Ghost River Summer Float

6/09/13

Ghost River Summer Float

            It was a great Sunday to be on the river. Temps were in the mid 80s with mostly sunny skies. The river’s level and color appeared to be normal. This group trip consisted of 12 people in 7 boats. Chris was the head guide, Tony did sweep and I took the point.  We paused at the numbered stops and took turns speaking about the efforts to save the Ghost River area. Lunch was at the usual #3 sand bar. The guides reminded everyone that the women walk upstream on an easy sand path to use the restroom while the men walk downstream into a swamp. “Skirts up, pants down”, goes the saying. They say that there is reason behind this old rule. The upstream side of the stop has already been passed by the party of boats and thus deemed to be safer. However, the downstream side is the unknown and more dangerous. The men also get a chance to reconnoiter the next bend in the river.

           

Flora and Fauna

            The only blooms I saw on this trip were the elderberries and wild roses. The itea and catalpa have finished flowering. All trees were fully leafed out and still retained a new greenness of spring.

            Animal sightings included the non-poisonous midland water snake. One of which dropped into my boat without me noticing. Yes, it turns out that they really do this. I still say that it is rare, but snake sometimes fall into boats. I tried to film me capturing and releasing it in the water. However, my one handed grab in the middle of the snake’s body caused me to be bitten and sprayed with musk. This is typical behavior of that species of ill-tempered serpent. The bite drew some blood, but I wiped it with an alcohol pad and continued. We also had nice close ups of a pileated and a red headed woodpecker.

            We finished in about 5 and half hours, and everyone appeared to have enjoyed themselves. The water conditions and weather were perfect. In fact they were so good that I decided to float the Bateman to Moscow section.