Weeki Wachee River November 14, 2010

We had a fantastic day on the beautiful Weeki Wachee River. Even paddling that river about 100 times I cannot remember a prettier day. The weather was awesome and some of the trees were putting on a colorful show. And, of course, the river was clear as can be and even held manatees for our viewing. We want to thank Brian Mortakis and John Hussey for sending in photos.

We put in at the Weeki Wachee River State Park canoe rental named Paddling Adventures. As usual, the folks there were wonderful and took great care of us.

Here is a photo looking down Brian and Sandy's kayaks at the put-in. And, no, I have no idea what Brian was doing on his knees just before or after taking this photo.

The photographers were having such a great paddle they must have forgotten to take photos on the river. Most of the photos are from lunch.

Here we see Lady D unpacking lunch from a kayak.

And then setting things out - just so. Or was that so-so?

I mentioned not having photos of the river itself. Heck, I think everyone must have been mighty hungry, because we again see a pile of boats that look like people were in a hurry and following each other much too closely.

It is a truly fine place for lunch as these photos attest.

Did someone say 2 manatees were swimming past?

By the way, Rogers Park now has a year-round $5 parking fee with a pay station installed.

The Green River Race

(Click on any photo to see it enlarged.)

The race is in North Carolina about half way between Columbus and Hendersonville. Viewers park on both sides of Big Hungry Road taking up both shoulders for over a mile and a half. So, of course you have to walk to the trail head before embarking on the hike into the gorge. Some people, Big D included, were already huffing and puffing.

I drew this yellow-orange line on a Google Earth image guessing where the trail was.

Notice the 28773 on photo? Is that the zip code you would use if you lived in a tree there?

Most of the way in was downhill and pretty easy, taking about 40 minutes to get to the “good” part – the mountain goat part. I found it easiest to sit on a rock or root, dangle my feet down until they found something solid to stand on, and proceed rock by rock or root by limb.

Climbing Down

Did I say this section was steep?










Then we finally got to the river.

The crowd was spread along The Gorilla rapid.

Some racers rejoiced at their elapsed time for the race.

Some were just glad they made it.

A new rule for next year may be “No Tailgating”. But that is not what happened here.

As the racers finished the race they parked their kayaks and joined the crowd to cheer on the rest of the racers.

I hope no one that parked that way is a valet when not paddling.

But, the kayaks were not all in just one pile.
Some didn’t even make it to the parking lot.

One by one the racers got back to their boats and still had more Class IV and V rapids to traverse to get to their take-out.

Except for one chap whose hull had a large rip in the bottom. Their field fix was just not good enough . So he carried it all the way out.

There were still challenges ahead for each including the risk of being pinned.

This chap struggled for a while before someone came to help him get unpinned.

Here’s just one fun spot on the way to their take-out. A nice little drop below The Gorilla.

I started the climb back out of the gorge with thoughts, memories, and plans.

I plan to go back next spring to smell the flowers along the climb back out. It seemed like my nose was only 9 to 12 inches from the earth for over 100 yards of the steep part of the climb. So in the spring I’d be able to smell the flowers without needing to bend over.

Maybe I’ll bring some Husky sled dogs to pull my fanny up this hill.

Some racers are in really good shape. Remember that fellow that drug his kayak out of the gorge. He passed me while I was on this section.

The hike back out took some nearly 2 hours.
Still, I’ll definitely be back for the race next year,
when I hope to find . . .

My Favorite View - Of The Race, too.

By the way, this is Suzanne Warren, of Hendersonville, NC, who plays Lisa in the new white water movie, “Raven Fork”. I'm sure you will recognize her when you see the movie.

I can’t wait to see it.

Here is someone else's video.