You've Got Questions

You've Got Questions

Today was our sixth day on the river. We're past the halfway point and spending the night at mile mark 95! We've come 130 miles so far and our arms are looking super good. 

We are headed to Peacock Slough and it is our last river camp.  The river camps are amazing and we have met interesting and kind people at all of them.  Also they are completely free to paddlers and hikers and are wonderfully maintained by the Suwannee River Water Management District (I think?).  They make me think we should put more funding into outdoor areas because it is so incredible that people have the opportunity to experience the Suwannee so easily and so comfortably. Also I was reading in my Suwannee River book that they are all handicap accessible and that is pretty damn cool as well. I yelled these facts at some of our fellow campers this afternoon.  When I was satisfied that they were suitably impressed I offered them cookies.

This morning we went to look at where the Suwannee meets the Withlacoochie.  The Withlacoochie is my personal favorite river in Florida because it’s the one I grew up with.  Although this is the north Withlacoochie and not the south one it was still fun to see where it branches off from the Suwannee. The Suwannee river basin is the source of about 30% of Florida's water (according to my new campsite fact sharing friends) so spending time with it feels like spending time with an important Florida hero.

After that we took a shuttle from Suwannee River State Park down to Charles Spring - we skipped about 15 miles doing this but 1) the park ranger said it was an uneventful 15 miles in low water and would require frequent portage in the higher water and 2) it meant we could take a slow day and stop at all the springs we passed. Thanks to our shuttle driver Lucas for going on a weird adventure to find the spring with us. We'll be at Peacock Slough today, our last river camp!

In all honesty today was more of the same, except we started to see more springs at the edges of the river, more sturgeon, and got rained on a bit. Abby and I are going to answer some of the questions we have been asked by the folks we meet, things friends asked us when we started out, and by people who have emailed me after stumbling upon my weird blog (THIS BLOG HAS 4,700 PAGE VIEWS YOU GUYS! WHAT ARE YOU EVEN LOOKING AT?!). You guys are rad and tomorrow is going to be another great river day!!! 

What made you want to kayak the whole Suwannee? 

I wanted to see a river start to finish and I grew up in and love Florida so it seemed like a good river to paddle. On a personal level I think it is a chance to prove to myself that I am capable of an adventure. Every day I spend on this river the more I love it. 

What do we do for safety/protection?

We brought slingshots, water guns, glitter, and smell truly awful. No one wants to be near us. If we are being honest here, and we should be, the most danger I have been in has been because I climbed up an oak tree and out on a limb in order to jump into the middle of the river.

What do we eat?

Sturgeon mostly. Tonight for dinner we had macaroni and cheese with bacon, potato chips, and salsa in it. We packed a camp stove and bought lots of food that can be cooked in boiling water. Also we cross bridges and roads fairly regularly and go into town for BLT’s and to resupply our snacks.  In many ways this is a luxurious way to adventure because we aren’t very limited about what we can bring to eat in terms of weight or having it go bad.

What do we do about water?

Scoop it from the river and purify it with science. We're using Aquamira. The water tastes pretty good it's just a funny color. If someone were to do this trip I might suggest adding a second filtering system to the water.  I scooped a minnow up yesterday. 

How do we fit everything in our kayaks, what did you bring? 

We are in 12 foot Wilderness System Pungo kayaks.  They hold an incredible amount if you pack them carefully.  While they are perhaps not the ideal kayak for long distance they are my favorite to paddle since they track great even when packed and have ample room for gear and to curl up in to nap. 

We each brought a small bag of clothes (two or three shirts and shorts and a bathing suit), we are sharing a food bag and cooking supplies, we each brought a sleeping bag, a sleeping pad, we have an eno and a tent  that we use, and we also brought bubble wands, squirt guns, and a ukulele and penny whistles.  

If someone else were to attempt this they might add some things to their list for comfort, like a small chair, you could probably bring a small cooler, a radio, a solar charger, all useful things that we neglected to bring.  

Also if you invest in good gear that packs down small you could fit much more and probably be more comfortable than we are but this is working really well so far, no complaints. 

