I will not go into great detail on this report cause I am sure swampy will .... Just to back up the pictures he took.
Then the rest of the gang will have a lot to offer so I am only covering the basics.
The paddlers on this trip..
Harry .. The commodore & his pal Ray along with Van
Allen & his son
Al and his good looking canoe
David .....kc4zvw
Swampy
Bear
Mac & myself.
That is 11 paddlers with 6 canoes , two pirogues ...Swampy & David and I will have the Swamp Girl.(don't know what to call it but a Florida "Swamp" river boat)
The truck is packed, the Swamp Girl is on the trailer and all I have to do is get over to Mac's then drop the trailer on his new Nissan truck throw my stuff in the back and we are river bound. Got to Mac's, everything is ready to go and away we go.
Up interstate 95 and just north of Daytona we hit a traffic jam, road construction or destruction depending on how you look at it. While in the traffic, going about 2 MPH :evil:
Mac gets this funny look and got me worried. He forgot to pack his fishing rod, has his tackle box but no rod & reel. This is a guy that fishes everyday. :?
We make it thru the traffic , 18 miles of it, and finally get to Folkston , Ga. Pull in to the grocery store and I got 3 pounds of hamburger with the necessities for supper at Traders Hill. Take out and get to Traders Hill to find swampy and bear already there complaining that supper is not ready because there cook is late getting there. :roll:
That is how this trip started. :roll:
I managed to get supper cooked and with some of bears, fermented grape juice, it was a good supper and the BS was flowing in full force.....it did not stop till the end of the trip.
Allen & his son were going to meet us at the hill and we were worried they were not coming but that was something we did not have to worry about.
Up in the morning and off to town for a breakfast at the Family Restaurant then down to Steve's place to get ready for the shuttle to the river. Allen and Caleb were there when we pulled in. Allen saw the traffic problem on I 95 and pulled off the hit it early in the morning to miss it. We got the gear loaded when David then Al and later Harry, Ray & Van arrive. Off to the river,
Monday....
Everything is unloaded and we are on the river. The sky is getting cloudy and they are dark ones. After a couple of hours of paddling we decide to make camp cause the weather is not looking good. It is early but we are not in a rush to get anywhere.
An early supper ... a tarp hung for protection and sure as heck a little later the pat, spat, pat, splat of rain drops. It rained all night .....about 2 inches worth and no one in camp had dry items. The boats were full of water, Van said it took 66 dips with a small bucket to empty his canoe.
The sparkey curse is working even on a non member (guest) Bear. I told bear he might as well make it official since he has been officially indoctrinated. :lol: :lol: :lol:
Harry, Ray, David, Al, Allen & Caleb & Mac are in tents, Bear & Van are cowboying it while Swampy & I are using the Hennessey Hammocks.
Tuesday....
The morning is foggy and overcast so nothing dries out. We have breakfast, pack up and hit the river. Later in the day it starts to clear up and we locate a good camping area ... It looked like a Wash & Dry center, stuff everywhere, on the bushes & clothes lines for drying. We finally got camp set up and a hot supper then a good fire to pick up our spirits.
On the river in the morning with a clear sky and WINDS ..... It was blowing but felt good, no rain.
I would keep checking my GPS unit to check on our progress and we were a little behind so we paddled just a little more today and instead of spending two night at our new camp site we would only be there one night. This would make the last day of paddling easier and getting off the river so it would not cause any problems for anyone.
Wednesday
On the river and a short day of paddling but close to the area where Steve would get us. About a 3 to 4 hour paddle to get there.
Beautiful weather and a nice campsite. In early to set up and just having some fun. Then the weather gods struck .... NO NOT RAIN ....... COLD. It got down in the shiver & shake temps and Thursday morning all of us looked like Eskimos trying to stay warm. The darn cold got me up at 1:30 AM and even putting extra clothing on I was still cold, later I found out I was not the only one with that problem. When the sun started shinning on us it warmed up and was nice once again but till then it was cold.
Thursday
After we thawed out it was a short paddle to the bridge and Harry called Steve to come and pick us up. While moving all of the gear and boats up the ramp from the river it was Right Guard Time .... HOT.
Then nice thing about paddling with a great bunch of guy's is that everyone drops what ever they are doing and gives a hand to help the other person. We made short work on moving all of the boats & gear up to the flat land to be loaded on the trailers later.
As on the last trip a good GPS Unit along with a map will let you know where you are so you can take life easy and have a good idea of what lays ahead as far as the trip and distance goes. Takes all of the guess work out of it.
I am sure everyone suffered from the weather (I did) but we were not at the Holiday Inn we were trappers, voyagers, explorers, paddlers, campers and we had to take what ever Mother Nature threw at us ....Which we did and had a blast.
The rain was a blessing in disguise... It gave us the needed water to paddle over trees that we would have had to drag the boats over and also a lot stronger current to make paddling easy, heck you could just drift at a good river speed.
Plus it saved my reputation.
Go camping with me and you will get wet.
Heck , everyone already knew that.
Good friends, good paddlers and good times and the trip along with the time just flew by.
Trips like this work some marvelous magic .... You start out strangers and become friends...... This is something that does not occur everyday in your life but only on those rare occasions which we are blessed with.
