report on the"Another Pirogue Expedition"

[jdupre']

Made it back, guys. Whew! HOT,HOT,HOT! Showered up and feeling MUCH better. I think Piper and I have rethought this mid-summer camping. High 80's til way after dark. Skeeters had a field day from dusk to daylight. Anyway, it was a very memorable and enjoyable weekend, but maybe not described as "fun" if that makes sense.

Started out from Attakapas Landing on the southeast shore of Lake Verret. Used two of the last few parking places.

Headed northwest along the shore in calm water. Rounded the first point and the chop started picking up. I had planned for us to cut across open water straight between points but we thought it better to swing closer to shore to stay out of some of the worse waves. This put us a little behind schedule and led to some confusion on my part. Swinging closer to shore caused some of the minor points to be mistaken for the major points I was using for reference. Piper " Is that the point we're looking for?" Me " Yeah............ uh, I think so."

We were really humping it through 1' to 2 1/2' swells quartering from the rear. We both had a few break over the side. Piper had to stop a couple of times to bail out the boat. I'll let him fill in the details.

This picture was taken before it got really serious. Later, Pipers pirogue would almost disappear from view behind some of the swells. Pushing the limits of our humble little pirogues.

First night's meal-- spicy chicken wings. MMMmm -- finger licking good.

More later.

Joey

 

[oldsparkey]

Re: report on the another Pirogue Expedition

Those wings sure look good , a shame you did not have any swamp seed to put those left over pan drippings on. "O" That would of been so good.

Glad you guys made it back and managed the trip. The hammocks should of let you have a little relaxation and escape from the heat , especially later during the night when it would of cooled down a shade more. After all it is June so there was no threat of any frost. :wink: :wink:

Like someone said a while back........ " Like I tell my wife, in South Louisiana , if you let heat, rain or mosquitoes stop you from doing stuff, you're not going to be doing much of anything."

Chuck.
PS. Back in the good ole days round here ..... Swamp Seed was a local tern for Rice. Just like Swamp Cabbage is the heart of the Cabbage Palm , some dang good eating , cooked or raw.

 

[islandpiper]

Re: report on the another Pirogue Expedition

Yup......made it back alive and only a pint and half low on the O-Positive test.

the skeeters ate good this weekend, and we got an invitation from them to stop back any old time we want. We may check back in about January and see how they are doing.

Chuck, we did have rice and we did soak it up with that sauce. I pre-bag rice, dried carrots, dried celery and dried onion, all home made, and a tomato bullion cube and it is an easy meal on the bayou.

Here are a couple pics of the DO with the wings gust getting going.

We really had to tough it, didn't even have a grill so we made a quick tripod.....with a little para-cord and a hanger stick. Worked good.

Those wings went long enough in hot oil to get real tender, then drained, and a good bath in Louisiana Fish Fry Company wing sauce. ya, boy......that's eating.

OK, back to the picture file, and a couple more short posts.

piper

 

[islandpiper]

Re: report on the another Pirogue Expedition

After a quiet beginning, on the water at about 8:30 we began the now legendary seven mile paddle. It may go down in history along with the Trail of Tears and the Bataan Death March...... through some sort of Cajun Magic that most of us will never understand, the Elm Hall Wildlife Preserve retreated from our advancing pirogues at the very same speed we paddled.

Such a beautiful, calm begging to a voyage!!

And my tour guide, companion, friend, menu tester, fishing counselor and magician, Jdupre'"

After what started out to be a seven mile straight line paddle, lengthened somewhat by hugging the shoreline......actually, lengthened a lot.......interupted by periods of putting the lake back into the lake, using my hat, and teaching Joey some Northern Swear Words, reserved for such moments, we eventually came to our camp.

Joey, fearing that my might starve before dinner quickly opened a beer and some viennies........

piper

 

[jdupre']

Re: report on the another Pirogue Expedition

Head cook doing his thing. Piper rigged up the tripod on the spot when someone else on the trip forgot his grill.

And, enjoying the fruits of his labor. Fresh catfish with lemon slices, roasted potatoes with onion and bacon. Mighty good vittles.