How far do we go in a day?

Our shortest day has been about 20 miles - we do more miles if it will get us to a better campsite or to a grocery store. 

How long will it take?

If we keep moving at this pace, ten days! which means we are almost done.

Have you seen any gators?

SO MANY - TOO MANY TO COUNT 

actually it is sort of confusing when folks ask this because we saw so many at first that it was weird that people needed to ask.

What's the worst part?

Abby says the worst part is seeing all the cool docks and ropeswings with signs that say "no trespassing" so we can't use them. 

I think it's probably that my hands are so sore that I have constant claw hands. 

Also sunburn is a real thing and Abby totally has butt rash from sitting in a sandy bathing suit the first day. 

What's the best part?

Restoring our faith in humanity, everyone we've met have been so kind and supportive. Drinking beer and floating down the river singing 80's power ballads. Seeing how much the river has changed in the first hundred miles since we started at Okeefenokee Swamp. Slowing down and enjoying the scenery and the company. 

What research did you do before starting?

Honestly, not enough.  I’m working at being a better planner and everyday when we sit down with our maps to pick our next spot I’m getting better at planning ahead hopefully this skill continues to develop in life.  I read a few books and blogs written by people who had kayaked the river before, I love https://backshortly.wordpress.com/boating/suwanee-river-agenda/ this one for mile markers and general ideas.  Mostly I am counting on the fact that the river will continue to take us downstream even if I stop paddling.

Should I do it too?

YESSSSSS - but bring sunscreen and be prepared to have sore arms and smell like mildew. 

The River Will Provide

Day five was a lazy day. We had plans to do a million miles but I have been having headaches and coughing yesterday and this morning so we decided that sometimes you just need to float down the river curled up in the bottom of your kayak taking a nap. 

We woke up and said goodbye to all the kind folks we had met at Holton Creek and they resupplied us with fresh water, coffee, and good luck. A fleet of small children pushed us off into the river and we gave them most of our sailboat collection. I'm sure many of those kids thought we were a little nuts wandering around smelling like river water with a small fleet of homemade sail boats. It was very encouraging though to have a dozen ten year olds push us out in the water and cheer for us. If anyone ever needs a confidence boost just recruit a bunch of kids to shout and clap for you.

Unfortunatly their enthusiasm didn’t spread to me because I was not feeling so great and sitting in about an inch of water. In our rush to get off the water last night I hadn’t pulled my kayak far enough to shore and it had been swamped.  Luckily I tied it up but that did little to no good and most of the gear I left in the kayak was now waterlogged.  It’s lucky we packed a bilge pump.

We took our time going down the river and stopped to explore a few river runs and creeks. We got out at Gibson Park to stretch our legs and revel in the luxury of a bathroom with walls and running water. I made use of our extra paddle by getting mine stuck in some drift wood and getting pulled away from it. Thank goodness for paddle tethers. And thank goodness for Abby who came to my rescue. If you lose your paddle you're just more litter drifting around.

We passed a steep and sandy bank with what looked like the world's greatest slip and slide and I have never seen anything so beautiful or tempting in my life. But, they had tons of "private property" and "no trespassing" signs posted so I followed the advice of signs for the first time in my life and we did not use the slip and slide. 

Today was also the first day we really started seeing the giant leaping sturgeons people had been telling us about. It's insane! The fish are huge and terrifying and leap with no regard for the laws of physics. Unfortunately, or fortunately considering how much swimming we do, we are out of gator territory. For a while at least. The river banks are getting steeper still but now we're starting to see small marshy patches. It's a whole different river everyday and it's incredible every day. Despite growing up near a river it never had occurred to me how much a river could change in such a short distance.

By 2:00 we were hot, sweaty, hungry, and only halfway to our destination. We started looking at the banks hoping to see one of the ropeswings that appear every hundred yards or so and saw some people pulled over on a sandy bank with a rope swing so we stopped to swing, swim, and talk. They offered to pull us down the river a mile or so and we gladly accepted. 

