As promised, here is my post about our recent canoe trip.

In October of 2005, my buddy Mark and I went down the Flint River with our ultimate destination being Bainbridge, some 60 miles south. Well, you may remember that we camped a bit too near the river and the water came up, almost flooding our tent. We cut our trip short and ended up in Newton which is only 35 miles from Albany.

This time we figured we would take it easy and only go from Albany to Newton. That way we could take our time, do some fishing, look for some arrowheads and have more fun than we did last time.

Our plan actually worked.

Here we are setting off into the great outdoors:

I’m the fat one on the left


We decided to put in downstream of the shoals at Albany. Last time we ran them in the canoe and survived, but the water level was lower this time and thinking back we realized that running them was not the smartest way to begin a long canoe trip.

The Flint River is a fun river to canoe. Some places have shoals and the water moves fast and other places it is wide and deep and feels like a lake. There are numerous islands/sandbars along the way. These are great places to get out to stretch your legs, look for arrowheads or to “check the drainage”.

We didn’t find any arrowheads Mr. DNR Man…

When we first started out, we saw two hawks on the side of the river eating something. The pictures did not turn out great so I won’t bore you with them here, but it was the first of many cool nature sightings along the way.

Last time we stopped at a blue hole. It was too cold then so we just looked at it. However, we had big plans for it this year as it was hot as you know what. We brought flippers and masks and hoped to see some big striped bass and other goodies. Alas, the drought got the blue hole. As we neared the location it was obvious something was wrong because it was so quiet and there was no running water. A short hike inland found the hole a stagnant pool. It was very sad. So sad, I did not even bother taking a picture. Maybe once the water table gets back to normal the spring will flow again.

We stopped for lunch on the side of the river. I had two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, a cup of applesauce and a granola bar all washed down with tasteless bottled water.

Don’t laugh, the camp chairs came in handy

That brings me to one thing I will different next year. Due to the excessive heat, we brought tons of water. Too much actually, but that was a good thing. However, I grow very tired of drinking water. I must have some taste in my drink. That is why I love tea and Kool-Aid so very much. Next time I will take the individual Crystal Light packs that are made for a standard size bottle of water!

Like last time, I brought my fishing gear…well, the new stuff I had to buy after last year…long story…go read about last time. Anyway, I did catch one fish. I totally suck at fishing. Somehow I get the feeling that fish laugh when they see me coming. Who’s laughing now B*TCH!

I better not quit my day job

Last trip we passed a high bluff that had a bunch of tents and a boat landing. A little investigating showed that it was a Mitchell County public boat landing and you could camp there as well. For free. It was located at mile 14, so we decided to stop there for our first night on the river. It was great! There were two porta-johns, a blue hole for swimming and cut grass to make camp. The only problem was lugging all our crap up the bluff to our campsite.

Trust me, that is a lot steeper and further than you realize

After nearly suffering a heart attack, we settled into finding firewood for the night and just taking it easy.

WunderKraut taking it easy

We had fun talking with the other boaters and campers. Two guys came in near dark and we noticed they were in wet suits. It turns out they dive in the river looking for artifacts and fossils. They go to the bottom and with heavy leather gloves on, fan the silt and muck until they see the white limestone marking the bottom of the river. On this particular trip, they found a giant shark tooth and an almost perfect spearhead. More power to them. After seeing the size of the gar in the river, I really do not want to get into anything I can not see the bottom of. *Shudder*

Our hard fought for firewood turned into a wonderful fire. Steaks and baked beans for dinner with…yep you guessed it…water to drink. We would have killed, yes killed for a Mt. Dew.

The fires of Mordor

When I have more time, I may write about the “Hey, man” guy…very funny story, but it is late and I am lazy.

The next day we figured we would go as far as we could. We had no particular place to stop, unlike day 1, so we headed out while it was nice and cool.

Remember the deadly tornadoes that came through South Georgia a few months ago? Well, we found where one of the monster storms crossed the Flint.

Like a bomb went off

The picture does not do it justice. It was total carnage on both sides of the river for about 1/2 a mile. Tops of trees snapped off and lots of new obstacles in the river.

We saw two small alligators. Maybe only 4 feet long. It was amazing how fast the suckers were.

You know Mark had to take a picture

Later we stopped for a break on a sandy beach that had gator tracks leading to and from the water. I stomped all over their beds and “checked the drainage”. I am sure that when they got home that night they had to work hard to get the WunderKraut stench off the beach…if you are curious, it has a faint smell of sausage to it…

About lunchtime we saw our campsite from the last trip. We stopped to eat and to look around, remembering how stupid we were and how close we came to waking up wet.

Just like we left it

The funny thing was it was only about 10:30 when we stopped to eat lunch. Yes, we both had cell phones, but did not look at them. After all, we were tired, hungry and it “felt” like lunch. After we realized how early it was, we made the decision to push through and finish the trip that day. After all, a comfy bed and a soft wife are much, MUCH better than sleeping in a tent on the ground. So we pushed on, but still stopped to smell the roses.

Actually, we found a really cool little island to explore. There was a rock bed that had some odd rocks in it. I took a few home and plan to do a post about them so that maybe someone can tell me what the heck they are and how they got to look like they do. I know, I am a geek, deal with it.

Still didn’t find any arrowheads

It was hot and the river was cool. Here I am getting ready to explore the island.

Don’t laugh, the hat kept my head cool

A bit downriver, we rounded a bend and saw a herd of cows congregated along the river.

Dinner

Yes, we moo-ed and called them “steak” and “dinner” and generally acted like 12-year olds. It was all fun and games until the next bend in the river…

There it was, big and bloated and pinned to a rock…a dead cow.

Not dinner

The funny thing is after going on a bit we both decided we should have pulled out my buddy’s 9mm and put a few rounds into the carcass. I wonder if it would have hissed or exploded? Oh well, it was probably a good thing we left it alone.

We pulled out of the river around 3 or so and I was home, in the shower by 4:30 and picking up take out from Outback by 8.

It was a good time. We hope to do a trip in early fall when it is not so hot…that means November down here…and we want to get another canoe and take our wives. We will only go to where we stayed the first night and spend one night. Then just go home in the morning. That way they get a taste for canoeing without taking them on a long trip and they only have to commit to one night in a tent.

I forgot to mention we also saw another large bird of prey. It sort of looked like a hawk but it did not sound like one. It had a white head and belly. It was too fast to get a picture. We also saw two river otters. I did not know there were otters in the Flint. They moved away before we could get close enough to see them.

The highlight was seeing a bald eagle. It was beautiful with its snow-white head and tail. Mark snapped a picture, but it is hard to see. You can sort of see him here, but it is fuzzy:

Makes me want to stand up and salute

I wish we could have gotten closer or had a better camera. Oh well, it was a thrill to see in the wild.

Go U.S.A.!