As I tell everyone .... We only have the best folks on here with us.....
Chuck.
Then the rest of the gang will have a lot to offer so I am only covering the basics.
The paddlers on this trip..
Harry .. The commodore & his pal Ray along with Van
Allen & his son
Al and his good looking canoe
David .....kc4zvw
Swampy
Bear
Mac & myself.
That is 11 paddlers with 6 canoes , two pirogues ...Swampy & David and I will have the Swamp Girl.(don't know what to call it but a Florida "Swamp" river boat)
The truck is packed, the Swamp Girl is on the trailer and all I have to do is get over to Mac's then drop the trailer on his new Nissan truck throw my stuff in the back and we are river bound. Got to Mac's, everything is ready to go and away we go.
Up interstate 95 and just north of Daytona we hit a traffic jam, road construction or destruction depending on how you look at it. While in the traffic, going about 2 MPH :evil:
Mac gets this funny look and got me worried. He forgot to pack his fishing rod, has his tackle box but no rod & reel. This is a guy that fishes everyday. :?
We make it thru the traffic , 18 miles of it, and finally get to Folkston , Ga. Pull in to the grocery store and I got 3 pounds of hamburger with the necessities for supper at Traders Hill. Take out and get to Traders Hill to find swampy and bear already there complaining that supper is not ready because there cook is late getting there. :roll:
That is how this trip started. :roll:
I managed to get supper cooked and with some of bears, fermented grape juice, it was a good supper and the BS was flowing in full force.....it did not stop till the end of the trip.
Allen & his son were going to meet us at the hill and we were worried they were not coming but that was something we did not have to worry about.
Up in the morning and off to town for a breakfast at the Family Restaurant then down to Steve's place to get ready for the shuttle to the river. Allen and Caleb were there when we pulled in. Allen saw the traffic problem on I 95 and pulled off the hit it early in the morning to miss it. We got the gear loaded when David then Al and later Harry, Ray & Van arrive. Off to the river,
Monday....
Everything is unloaded and we are on the river. The sky is getting cloudy and they are dark ones. After a couple of hours of paddling we decide to make camp cause the weather is not looking good. It is early but we are not in a rush to get anywhere.
An early supper ... a tarp hung for protection and sure as heck a little later the pat, spat, pat, splat of rain drops. It rained all night .....about 2 inches worth and no one in camp had dry items. The boats were full of water, Van said it took 66 dips with a small bucket to empty his canoe.
The sparkey curse is working even on a non member (guest) Bear. I told bear he might as well make it official since he has been officially indoctrinated. :lol: :lol: :lol:
Harry, Ray, David, Al, Allen & Caleb & Mac are in tents, Bear & Van are cowboying it while Swampy & I are using the Hennessey Hammocks.
Tuesday....
The morning is foggy and overcast so nothing dries out. We have breakfast, pack up and hit the river. Later in the day it starts to clear up and we locate a good camping area ... It looked like a Wash & Dry center, stuff everywhere, on the bushes & clothes lines for drying. We finally got camp set up and a hot supper then a good fire to pick up our spirits.
On the river in the morning with a clear sky and WINDS ..... It was blowing but felt good, no rain.
I would keep checking my GPS unit to check on our progress and we were a little behind so we paddled just a little more today and instead of spending two night at our new camp site we would only be there one night. This would make the last day of paddling easier and getting off the river so it would not cause any problems for anyone.
Wednesday
On the river and a short day of paddling but close to the area where Steve would get us. About a 3 to 4 hour paddle to get there.
Beautiful weather and a nice campsite. In early to set up and just having some fun. Then the weather gods struck .... NO NOT RAIN ....... COLD. It got down in the shiver & shake temps and Thursday morning all of us looked like Eskimos trying to stay warm. The darn cold got me up at 1:30 AM and even putting extra clothing on I was still cold, later I found out I was not the only one with that problem. When the sun started shinning on us it warmed up and was nice once again but till then it was cold.
Thursday
After we thawed out it was a short paddle to the bridge and Harry called Steve to come and pick us up. While moving all of the gear and boats up the ramp from the river it was Right Guard Time .... HOT.
Then nice thing about paddling with a great bunch of guy's is that everyone drops what ever they are doing and gives a hand to help the other person. We made short work on moving all of the boats & gear up to the flat land to be loaded on the trailers later.
As on the last trip a good GPS Unit along with a map will let you know where you are so you can take life easy and have a good idea of what lays ahead as far as the trip and distance goes. Takes all of the guess work out of it.
I am sure everyone suffered from the weather (I did) but we were not at the Holiday Inn we were trappers, voyagers, explorers, paddlers, campers and we had to take what ever Mother Nature threw at us ....Which we did and had a blast.
The rain was a blessing in disguise... It gave us the needed water to paddle over trees that we would have had to drag the boats over and also a lot stronger current to make paddling easy, heck you could just drift at a good river speed.
Plus it saved my reputation.
Go camping with me and you will get wet.
Heck , everyone already knew that.Good friends, good paddlers and good times and the trip along with the time just flew by.
Trips like this work some marvelous magic .... You start out strangers and become friends...... This is something that does not occur everyday in your life but only on those rare occasions which we are blessed with.
As I tell everyone .... We only have the best folks on here with us.....
Chuck.