The First Saturday Float in September

I had been posting journal entries from two years ago, but today's post is from last Saturday. I wanted people to see what the WRC group trips are like. Hopefully, this will give first timers a better idea of what to expect.

9/03/11

On the way to Moscow, I passed through Rossville where I noticed construction in progress. I had heard that a large rail hub and other building projects are planned in the Rossville/Piperton area. It looks like the building has started. There was a small detour in HWY 57. At the detour, a large gravel road bed was being built perpendicular to the highway. The road bed crossed 57 and headed towards the river. I don’t know what the finished construction will look like, but I worry about Fayette County losing its rural character not to mention the danger to the river. 

The First Saturday float for September was held on the LaGrange to Moscow section. Dale was the head guide, I was the boat counter, Henry had sweep, and Andrew took the point position. Andrew will be leading the trip next month, so the point position is good experience. He had also floated this section four times, adding to his experience. Andrew will make an excellent guide.  He is very good at dealing with people and emergency situations. After watching him over the past year, I have complete confidence in him. I’m sure he will do a great job next month. 

We had fourteen boats with nineteen people. Most of the trip’s members were competent paddlers. Several of them had paddled with us on previous first Saturday trips. I’m sorry that I can’t remember everyone’s name, but we had the father and son from a trip last fall. On his first trip, the son was in a canoe that swamped when the current pushed it into a tree. Almost a year later, the same boy now has his own kayak, which he can use very well. He spent most of the day at the point position since he was faster than most of the paddlers. We did a member introduction before we started. We had professionals from many different fields including engineers, a zoo employee, a minister, educators, and others. There was also another child in the group who rode as a third person in his parents’ canoe. Besides our group, there was a group of paddlers in front of us and another group putting in after us. Dale gave the last group advice on avoiding becoming lost.

The water was a low, 5.37 at the LaGrange gauge. The river was clear enough that I could see the bottom in many places. I could clearly see sand shoals when I stood at the boat ramp. There was a unique quality to the color of the water. The river had an opaque, emerald hue caused by the amount of suspended organic material. It looked as if frosted, green glass was flowing between the cypress trunks.  The temps were in the 80s with cloudy skies. We were mercifully spared the summer heat on this trip.

We traveled well as a group. There was a small gap between the front and back, but we rendezvoused at the “numbered” stops. So, we stayed together throughout the trip. Dale spoke about the river at each stop. His stories included topics such as the efforts of the WRC and Babe Howard to save the Ghost River Area, getting lost, and the local wildlife.  Some of the paddlers struggled with steering through the twist of the river, but overall everyone moved fairly easily downstream. 

We did not see the eagles this trip. They have probably migrated for the summer. The wildlife seen on this trip includes two cotton mouths, one large midland water snake. Paddlers at the front of the group saw other snakes. I also heard vireos and chickadees calling from the tree tops. I even saw a small bream hit a diving dragonfly. The fish was too small its prey. Instead, the bream pestered the hapless insect as it drifted in the current. 

I tried to enter the canal to the “cathedral” ( an open place in a cypress stand.) near the number two stop, but the water was too shallow. There was a tree down before the lunch stop. Dale used his chainsaw to cut the branches of the crown while Andrew and another member pulled canoes and kayaks over the trunk. I jumped in the water to pull limbs away from the canoe trail. The water was cooler than I expected but still felt refreshing on this warm day. The lunch spot was not much further downstream. At the number three sign, we turned right into a slough that lead to a sandbar. Normally, the water in the slough is slack. Today however, the low river level allowed the slough to flow with a current. After lunch, we continued past Leatherwood and towards the Ghost River. On the way, I found a large striped flight feather in the mud. Someone suggested that it was a turkey feather, and he turned out to be correct. If it had been a hawk or owl feather, it would have been illegal to keep it. It is illegal to possess a bird of prey feather. 

On the way down river, Dale decided to take the big tributary on the left. I heard these unusual tributaries being called distributaries since they pull water away from the river then return it downstream. I was the last person to paddle this tributary so I entered first. The tributary current was about the same as the main river, but the close canopy of cypress and tupelo trees kept out direct sunlight. The diffused light reminded me of the upcoming Ghost River Section. I had to stop and remove a couple of logs from the tributary channel. After several twist of the channel and tight squeezes between logs, we were back in the main channel. We continued to the Ghost River entrance. As Dale spoke about the different paddlers who had become lost because of a missed turn, I floated about 30 yards down the dead end channel. I had wanted to explore it but not during a large group trip. I had jokingly called it the Spider Island Channel after two female paddlers screamed about the spiders at the dead end. They were not with our group trip and had mistakenly missed the left turn into the Ghost. Even though they were frightened by the spiders, they made the right choice of paddling back upstream to the turn. 

The water in the Ghost was shallow but still floatable. The low water did not take away from the beauty. Towards the end of the Ghost Section, we ran into a silt dam covered with dead wood. There was a small hole in it with flowing water. I dug it out with my paddle and pushed my kayak through the opening. Other paddlers removed logs and widened the hole with their boats. Dale had tried to go around the blockage, but the water was too low. If the river had been 6 inches higher, he could have found another passage through this area. 

We followed the serpentine river course through Spirit Lake with a few short cuts. We ended up on the south trail through the lake. The upper lake is an area where paddlers do get lost. If you become confused here, head west. The setting on a compass is 270 degrees. in the after one can paddle towards the setting sun and exit the lake. The group met up at the number six sign, but I paddled ahead so that I could stretch my legs at the Mt. Tena sand bar. I rejoined the group when they caught up. We stayed on the left channel. I had thought about going right, but I decided to stay with the left channel so I could remove the blue barrel. I found the barrel and nudged it down stream. A canoe bumped into my boat and I hit the barrel. The chain reaction caused a small geyser of black water to spray me and my possessions. My gear and my body were covered in black slime. I left the barrel and continued through the “Devil’s Terrarium”, a series of cypress rapids and tight turns. The river increased in speed here making it difficult for some and fast for others. The last mile of this section through a swath of grasslands went quickly. When I reached the Bateman access, I waded into the water to wash the black slime of my legs and arms. Dale successfully tied a rope to the blue barrel and pulled it downstream. One more piece of trash has been removed from the river.