I woke up this morning, got my gear packed and everything loaded and the last thing I wanted to do was enjoy my eggs & bacon on the river bank and just soak up the sounds and motion of the river and nature.
I boiled 1.5 cups of water, carefully opened my dehydrated meal and filled the bag with the boiling water to let it sit for 7 minutes, stir and let sit for 5 more minutes because air you rush the last part, you have to skin left in your mouth. 5 minutes and 1 second later I reached over to grab the back and dumped it onto the riverbank at my feet.
Lessons learned the hard way seem to be the ones that you remember the most.
Beef stroganoff in my boat didn’t have the same ring to it, but it got the job done.
The day was a long cold rainy day that was stop and go all day. Staying hydrated is really important but then you have to stop every 5 miles to go pee. 4-15 minute stops adds an hour to your 8 hour day sitting in the boat so I have started trying to figure out a schedule and watch my lazy stops along the way. The bonus I learned today is the odds of a gas station being within walking distance of a bridge crossing the river is pretty good. A 5 minute walk and I found a jar of peanut butter and a back of pretzels to snack on while I paddled!
I was low on water and stopped to talk to a farmer who gladly gave me a couple of gallons which saves time filtering river water. He had an amazing farm and was 3rd generation and had no plans of selling or leaving any time soon which head made very clear as I’m sure it is worth a fortune.
The rain set in really heavy at about 4pm. I don’t mind paddling in the rain, the pattering on the water gives me a great rhythm to just enjoy putting on miles.
Tonight’s camp is at a place called Vernon’s canoe landing. All of these camp sites are random places people have stopped or it maybe be a state owned piece of property but there is very little info about the sites online and I’m finding them to rank on the lower side of easy or enjoyable.
Tonight site has a nice 30 stair climb from the river either ZERO place to get out of your boat etc. I was standing in 24” of mud seconds after getting out of my boat. At one point this was a very nice place and had a winch to raise a canoe to the upper level of the campsite.
There is a picnic table, soaking wet, a fire pit, and a pad to place a tent, but Large trees have fallen on the tent area.
I am using a hammock so I verified the stability of the trees for tonight and had no issues. I got a small fire going to warm up, and watched a beaver swim back and forth all evening doing beaver things.
It was a pita dragging all of my dry bags and gear up the broken steps, and won’t be in any hurry to drag them all back down tomorrow. On a side note Juan picked me up a couple of huge shopping bags from Harbor Freight and they worked awesome for moving gear.
Tomorrow I have 2 options. Paddle 12 miles to a campsite that has cabins, but is closed for the season still or paddle 35 miles to the next spot which will be completely unknown. Let’s go the distance!
Maybe I’ll get lucky and find something between the two places…
I’m whooped. Time for bed!
