This morning we all woke up to a beautiful sunny day, and Marcus screaming "Real talk: there's a 10 foot black widow on my shirt!!!" After we all settled down, we had great breakfast of granola and fresh fruit, that gave us enough energy to deal with the insane put-in. We had to carry things one by one down the steep embankment to the floating boats. Needless to say, it took a while... but we did better time-wise than we expected... wich seems like it is starting to be a reaccuring theme. Today we had only 12 miles to paddle, and the sun was finally shining, so we had a great time. Paddling could not be more fun than than in was today... we even had our own jukebox (Tucker) it definitely keeps morale up... for some reason every paddle stroke seems easier when you are singing along. At then end of the 12 miles there was another crazy take-out... there was a low head dam that we have to portage around and the take out is only 20 yards in front of it... so to avoid any injuries we had to one by one come up to some hidden stairs and carry the boats up. Where were staying is right at the top of those stairs on a beautiful plot of farmland overlooking corn fields and farmhouses. Before we started preparing dinner, we were met by some crazy drunk kids who were convinced they could jump off the dam... thankfully Marcus and Austin talked them out of that death jump and they stumbled on their merry way. While preparing dinner we realised we needed oil, so we spent 30 minutes looking for it... only to find out that we really needed fuel. :) Anyways we had a delicious dinnerof gado gado nevertheless. After dinner, we needed to go find water... so Tucker, Austin, Marcus, Theresa, Chelsea and I went to go knock on doors... so we walked down the gravel road. Walking past numerous no trespassing signs and with the sound of a barking dogs and a chainsaw ringing in our ears we knocked on the door of a little white farmhouse and received permission to use their well water... we filled up and left as quickly as possible. After cutting off the circulation to our hands carrying 70 liters of water... we got back to a nice treat. Montie had brought a watermelon and cantelope! He had also brought Bill Brewer, the superintendent of all water treatment to Winston-Salem. He talked a little about the dam, how it was built, what it does, and what kind of fish you can catch. All in all it was a pretty eventful day... but no more so than any other day. We are a very run-loving group... not a minute goes by without laughter. It seems like all we do is have fun, and i am loving it... I look forward to every remaining minute (including the classwork).
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Day 5 - camping @ Winston Salem water out-take
Our tents are pitched about 40 feet from this low-head dam. More pics from this site to follow, as well as the blog post for today!
Day 4 Blog post: Jana Eilermann
A sigh of relief was felt throughout the group as we awoke to rays of sunshine shining through the tree tops. After a late night of digging out stairs to the put in, I was not expecting to wake as early as I did. The camp site was peaceful at 6:30am. When the rest of the group awoke around 8, we had a hearty breakfast of grits and were again joined by our lovely friends, Henry and Mary Lou. They were kind and brought us gifts of sweet lous, an original recipe of chocolate and butterscotchy goodness created by sweet Mary Lou herself. As we began loading boats, I found a new friend, whom we named Princess Frog. Mary Lou told me how rare it was to find a frog this year as they were having a hard time surviving in the environment. We pulled boats down the freshly unearthed stair case at the Yadkin Shore around 10:13am and began our 17 mile journey for the day. After departing from our friends we paddled down a wide calm river with tree lined shores. Around 11:30 am we were surprised to see a heard of six cows wading in the right side of the river, which demonstrated both pollution from erosion and agriculture. As we continued paddling, we followed a blue heron and witnessed some beavers splashing around on the shores before us. We stopped for lunch on a beautiful forested beach where we met a gator-looking snapping turtle who was around 1.5 feet long and 11 inches wide with a scary, spiny tail. We stayed on the other side of the beach and feasted on peanut butter and jelly bagels and discussed the key differences between Jiff and Peter Pan. We also learned all about river features including eddies, strainers, scholls, tongues, pillow rocks, and more. Ironically enough, shortly after our lesson, we were paddling through some small rapids and a pillow rock jumped out of nowhere at me and flipped my boat. Being that I am a stubborn girl, I refused to give in and tried desperately to roll my boat back up, but after about a minute of pushing with all my strength, my boat was nearly full of water and I was forced to tuck forward and pull my skirt thus becoming the fourth member of the Yadkin swim team. It was a refreshing swim, thankfully, and I dried out quickly in the sun. I found it difficult to paddle fast as I wanted to stay exactly where I was, taking in all that the river had to offer me. As we neared the end of our 17 mile journey for the day, we entered the somewhat notorious scholls where we scouted and searched for the clearest, safest lines to the bottom. We got a little stuck in the middle but were all able to make it safely to the take out at Pilot Mountain State Park. Pilot Mountain is absolutely breath taking from the water. It looks.like someone took a giant ice cream scoop and scooped a chunk out of the left side and placed it just to the right, on top of the peak. However we learned that what it actually is, is an outcrop of erosion resistant metamorphosic rock called quartzite. The take out was interesting to say the least. We unloaded the boats in the water and passed our gear up a steep, muddy, possibly poison ivy-covered hill to our campsite. It was quite a production. This camp site is much more rugged than any we have yet experienced as a group. The amenities include window maker trees, which required many of us to relocate our tents, and an abundance of bugs of all different sorts. For the first time on this expedition, I actually feel like I am in the wilderness. There is no porta-potty and I am surrounded by wildlife. I was nearly just eaten by a centepede and there are spiders and beetles like I have never seen before all around me. I am loving it, but from the screams I hear from across camp as others are getting settled, not everyone feels the same. We were surprised to see Max this evening and excited that he brought us more food including hot chocolate and fresh berries for our granola in the morning. From my Crazy Creek the aroma of tomato, basil and garlic fills my nose as Aislinn and Rick prepare the sauce for our pita pizza dinner. I am relaxed by the sound of crickets and frogs coming alive as the sun sets and hopeful for another beautiful day. I am looking forward to a good nights sleep--that is, after the girls kick butt at Yadkin River Jeopardy tonight.
VOR 2010 Team with Hank and Sweet Mary-Lou
Hank and Mary-Lou own the property we camped on last night - Yadkin Shore - and were incredibly hospitable.