I'm sure it was entertaining to see a boat full of beer bellied men, their girlfriends, and babies pulling our two kayaks behind them with our bubble wands and squirt guns. They were lovely people and we really appreciated not having to do the paddle ourselves. 

We were especially grateful when we got to Suwannee River State Park and it started pouring. The park is our home for the night and we are eating burgers, BLTs, and fries and soaking in the AC. 

The moral of today is that the river is a great adventure and you can love every mile of it but sometimes you just need to float, to nap, to swim, or get towed along and blow bubbles. 

Tomorrow we're pushing on and hopefully making a stop at blue springs when we are recharged after our night indoors. 

river nap 

thank goodness for river camps

The Magic Treehouse and River Friends

Last night when we were at Woods Ferry River Camp and we thought we would be the only ones there. While we were having a dance party and playing the ukulele on the dock, though, six people showed up to spend the night there. They were very friendly and impressed by our ridiculous adventure. They brought a guitar so we made a valiant attempt at a jam session with our ukulele. When I told them we were going to sacrifice the ukulele to the river gods in a Viking burial at the end of our trip one of them was so upset that I gave him the ukulele on the spot. I was channeling King Solomon and determined that if he valued the life of the ukulele more than I did then he must be it's true mother. Far be it for me to keep a family apart. So I gave away my ukulele and now we're drifting and playing penny whistles. We're still easily the most obnoxious folks on the river. 

We didn’t see anyone else out paddling today.  One of the things I’ve been struck by on our trip thus far is just how empty the river is.  Florida is a state that is blessed with easy access to beautiful waterways and springs and yet it seems that no one is taking the opportunity to appreciate them.  I appreciate you Suwannee, I appreciate you.  I suppose people may just be busy or on different rivers but they are all sorely missing out.  Today was one of the first days when we really started seeing houses on the side of the river though, even though they are few and far between we are definitely starting to get out of the woods. 

This morning took a late start at around 10 and had an uneventful paddle until we looked up and saw a magical treehouse on the left bank.  We’ve seen many interesting things on the sides of the river (birds, hunting camps, little creeks, interesting flowers, and even a cow) but nothing caught our interest quite like this treehouse did. So we pulled our boats onto the bank and went to see what the treehouse was all about. 

As it turns out, the treehouse was part of the Spirit of Suwannee Music Park which happened to be our halfway goal for the day.  We took a tour with a cool guy named Eric who had an incredible banjo.  Eric was kind enough to take us through the park and down to the store where we resupplied our food and beverage stashes.  We are apparently on a BLT tour of the river because that is what we ate. 

Then we took the longest 10 mile paddle ever to get to Holton Creek River Camp. It felt like 347 miles of paddling compressed into ten miles of river. Everything is hell. When all you want to do is take a nap and your sunburn is blistering it is very very hard to do anything at all. We passed the time by collecting things we found on the river.  We’re stating to see more and more trash in the water and it is heartbreaking.  Among the more interesting finds were a hubcap, a coconut wrapped in a bandana, and seven homemade sailboats.

 About two miles from the camp we started hearing thunder and paddled hard to beat the storm. We were guided by the spirit of the Suwannee in the form of a blue heron who flew tree to tree ahead of us to the campsite.This is my story and I am not going to hear it any other way, the spirit of the river guided us. We unloaded our kayaks, flipped them on the beach, said a prayer that they would stay mostly dry, and got inside just before the rain hit. Boy were we glad to be inside when we were.  It was one of those big thunder storms that I think only happen in Florida summers. 

We're sharing the shelter with a couple of nice people from Virginia - one of whom has done the upper portion of the Suwannee multiple times on a paddle board- they shared their river smarts and their food. 

The campsite is completely full because there is a large group of about two dozen people doing a father daughter/son retreat. They shared their dinner, their beer, and their river smarts with us too. The most impressive wisdom came from an 11 year old boy who told me to "never take your eyes off a lizard". 

