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.