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Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Connecticut
Posts: 2,077
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Outdoor Misadventures
I've always enjoyed being outside from an early age. Camping, cutting firewood, fishing, some hunting, you name it. Like most guys. I've got a best friend, Todd, who is always ready to go on any backpacking or canoe trip at the drop of a hat. He's my "stick man". When others run, he "sticks". We had canoed a certain stretch of the James River in Va from Bent Creek to Wingina (no chuckling) 5 or 6 times and had awesome trips and caught some decent fish. This time, we decided to take my oldest son, Daniel, with us. Daniel, 13, numerous gold medals wrestling, most valuable swimmer, etc., awesome athlete, had been on many trips with us before, but this was his first overnight canoe trip. We put in Friday afternoon and floated and fished down to a beautiful spot on an island and set up a nice camp, and fished half the night, catching some decent catfish, which made for a really tasty breakfast. This was May/June and the river was at a moderate level. This stretch was only class 1 or 2 rapids. We camped on another island Saturday and again, had a great night. We woke up Sunday amidst a light drizzle. We loaded up the canoe, and I threw a poncho over my life-jacket, and I said to Todd, "Hey, I'm always the stern-man (back of the boat) and you're always the bow-man (front of the boat), wanna switch for this last leg, it's only a mile or two?" Todd, said sure and Dan got in the middle of the boat, I got in the front, and Todd got in the back. As we paddled downriver in the slight rain, we came upon a small island where Todd and I had camped the spring before. To the left of the island, we explained to Dan, was a beautiful ankle-deep stream, the bottom covered with the most gorgeous rocks and shells you've ever seen, leading you right up to a sweet sandy beach. Well, as we rounded the corner to slow- drift up unto the beach, all HE** broke loose! No longer was it ankle to knee deep, but it was now a 10 foot deep raging torrent of water shooting right through the roots of the biggest oak tree I've ever seen! We paddled like He** but the current took us and we hit the tree sideways and broached (The whole river pours into your canoe from the side and rolls it) In an instant, I'm flipped out of the boat and smashed underwater by the raging torrent into the roots of that tree which stretched across the whole channel. My poncho was like an underwater sail which pinned me to the roots of the tree. For about a second, I struggled, then something else kicked in, and I thought,"Daniel!", and I tore free and came shooting up out of the water, "yelling Daniel!" Water was still rushing around my ears and eyes and I heard Todd yell, "He was just right here!" I yelled again, "Daniel!" and started diving into the water looking for him. Again, Todd yelled and came into the water and grabbed me, what he had been saying was, "he's right here" "he's right here, he's ok". Todd said that as soon as the canoe broach, Dan turned and jumped right into his arms and as Todd saw the canoe roll and me go under, he jumped towards the bank and dragged Daniel with him (that's why he's my stick man). Daniel yelled, "let's get in there and look for him!" Todd, wisely, said, "wait a second", and then I shot up out of the water, my poncho ripped to shreads. That was one of my close calls. Lessons learned, 1- never wear a poncho on a boat, 2 -any river can change from day to day, you never really "know" any river, 3- I feel better in the stern. I still love them rivers, though, thanks for lighting a fire under me, Bonita. Love, Bill
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