Prior to taking part in the [ Texas Water Safari ] this summer, I went on a number of undocumented training runs of various lengths (intended to improve speed and increase stamina). I didn't even bother to take my camera on most of these trips, and some trips (10 miles on the Wacissa River) were repeated so many times that I lost count. This post is a summary of these undocumented trips, a couple with pictures but most without.

location ............ distance
Aucilla River ........ 2.0+
New River ............ 4.0+
Wacissa River ....... 10.0 X 3 (probably closer to 8, but who's counting...)
Wacissa River ....... 20.5
Ochlockonee River ... 33.0
Saint James Island .. 70.5
----------------------------
subtotal............ 160.0
total ............. 1149 (through July 9th, 2010)

New River: June 12, 2010
I was hoping to finish the New River during this trip (a continuation from [ part 2 ]), but the yellow flies were out in full force, and I was running low on bug spray. I intend to finish this river within the next month or two. Anyway, here are a few pictures from the trip:



from the bluffs where I started the trip (a campsite within Tate's Hell State Forest)









Aucilla River: June 13, 2010
Since I didn't have any luck on the New River the previous day, I thought I'd try my luck on the Aucilla. Aside from trips to the "Big Rapids", my last trip on the Aucilla was [ this one ]); starting at the same bridge, I headed northeast into previously unexplored territory. Yellow flies weren't a problem, but the river flow was so low that going upriver was a huge hassle. Basically I was paddling through stagnant water between tiny rapids spaced about half a mile apart; since the water was low, I had to portage each rapid. It got old really fast, so I left and went to the Wacissa to practice rolling (which I still can't do).








a medium-sized gator

Saint James Island: June 26-27, 2010
This was a repeat of [ another trip ] a year earlier and my one "long" training run prior to the TWS. It served as a drawn-out equipment check where I identified several points of failure (e.g. food issues, sleep issues, clothing issues, etc.). I was hoping to finish the trip in 17 hours, but as I recall it took closer to 24 hours (still a lot faster my previous 47-hour trip). Over all, it was highly memorable...

I started on the Carrabelle River and headed immediately out into the Gulf intending to reach Ochlockonee Bay by dusk. There were boons placed in inconvenient places along the coast in preparation for oil from the BP spill, and I decided to paddle on the outside in order to avoid shallow water. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't exactly ideal, and I was faced with a choice of passing under a stationary front or turning back around and paddling the other way around the island. I decided to try my luck with the front; it appeared clear underneath - just a fast line of clouds rushing north. Even as I passed under it, everything seemed calm, but the second I came out the other side, I got blasted by an incredible headwind and started getting knocked around by wind waves. I continued against this wind and light rain for an hour and made my way closer inland as the boons allowed.

Here, I got trapped by the falling tides in what people refer to as "The Flats". I'd never seen this huge bed of seagrass before (high tide during my last passage through this area), and I wasn't expecting to get caught in < 6 inches of water. It was a slog, paddling where I could, poling where I couldn't, or simply getting out to walk and dragging my boat behind me. There weren't any good places to cross over to deeper water, so I continued parallel to shore until I eventually passed the last barrier and could make my way back to open water. Night had fallen and I was less than half way to Ochlockonee Bay.

The wind and waves subsided after dark; the water became glassy smooth. It was a full moon, and I could see adequately even with my crappy lights (which were only useful for spotting shallow sand bars). Street lights and houses miles away helped me get my bearings, and I crossed Alligator Bay in the dark while making a bee-line for the houses on the peninsula.

The trip around Alligator Point / Bald Point was relatively pleasant in the slowly rolling waves and cool sea breeze. Except for the horse flies... I was wearing a long-sleeved white shirt at the time, and the bastards can see a white shirt under a full moon from half-a-mile away. Giant horse flies kept coming out to bite the shit out of me.

Apparently people from shore could only see my white shirt in the moonlight. A few times, rednecks started shouting mistargeted racial slurs at me. "We ain't seen any niggers like you around here in a long time!"

I reached Ochlockonee Bay around 2:00 a.m. and made my way to the river. Around 3:30, I reached the US-98 bridge, and a disoriented egret (no idea why it was flying) decided to land in front of my boat. When it realized that I was there, it started to fly again, only this time in my direction. I held out my paddle as a brace (trying not to hold it in such a way that it would knock the bird out of flight) and ducked; it whacked me with its wings as it flew past.

Nothing too extraordinary happened after that. I stopped at Ochlockonee River State Park to refill my water containers and continued up the Ochlockonee River to the Crooked River. I stopped to sleep for a few hours then continued through the Crooked River and back to the Carrabelle River.

Ochlockonee River: July 3rd, 2010
A fellow kayak racer and I "raced" down the Upper Ochlockonee River Paddling Trail (plus a few extra miles) in order to scope it out as a potential venue for a canoe/kayak marathon next spring. I took my camera with me to snap pictures of landmarks for future racers, but I forgot the memory card; thus, no pictures. It was great practice for the TWS, and the trip as a whole went really well.

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Sounds pretty intense. _________________________________________ Signatures are SO last decade.