiled and kept on paddling. Hmmm.

So we pulled over to the next gravel bar and got everyone on the correct side of the canoe and headed on down the river. Soon we were at our take-out spot and everyone was disappointed that the ride was over already. That is a good thing. We finally got everything up to the parking lot, the other vehicle back and everything strapped on. We expressed to each other how much fun we had and that we would be doing it again soon.

The crew paddling down the river.


Master H swinging on the rope swing


SugarPie swinging on the rope swing


Miss H swinging on the rope swing.


NovaEagle swinging on the rope swing.


NovaEagle & Master H's new method of travel


Snake time