So, as I promised in my last post, I would explain my vagueness.
Yesterday night, at about 1:30 am, a group of eight people, including myself, set sail in a pair of steel canoes onto the swamp-like upper portion of the Patuxant river.
During the day the river is treacherous. Not dangerous, per se, but a good challenge to navigate. The river boasts and almost endless supply of downed trees and invisible sand banks. Not to mention spider webs galore and spiders the size of your face.
Okay, that’s only true if you have a pretty small face. But, regardless, they’re everywhere and comparatively large.
This is the river we decided to travel.
We decided to head downstream, so that the current would help us along. The first stretch of roughly three quarters of a mile were smooth sailing. Our only obstacles were clearly seen ahead of time. The easy ride gave us a good chance to get the hang of powering the canoe.
Soon though, we ended up faced with more and more challenging maneuvers between branches and trees. Both canoes often were stuck and on several occasions all the riders in the canoe had to climb out over a tree, drag the canoe over and then climb back in.
During a (comparatively) shallow spot in the river the current picked up. The other canoe (carrying two of the women in our party) got swept into the current sideways. It took them into a huge dead tree. First the canoe was panicking about being swept up. Then, upon seeing the huge infestation of spiders in the tree they were headed for, panicked about that, leaning hard to one side.
At that point though, it was all over. The canoe tipped far enough in the water that the current caught the inside edge and sent the whole lot of the into the water.
It was at that point that they managed to lose a flash-light that drifted down stream, unbeknownst to us. For the next 30 - 40 minutes the light from the drift flash light in the water shown upward into the trees, giving off the illusion that there was another person in the woods.
Come sunrise the group was mostly cold, wet and eager for the end point to be around the next corner. But it wasn’t. We were in the water for another hour and a half before finally catching sight of our destination.
We finally beached the canoes at our final location about 7:00am. We were all disgusting. Muddy. Smelly. Cold. And thrilled to finally be home.
Although it was hard and uncomfortable and I’m still exhausted and sore, we all had an awesome time. A time not easily topped!