Before leaving everyone expressed concerns about our safety from others, and in fact everyone we meet expresses that same concern.  I think that we all spend too much time in front of screens which thrive off perpetuating our anxieties.  Maybe we are just lucky that we have only met kind people or maybe the folks who go to spend time on the river are just the kind of people you want to spend time with.  Or maybe people aren't as scary as we let ourselves think

Tonight we will be sleeping to the sound of rain on a tin roof, which as everyone knows is one of the single best ways to go to sleep.

a cool bridge. 

The most magical tree house 

We found seven lost sailboats. If you know who they belong to please let me know. #LitterPatrol 

don't go kayaking. everything is ugly.  there are tiny waterfalls and cool rocks everywhere.

Abby is mastering the horizontal kayaking and drinking technique. 

The Kindness of Strangers and Fried Chicken

Day 3! 

This morning we woke up at Big Shoals to learn that a colony of ants had set up residence in our tent. They had fallen in love with Abby. Then we admired our incredible skills at hanging our food bags. Bears could totally steal our food if they wanted to because we are not exactly talented and at the end of the day the task of throwing a line and hoisting our massive food bag is daunting. But we have been unbothered by bears because, as anyone who has down all their bear based research by watching Winnie the Pooh knows, bears are very lazy. 

At 7:30 we addressed the second half of the portage and decided we should drop in at the lower half of the shoals and hope for the best. No one died. 

The shoals made the water super foamy so we spent thirty minutes to an hour drifting through nature's bubble bath trying to build snowmen from the foam. We did not succeed. 

Our first goal for the day was white springs because we knew there was a store there and we were having fever dreams of red bull and BLTs. We got to White Springs around ten and pulled our boats ashore on the south side of the 41 bridge. We walked into town to go to a kayak outfitter to get a spare paddle in case we break one of ours (given how often we are running into things this felt prudent). The outfitter owners took pity on us and drove us to a grocery store and thanks to the kindness of strangers I got to eat fried chicken while floating down a river while Abby ate a BLT (which, coincidentally, is the perfect sandwich because it features the whole food pyramid). 

The store owners told us we are by far the youngest people they’ve ever met who have tried to do the whole Suwannee, apparently this is an old man's sport. 

She also told us there was a swimming hole about five miles downriver. They said we would know we were there because the trees would be full of flags.  It was a beautiful bend in the river and a pretty great place for a mid afternoon stop.

They also insisted we take their number in case of emergency. People have no faith in us. We are incredibly grateful for how kind they were. We are also grateful for how cute and soft their dog, Chewbacca, is. 

This morning I decided I wanted to be able to see but the river had other plans. While in the throws of passion singing along to Wide Open Spaces (by the Dixie Chicks, which is great paddling music by the way) I somehow lost my glasses in the river. I can only hope they were found by a near sighted alligator and that he loves them as I did. 

At around 3:30 we got to the first river camp. After looking at the campsites downriver we decided to stay at Woods Ferry for the night rather than attempt another 20 miles since we were hit pretty hard with the heat stroke at this point and giggling at everything. 

River camps are amazing and we can drink clean water we didn't pull from the river without waiting thirty minutes to purify it and we can shower and there are fans and screened sleeping spaces and it is truly the fanciest way to be in the wilderness. Three days in the sun has made us grateful for the hard floor and cold showers. 

foamy! 

ROCKS 

Swammin' hole 

WE MADE IT TO I75! 

Pasta au gratin with a crispy puffed potato starch and cheese topping. Glamorous. 

A Message About Wildlife

Yesterday we saw a large armada (is that what you call a group of predator birds?) of buzzards. When I kayaked towards them to see why there were so many they all flew up in fright. About ten of them landed on a pine branch all at once and the branch broke and they dropped into the river. Buzzards are idiots. 

There are signs at most campsites that say "no swimming, alligators." We are amazed that the alligators listen to such a request. Alligators are idiots. 

We have only seen one sturgeon so far. Where are these prehistoric leaping fish we were warned about? Did they learn about us and hide in fear? Sturgeons are idiots. 

We have seen only four people total on the river (two pairs). Two of them worked really hard to ignore us. The other two addressed us as sir and yelled "Sir, you're lost". People are idiots. 

If you only know how to identify one kind of bird then all birds are wood ducks. We are idiots. 

