I returned early to take advantage of the fantastic water level, but unfortunately, time and the current were both against me, and I didn't make it all the way to my destination. I returned the following week (without a camera) to finish the segment.


distance July 1 ............. 20.8 miles
distance July ? .............. 4.1 miles
confirmed miles to date ... 1798




stopping for lunch on a flooded grassy area; nice and cool on a hot day


how millipedes escape a flood. Unfortunately, immediately after I took this picture, the current knocked me into the tree and killed most of them.


US-27


rail bridge









On the way up, I had been warned by a canoeist about low hanging wasp nests. On the way back, I took a wrong turn and had to ram my way over a small log jam and got stuck (nothing unusual). The log jam was also supporting a yellow jacket hive, which at this point was just a few feet away from me. I had hoped that moving slowly would keep them from bothering me, but after the second one stung me, I smashed that hive into the river with my paddle.

For part 3, after completing the segment left over from part 2 (with substantial overlap just to be sure), I attempted to make my way further upriver, but it very quickly became unnavigable, just as a fisherman had told me it would. Not wanting to play the portage/liftover game on a narrow flooded river, I'm declaring this river completed.

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