Know Your Limits

Day Eight

Today's story ends with a lesson about knowing your personal limits. 

We wake up everyday when the sun comes up.  You don’t need an alarm clock if you’re outside and moving constantly.  It’s kind of nice, when it gets dark we accept that it’s time to sleep.  And when the sun comes up we accept that it’s time to be moving.  This morning though when I woke up I could not make myself move.  We spent a while at the park so I could lay on the ground, charge our phones, and type up the previous days notes.  I did not want to move today. 

Ten miles downriver the Suwannee meets the Santa Fe river.  About one mile up the Santa Fe is an RV Park with a restaurant.  We set our sights on BLTs.  Unfortunately I was moving especially slowly and Abby offered, again, to tow me for a while.  I was so exhausted that I couldn’t justify saying no.  I am lucky to have a paddling buddy who is so patient, who doesn't mind my singing, my snoring, or my knock knock jokes, and pulls me downriver when the day is too much for me.  This would have been a completely different trip if not for the always wonderful Abby. 

I napped for twenty or so minutes and then woke up with just enough energy to make it to lunch.  When we saw the big fork in the river we made a choice, keep paddling downriver to camp, or take a detour one mile upriver to food. We choose food.  

Here’s the thing.  We had spent about 8 days and 140 miles going “downhill” as I like to think about it.  We thought were fairly well equipped physically after this kind of padlding.  We underestimated how much it would hurt to go upstream.  The Santa Fe is a fast moving river and it was raining and the banks were cypress swamp.  I may be being slightly dramatic but Abby confirms this memory of the river.  It took us forever to get to the RV park but once there we were rewarded with an air conditioned place to wait out the rain and eat sweet potato fries.  A nice man bought us our lunch.  Again, I repeat, we are forever grateful for the kindness of strangers and the encouragement they offer when they see us sunburned and mildewed getting off the river. 

After lunch we pushed out and, exhausted and coughing, set up the hammock where the Santa Fe meets the Suwannee to take a nap.  I woke up feeling worse.  

Our ideal campsite was ten miles downriver at Gornto State Park.  After about 3 miles though it became clear that I was not up to the task.  Feeling guilty that I was demanding an early stop we got off the water at Sims Landing, a boat ramp at mile 62. 

It is Thursday night and we are going to take a break to rest and recover.  When we start again, though, our friend Margaret will be with us!

I don't feel well but I will always appreciate a good rope swing.

I Curse The Name Of Bruce

Day Seven

I woke up with another splitting headache and coughing.  Maybe it was the peacocks who screeched all through the night.  Whatever it was it was a hard day for me, I couldn’t seem to wake up and we had to stop twice so I could take a thirty minute nap before going on.  Thinking that maybe i was feeling poorly because I was exhausted and dehydrated I dedicated myself to eating as much and drinking as much water as possible during the day.  This made me feel a little better physically and it made me feel incredible emotionally because like everyone in my family I love to eat. 

I was pursuaded into my kayak by the fact that Maya, who we met at Holton Creek had told us that a few miles downriver from Peacock Slough was Convict Springs where we could get a hot breakfast.  We got there to find the restaurant closed.  Not to be discouraged though we bought some m&ms and cheezits

 and sat by the spring to eat them and swim.  

We asked the store owners where we purchased the m&m’s why it was called Convict Springs and learned that the spring used to be home to convicts, surprise surprise.  A hundred yards prior we had passed an old rotating bridge which was apparently bought and shipped from Brazil and the convicts used it somehow in the process of milling grain.  I am not clear on the details.  Apparently it took four men to crank the bridge to rotate it.  Every day there are new things that make me stop and think “I’ll have to look that up when I get home.”

On we paddled disappointed at the lack of breakfast but knowing that the further we went the closer we would be to food.  Our goal for the night was Ivey Memorial Park in Branford where we had heard there was both camping and easy access to food and stores. 

We were so hungry by our missed breakfast that we took a break when we passed the Adam’s Tract river camp to take a quick nap.  We met the folks who took care of the camp and they explained that the folks who act as camp hosts are all volunteers, typically young college students, who offer to spend a season living at the campsite and making sure no one causes too much of a ruckus. 

After a quick power nap and a swim we paddled on, encouraged that we only had eleven miles to go before we could sleep.

We were so hungry that we told each other stories about “maybe there will be a restaurant on the river that isn't on any of our maps”.  Suddenly we saw a dock in the distance that said “Bruce’s Backyard Bar B Que Restaurant”.  We could hardly believe our eyes.  All of our dreams were coming true.  We paddled as fast as we could to the dock, commenting that it looked a little like it might fall over, and tied our boats up.  We ran up the steps to find that the sign was a lie.  This was someone’s home.  They just thought they were being clever, we thought they were breaking our hearts.  Weary and more than a little embarrassed we got back into our kayaks and cursed the name of Bruce. 

At about 5:30 we stopped at Troy Springs (mile 70ish, we think) to swim.  We’ve seen about a dozen small springs today on the sides of the river.  They are cold, clear, and beautiful. I love to drift past them and see all the turtles under the water and watch the blue water mix with the orangey tannin colored water.  it is mesmerising.  

We finally got to Ivey Park where we were staying tonight.  We had a nice talk with some folks from UF who were somehow affiliated with the UF IFIS office I think.  They were out looking for sturgeon to admire, we told them about the sturgeon that had almost flopped into my kayak earlier.  

While we were pulling our boats out of the water we were stopped by a kind older couple who wanted to know what we were up to.  They drove us up the road and bought us our dinner. People claim that Florida isn’t really part of the south but if I know anything about Southern hospitality then central Florida is apparently as southern as it gets. 

We spent the night at the boat ramp.  I was running a slight fever so I did my best to drink as much water as possible.  The boat ramp had about seven or so stray cats that came to check out our campsite.  As a cat lover this soothed me.  Cats would take care of us.  Cats wouldn't let raccoons eat our food. Cats wouldn't let me be kidnapped in the night by bears and made to spend my remaining years as a housekeeper for bears.

We fell asleep listening to sturgeon splashing and cars passing on the nearby road.  Not as nice as our nights in the middle of the woods, but no complaints.

Convict Springs, my legs are dark and the water is blue.  Only in Florida!

Flood level water markers, look at that '98 flood! It was only up a few feet under our house but here it was incredible apparently.

USGS bouys are everywhere.  This one needs a good cleaning.

The spring at Ivey Park.  Beautiful.

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.