Kayaking - Red River - Beer Angels

Red River, April 12                                                                 11.6 miles        535.2 miles  
Me & the hubby
Beautiful day, up to 80 degrees
Put in at Porters Chapel, Take out at Adams

There's something about kayaking on a Sunday.  A church can have absolutely beautiful music, but when I'm out on the river I know I'm hearing God's music.  Today I was really paying attention to the sounds around me.  I almost wish I had a tape recorder.   It's so very quiet out on the river and I can hear all kinds of different birds .  For the majority of the trip, it was just me and Scotty and of course, we could hear our paddles hitting the water.  At other times, we'd hear the splash of a turtle as it would quickly jump in the water once we approached.  We passed a few waterfalls and the gentle rush of that water always sounds nice.  We saw the usual wildlife - turtles, birds, hawks, an owl, 4 ducks that kept flying ahead of us and herons.  This time we paddled under several herons nests - or a rookery.  The Red River is not usually a fast river, but we did go through a few spots where the water was going a bit faster.  Earlier this week there was a lot of rain which made the river a bit higher.  But, there were signs that the river was probably a good 6 feet higher possibly a few days earlier.  We saw water marks on the banks and leaves, debris in the branches above us.  

And then amongst all of that beauty, this happened!  Red River had posted this week that they were not renting boats to beginners or children due to the rougher conditions.  I'm wondering if they shouldn't ban some adults such as the ones we saw today!  We came across a couple that had just tipped their canoe.  They lost their phone and apparently many beers.  They were okay so we paddled on.  But, then we noticed beer cans floating along the river. It made for a fun scavenger hunt for us as we paddled back and forth across the river picking up clementines, and empty and full beer cans.  Farther down the river we came across another group of young people in kayaks.   We asked them if they wanted any beers, and they were thrilled when we gave them 10 full beer cans.  After paddling away, we could hear them yelling after us, "Thank you, beer angels!"

Saw lots of spring blossoms today - wild phlox and redbuds.

See the leaves in the trees?  The water had been higher recently.

Herons!

A group of heron nests is called a rookery.

See the slide?  That's where the otters come sliding down.

Our lunch spot.  We couldn't find many places to pull over as the water was so high.

Scotty's collection of cans from our scavenger hunt.

Beautiful scenery on the way home!