Kayak Yakking and More: Kayaking

Monday, July 25, 2016

Kayaking - Black River

Black River. 8 miles 889.6 total
9:15 until 2:30, 3 hours total paddling time, 2.6 avg speed, 90 degrees

Put in at Ivanhoe boat ramp. Took out at Beattys Bridge

Entering the river, we knew this would be a different paddle. The water was a tea color. Rivers turn this color from the tannins in the tree roots. As you looked across the river, it truly did look black, and the cypress knobs popped up from the water. A description of the river said some of the cypress trees were up to 1000 years old. The description also said we'd pass many birds and this proved false. We saw hardly any birds. The description all said we'd see endangered 'pants'. Look in the photos below- see for yourself if the pants we encountered look endangered!

At one point, I heard a noise ivenever heard on the river. I asked Scotty, 'what was that noise?' His reply 'you mean that growling?' Yikes! And we heard this growling again on the river, but never did figure out what it was.

A lot of the river was shaded and we passed lots of cypress trees with their knobs everywhere. There were several 'mazes' off to th sides of the river but we didn't paddle back into them as there weren't good paths between the trees and knobs. We passed several white sandy banks and stopped at one for lunch.

We mad good time along this river and stopped at one landing that had a nice dock, small white rocks brought in and a nice wooden wall/dock.

We got to Beattys landing. I stayed with the boats and Scotty made the 4 mile bike ride to get the truck. When he arrived, he was met with 2 60 year old men driving around in a pick up drinking beer. They thought he was going to jump off the bridge which they eventually did. They persisted in asking me to jump until I finally said I had a bad knee. They talked and talked, and as we packed up we saw them jump back in their truck with 2 more beers for the road.

I think I enjoyed our day more.