OK....
Starting a new discussion about your life while paddling. Not the Peaches and Cream parts , the others you have endured , while survived out there. Not all the ( calendar , picture post card ) easy going stuff we post in the trip reports section , might call this the dark side of camping and paddling.
I started paddling when I was really young , about 3 three as a passenger in a Old Town wood and canvas canoe with my dad later about the time of 2nd grade I was paddling it by myself and fishing out of it which would lead to a lot of un-normal paddling and camping trips later in my life with different canoes. :lol:
Made my 1st kayak at the age of 13 and paddled it on day trips. Sold it to a guy who wanted it more then me for a good sum and got a Mohawk ( Glass) canoe to use. That was one good fishing and hunting canoe , got a lot of game out of it and plenty of fish. Plus it let me have more gear out camping which has been very interesting thanks to that Mohawk Canoe and lots of others since then.
I have camped in three hurricanes during my life time , one time as a teenager and the others when older. They were nothing more then a lot of wind and rain , lot's of both.
Then there was the time I hiked in to Buck Lake to spend the night camping with John Depa and the storm hit us. The weather guys call them a down burst but the winds were clocked at 70 mph ( the same as a Tropical Storm or baby Hurricane) and they managed to drop a couple of trees where we were camping but not on the hammocks. The hammocks did swing a bit but we were dry and comfortable , not for the camping area which was flooded in the morning. The up side is before I hiked out in the morning I took the fly rod and made one cast into the lake and got a Bass.
Now we have to look at the Buffalo River , a nice quiet river , few rapids and as you might of guessed , it turned into one class 6 river ( if there is such a thing) from all the rain when we paddled and camped it , rapids from the start to the end and I'm in a 1/8th inch wood canoe by 15 feet . :lol: Just another learning experience for me and one Hell of a ride , the only time I have had a canoe flip on me since I started paddling them many , many years ago. Actually I can say the scenery was outstanding if you have to go belly up that is the best river to do it in , especially with all the great guys that were along on that trip.
Then that one Okefenokee trip for 5 days and 4 nights. We started out in the rain , then it turned cold and even colder , this is in a southern swamp not up north where you would expect it. The temp took a nose dive and in the morning of the 2nd day it was 27 at camp , the chickee at Maul Hammock was iced over and getting the water out of the boats was easy , turn them over and hit the bottom ... all the water fell out in a solid sheet. It did start to warm up and the rest of the trip was nice but that 1st day and night was something different.
It was more enjoyable then the 12 days in the Glades and about a 80 miles round trip back to Everglades City with the 11 1/2 days of rain. It was sort of fun camping at Lost mans Point about an inch above the high tide mark with all the ravenous Coons during the night the best thing was getting out of the Swamp Angles and away from those Coons when we were 1/4 mile off shore eating breakfast in out canoes. The next night we dumped all of the dead Swamp Angles which completely covered the bottoms of each tent ( They were the ones trapped in there when we rolled the tents up ) . We had an almost peaceful time on the Chickee at Rodgers Bay especially after we strapped the legs of the tents to the chickee with 90 pound wire leader to keep them in place. That one night the bugs were not a problem.
When we returned to the Ranger Station at Everglades City we told the Rangers about the Lost Mans Campsite and they told us the last hurricane washed it away and there isn't one there.... DUH...We had it listed on the trip report and they had it on there copy. YES Sir , give the Brazos anytime , No Bugs , No Rangers with helpful information , after the trip.
None of them was as much fun as on the Brazos River with Ron , Darrell and Bear when that Tornado or the 90 mph winds and rain from it destroyed my tent. That was an experience of a life time , especially with all the lighting with that storm. Hurricanes just huff and puff at your tent they do not destroy it.
Even the 55 mph winds when paddling out was not that bad , especially while going with them down the river , just surfing along hanging onto the paddle for dear life while the bow is splitting the waves at warp speed. That was one real pucker factor and I was sure I would need to replace the seat but that woven cane seat weathered the vacuum quite well. :wink:
There have been other trips but not as much fun as those mentioned above. Low water ones , paddling at night in the Okefenokee swamp , the normal stuff.
Not sure what the future holds but so far it has been a wild ride , at times , and really peaceful other times.
Chuck.