We put out a dozen or so bush lines in the canal and we eaked out one good meal out of them. Mostly too rough to go out into the lake. We baited with prepared dough bait and I'm not quite sold on it yet.

 

[gbinga]

Re: report on the another Pirogue Expedition

Looks like you ate well, anyhow. I've never seen the hanging stick trick. It is so obvious that I probably would have never thought of it. I'll darn sure remember it though.

Piper - were those chopsticks that you were cooking with?

GBinGA

 

[bearridge]

Re: report on the another Pirogue Expedition

samplin' with [grin]

I tote a pair with me on trips in case somebody catches some sushi.....'n a jar of wasabi [chuckle]

 

[islandpiper]

Re: report on the another Pirogue Expedition

Chopsticks are the most under-rated tools in the kitchen....they select, they grab, they mix and stir. No washing required.....give 'em a scrape with the knife and they are good to go.


Piper

 

[islandpiper]

Re: report on the another Pirogue Expedition

Jdupre' says that hunting reg's in Louisiana are different than Michigan and that PFD season opened last week. And, you CAN shoot them out fo the trees here.

piper

 

[beekeeper]

Re: report on the another Pirogue Expedition

Great report. Glad you returned safely. Thanks for sharing.

beekeeper

 

[jdupre']

Re: report on the another Pirogue Expedition

And they're easy to hit up close like that, too.

 

[islandpiper]

Re: report on the another Pirogue Expedition

And, of course there was some cornbread involved. A nice hot pan of cornbread and honey makes a nice lunch. We had to tough it a little bit, I didn't bring any butter. Sometimes you just have to make sacrifices.

Funny, we never make any Dutch food in the DO.

piper

 

[crkdltr]

Re: report on the another Pirogue Expedition

Looked like you guys had fun, glad I wasn't there. First boat load of water and I would have turned around and gone home. :lol:

 

[Wannabe]

Re: report on the another Pirogue Expedition

Skeeters eat good when ya wear short sleeves and shorts. :lol:
Bob

 

[jdupre']

Re: report on the another Pirogue Expedition

I just checked our time and distance going and coming on Google Earth. We paddled about a mile further going by hugging the bank . We averaged about 2.5 mph including breaks to rest and bale water, but we were humping it. Averaged a few tenths better than that on the return trip but it was MUCH easier paddling - mostly just cruising. 7 1/2 miles going - 6 1/2 miles coming back.

 

[Oyster]

Re: report on the another Pirogue Expedition

Fantanglious! Thanks for the beautiful shots of the scenery. If only the film did not get corrupted when you developed and posted them. :lol:

 

[jdupre']

Re: report on the another Pirogue Expedition

This our route going to the campsite -- more or less. :roll:

We had wind and waves coming up from the southwest. It got pretty hairy about three quarters of the way there when we headed west along where the shore curved inward. 1 1/2' to 2 1/2' seas coming in off the port beam ( I think that's how those nautical types refer to it). Seat sucking conditions in a pirogue.

 

[rpecot]

Re: report on the another Pirogue Expedition

Nice report and pics. Kinda sorry I missed it, but kinda not. :? Nothing like camping in Louisiana.

See any noteworthy wildlife (that you didn't cook)?

 

[islandpiper]

We saw gators and snakes.....and bald eagles and some more exotic birds. Joey knows them all and I convinced him that we had enough other food so we didn't catch any of the above. He has a recipe for "Grande' Blonde' a Plume".....Large Bald Eagle......next time maybe.

I wanted to shoot and eat the black snake we saw, but without his grill that would have been tough to the snake got a reprieve.

Too bad you didn't make it, but we all understand. YOu would have had fun and gained 2 pounds like we did.

piper

 

[jdupre']

Russ, we saw a few bald eagles, commorants, a roost with hundreds of white cranes and a few gators. We had 2 or 3 gators come within 25 feet of our hammocks on the edge of the swamp - little guys- 2' to 4'. I also saw something I had never seen before. There were 3 pileated woodpeckers flying around and making a big commotion. I'm guessing 2 males and one female. They were posturing and preening and flitting about so I'm thinking some kind of mating ritual. They are big birds and it was pretty awesome to see them behaving like that. 8)