What a learning experience. 

Abby And Anne's Anthology of River Lingo

While paddling it is important to pass the time inventing new river themed slang and traditions. Inspired by trail names we have decided to adopt river names, Gator Bait and Swamp Lord.

Here are some silly things we have been saying

Recliyaking - Kayaking in a reclined position 

Hiyaking - Kayking while sitting up on the deck of the kayak. 

Karaoiyaking - a combination of Karaoke and kayaking when you sing really loud on the river and disturb wayward cattle 

Punching an alligator - Literally just punching an alligator. Something you have to be ready to do at any moment because man are there a lot of alligators. 

Pocahontas-Ing - when you pretend you're Pocahontas and paddle with your paddle held vertically singing out to all your raccoon friends

Heat stroke - being tired, sweaty, and hungry

Most importantly though;

Picturesque AF - to be exclaimed loudly and enthusiastically whenever something is beautiful 

A Love Letter to Clouds and an Update

It Is Day Two!

First, let me begin by saying I love the sun. I love being warm and while some people get hangry (hungry+angry) I am far more susceptible to cangry (cold+angry). But after another day floating through the wilderness I love nothing more than I love shadows and shadey trees and big fat rain clouds and anything that keeps the sun away from my poor poor skin (which is covered two inches thick in sunscreen as we speak).

ANYWAY 

Last night we got off the river, set up the tent, cooked dinner, played a round of Skip-Bo, and were fast asleep by 8 PM. Nothing wears you out like a long day moving in the sun.  Nothing makes for a better night sleep though. I woke up a few times and listened to owls and coyotes and a limp kin.

I hate limpkins. If ever there was a creature I would wish to be removed from the earth entirely it is limpkins. Followed closely by no-see-ums. This limpkin only made his horrifying death screech once or twice and then, in an uncharacteristic move, decided he wouldn't mind being quiet.  From then on the only noise was the water moving through tree roots on the bank, Abby snoring, and the occasional bird call.  The most soothing sleep noises in the world.

We woke up early and evaluated the state of our bodies (sunburnt) and hands (is it a problem if I cannot open them from fists?) then made a quick breakfast and pushed out into the river by about 7:30 AM. We paddled for a while through the Bay Creek Conservation Area. We made up some super impressive songs to pass the time and around 10 we saw a cow that we decided must be a wild cow who was lured close to the banks by our singing. This, we thought, was so remarkable that it surely deserved a celebratory beer. The best part about celebratory beer is that once we'd had one we were much less bothered by how much our arms hurt and our probable heat stroke. 

Another thing that helped with the heat stroke was attacking each other with the water guns we had packed and playing made up songs on the ukulele or shooting acorns at each other with the slingshots we brought "for safety”.  Even though this trip is a personal goal to prove to myself I have the physical and emotional strength to paddle a river from end to end and to see more of my home state’s natural beauty it’s also important to me that the trip be fun and something I remember fondly.  Because of this we have spent 48 hours singing and laughing and I could not be more pleased. 

We paddled twenty or so miles until about 2:30 when we got to Big Shoals (Florida's only natural class III rapid!!!! Who decided water was allowed to be so lumpy) and decided that the nearly mile long portage looked too terrifying to do all in one day and broke down to take naps/eat/camp/swim despite signs telling us not to. 

Our clothes and bodies are stiff from sun, sweat, and sunscreen and turning an interesting brown shade.  Frankie calls this a tan.  I claim it’s from the tannin in the water.  The Suwannee is like a big river of sweet tea and it is mesmerizing to watch your legs turn more and more orange and red until they disappear as you wade deeper into the water. 

We carried our boats about halfway up the portage and made camp, hung our bear bag, and laid down for the night in much the same way we had the night before, exhausted, sunburnt, and full of giggles. It is fortunate that bears are terrified of giggling because we did a truly terrible job of hanging up our food.

Tomorrow will be another long paddle so we are resting up and I think that just writing this down despite how exhausted my arms and hands are calls for some celebratory cookies and beer. Have some photos and captions.

the previous night's campsite 

a beautiful tree that I probably ran into 

When we looked at the mile markers for the day I thought "what does it mean we'll pass 'Limpdick Bend'?" but now I know what it meant. 