Starting a new discussion about your life while paddling. Not the Peaches and Cream parts , the others you have endured , while survived out there. Not all the ( calendar , picture post card ) easy going stuff we post in the trip reports section , might call this the dark side of camping and paddling.
I started paddling when I was really young , about 3 three as a passenger in a Old Town wood and canvas canoe with my dad later about the time of 2nd grade I was paddling it by myself and fishing out of it which would lead to a lot of un-normal paddling and camping trips later in my life with different canoes. :lol:
Made my 1st kayak at the age of 13 and paddled it on day trips. Sold it to a guy who wanted it more then me for a good sum and got a Mohawk ( Glass) canoe to use. That was one good fishing and hunting canoe , got a lot of game out of it and plenty of fish. Plus it let me have more gear out camping which has been very interesting thanks to that Mohawk Canoe and lots of others since then.
I have camped in three hurricanes during my life time , one time as a teenager and the others when older. They were nothing more then a lot of wind and rain , lot's of both.
Then there was the time I hiked in to Buck Lake to spend the night camping with John Depa and the storm hit us. The weather guys call them a down burst but the winds were clocked at 70 mph ( the same as a Tropical Storm or baby Hurricane) and they managed to drop a couple of trees where we were camping but not on the hammocks. The hammocks did swing a bit but we were dry and comfortable , not for the camping area which was flooded in the morning. The up side is before I hiked out in the morning I took the fly rod and made one cast into the lake and got a Bass.
Now we have to look at the Buffalo River , a nice quiet river , few rapids and as you might of guessed , it turned into one class 6 river ( if there is such a thing) from all the rain when we paddled and camped it , rapids from the start to the end and I'm in a 1/8th inch wood canoe by 15 feet . :lol: Just another learning experience for me and one Hell of a ride , the only time I have had a canoe flip on me since I started paddling them many , many years ago. Actually I can say the scenery was outstanding if you have to go belly up that is the best river to do it in , especially with all the great guys that were along on that trip.
Then that one Okefenokee trip for 5 days and 4 nights. We started out in the rain , then it turned cold and even colder , this is in a southern swamp not up north where you would expect it. The temp took a nose dive and in the morning of the 2nd day it was 27 at camp , the chickee at Maul Hammock was iced over and getting the water out of the boats was easy , turn them over and hit the bottom ... all the water fell out in a solid sheet. It did start to warm up and the rest of the trip was nice but that 1st day and night was something different.
It was more enjoyable then the 12 days in the Glades and about a 80 miles round trip back to Everglades City with the 11 1/2 days of rain. It was sort of fun camping at Lost mans Point about an inch above the high tide mark with all the ravenous Coons during the night the best thing was getting out of the Swamp Angles and away from those Coons when we were 1/4 mile off shore eating breakfast in out canoes. The next night we dumped all of the dead Swamp Angles which completely covered the bottoms of each tent ( They were the ones trapped in there when we rolled the tents up ) . We had an almost peaceful time on the Chickee at Rodgers Bay especially after we strapped the legs of the tents to the chickee with 90 pound wire leader to keep them in place. That one night the bugs were not a problem.
When we returned to the Ranger Station at Everglades City we told the Rangers about the Lost Mans Campsite and they told us the last hurricane washed it away and there isn't one there.... DUH...We had it listed on the trip report and they had it on there copy. YES Sir , give the Brazos anytime , No Bugs , No Rangers with helpful information , after the trip.
None of them was as much fun as on the Brazos River with Ron , Darrell and Bear when that Tornado or the 90 mph winds and rain from it destroyed my tent. That was an experience of a life time , especially with all the lighting with that storm. Hurricanes just huff and puff at your tent they do not destroy it.
Even the 55 mph winds when paddling out was not that bad , especially while going with them down the river , just surfing along hanging onto the paddle for dear life while the bow is splitting the waves at warp speed. That was one real pucker factor and I was sure I would need to replace the seat but that woven cane seat weathered the vacuum quite well. :wink:
There have been other trips but not as much fun as those mentioned above. Low water ones , paddling at night in the Okefenokee swamp , the normal stuff.
Not sure what the future holds but so far it has been a wild ride , at times , and really peaceful other times.
Chuck.