Whew! Got more than I bargained for yesterday. Loaded up the canoe to probably 75% of my true gear weight and headed out for a real live test run. We only did a short six miles on Beaver Creek down here in the Ozarks.
The water jug stabilizer set up was the first to go. Anyone who has floated Missouri rivers in the Ozarks knows that we navigate some pretty tight spots and tree fall is unpredictable. Coming around the first bend I hit a dog leg turn with two big logs down at different angles on the turn. This one would have been passable, but I hung my right water jug up on one of the log branches. Standing up in a canoe, reaching over the dog, out to the water jug three feet away from the canoe didn't work. We didn't spill, but it was close.
The mast was the next to come down. Hadn't seen any cottonmouths yet, but hit enough solid tree branches that I got tired of looking up for the snakes to fall into my canoe. No reason to beat the crap out of the mast yet either. Stowing both of these length-wise in the canoe gave me streamlined agility and took up very little additional room. Great exercises to run the gear through its paces.
Then, came around another corner and face to face with my first complete blockage. Several trees had fallen from various directions to completely block the river. I learned that my portage cart is completely useless on soft gravel/sand (as are many tires). Instead, I unloaded all the gear, climbed up on one of the logs, lifted one end of the canoe up onto the trunk enough that it would stay. Then, jumped back in and pushed on the other end of the canoe until it was resting on the tree. One final push and it took off very quickly in the current without me.
Had a few more of these blockages; one, I got out and pulled the canoe back upstream to go down another channel that I couldn't see before and another, we did almost go under, but was able to push out of it with the oar.
We only ended up seeing one cottonmouth, no turtles which is weird, and three deer. Hank did a great job. He is really starting to believe he's a swimmer, I think. It definitely wore both of us out.
'Til next time!