If you are going on a long trip I HIGHLY recommend bringing your own personal musician to keep you entertained. 

How to avoid heatstroke 

We think this used to be an old bridge? 

The character of the river is a lot different than it was in Georgia. It has much steeper sides and is much broader and less overgrown than the little creek with sandy shores and huge cypress trees growing in it than it was yesterday. It's bananas how big a difference a dozen or so miles can make.

Big shoals! We decided not to try. Instead we took a quarter mile portage around it. On the southern launch point I did forget that the water would be moving much quicker and my kayak tried to run away from me, I took a running jump at it and managed to get in without dumping myself and my gear into the river.

Alligators cannot even read, this explains why we have seen so many of them swimming about. 

The First Day

Let me start with this beautifully composed shot of my homemade blister protection.

Due to a late start yesterday we decided it would be most practical to stay the night in Fargo, Georgia and start paddling early this morning so that we could make it a little further down the river before camping. The late start should have been predicted because I have never had a plan go perfectly.  Any plan that doesn't have a few hiccups makes me suspicious. It is good to get the hiccups started early though so that we can have smooth sailing (er... paddling) from here.

This morning we woke up, packed our boats down, and were in the water by 8 AM. As a life long lover of sleep and professional snoozer this early start to the day lent a surreal feel to the whole endeavor. Are there always so many birds yelling so early in the day? The kind man who shuttled us from the lodge to the boat ramp laughed when we told him we were headed all the way to the gulf and made us take his number in case we needed to be picked up this evening. 

We made slow, but steady, progress averaging about four miles an hour and crossed the Florida-Georgia border around noon. We had a celebratory beer.  

Our progress got slower and our justifications for celebratory beer became less and less impressive. Our reasoning took a steady downward spiral from "major milestone" to "that cloud looks like a chicken".

Early in the day I accidentally hit a small gator  with my paddle and since then  it was strictly a feet IN the boat kind of day.

The Suwannee I am most used to seeing is the portion that passes under US 19 near Branford.  There, the river is incredibly wide and deep with steep banks.  Here, in north Florida and south Georgia the river is narrow, shallow, and winds around broad flat sandy banks and sandbars.   It has been interesting to see a new side to something I thought I knew well. 

We set up camp around 6 PM after 27-ish miles of paddling. We are tired and sunburned and giggling.  Tonight we are sleeping on a sandbar around mile 195.

Getting Started

Months ago I told my parents that I was going to run away from home.  I wanted to kayak the Suwannee River. Tim rolled his eyes at me and Patti said "Okay, you'll die out there". This is an over simplification of what happened but it's how I remember it and I do not want to be corrected. I wasn't offended by their reaction because it would be a little unsafe to go on my own considering my ability to injure myself and I come up with a lot of ridiculous plans that I almost immediately forget about. This ridiculous plan stuck though.

I was born and raised in Florida and have heard all my life about “the historic Suwannee River”.  It’s my favorite mile marker on my trips home from college and it winds from Okeefenokee Swamp all the way down through central Florida past some of the springs my parents took my brother and I to play in when we were younger.  Interestingly, it also is one of the major water supplies for the state of Florida and therefore I have probably been sipping on it my whole life. So when people call it the "historic Suwannee river" it is with good reason!

Early next week Patti will be dropping me off in Fargo, Georgia to begin the 225 mile paddle to the Gulf of Mexico near Suwannee, Florida. My friend Abby, who I met when I went to visit my cousin Morgan on the Appalachian Trail, is going to be coming along as well. Having a paddling buddy really comforts my parents in regards to my safety (as far as strangers and my ability to injure myself are concerned) but does nothing for my personal concerns about being impaled by an over enthusiastic sturgeon. Given the current water levels (56.93 at White Springs) we should be able to finish within twelve days.

The planning is done, the launch date is set, all that's left is to stock up on sunscreen, bugspray, and food.

Suwannee River Maps