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| Packed up and ready for the river |
Weather called for "shit", but we paddled anyway. 50% chance of rain / t-storms. And for me, as long as rain forecasts are below 50% (maybe 60%) I'll take my chances and put on the water. As Doug say's, "rain sucks! paddling is better, so let's paddle!" And we did. We met at my place around 4pm on Friday and packed our boats on my truck. Headed upstream a whopping 5 miles and put-in at Welch Park. Kids, parents, gawkers, talkers and anyone else watching a little league game were there not only watching the game, they were looking at us meander to the launch like we don't belong. "Huh? Dudes in boats? Here in our ballpark?" Yeah, whatever! I'm amazed at how interested folks are with us paddlers and a bunch of boats tied to one vehicle. It aint that big a deal, right? But then again, we do bring a bunch of beer with us, so that might be the problem.
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| Clay texture on the river bank |
Anyway, slow paddle downstream. No hurry. I paddled my new (old) Mad River Malecite which I still need to tell you folks about, Scott in his Bell Wildfire and Doug in his OT 158, THE HOGBACKED SAINT. We get to Cretes and setup camp. Surprisingly enough, the rain holds off (which actually stopped before we got on the river). Tents and tarps are flying first thing in the event of rain. Doug's setup. I'm setup. And Scott saves his setup for the bivy sack he so often camps in to simply put below the tarp. I'm envious of the simplicity in that sucker, and maybe someday I'll get one. But for now, the tent will do. I think Scott's got it figured out though.
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| Wild Spring growth on the river bank. |
Once camp was setup, Doug had shit figured out. I mean figured out, and today was his demo day, and it shined. I'm talking fire starters man. He brought flares from an emergency kit Karen had picked up for him. Those suckers burned hot, and started some gnarly oak logs for our heat. Well done Doug (for once).
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| Scott and Doug looking for our spot on the beach |
Uneventful night for the most part. This was suppose to be a full moon paddle, but with overcast skies and rain, the moon wasn't up until clearing skies late in the night. Scott and Doug made dinner. We sat by the fire. Doug went to go "find some stuff" in his tent to never return for the evening around 8:30 (a late night for him) and Scott and I hung out by the fire to watch the sky clear. I put myself down around 10:45 and saw the moon still behind the trees to the SE. Never saw the full moon but got a good nights rest. Awoke at 5am to rest until 7am and get out of the tent to a steak breakfast compliments of Scott and his trusty skillet.
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| Doug's fire starter |
Paddled off and enjoyed the day. Was good to have a trip with the boys again and see Doug in his regular spirits.
