Kayaking again!



you can't see the real white water rapids but they were there!




Chuck walking down the Sipsey




Back in the kayak





hundreds! of butterflies!





college boys helping Chuck

 Since the weather turned warm and we have had so much rain, we decided to take the kayaks out for the first time this year.  We put in at the Sipsey Picnic Grounds and started our ten mile trip down the Sipsey River.  The river was up five feet high but it had been up 20 feet just a couple days before.  We could see all the debris in the trees.  It was easy paddling because the current just took ya along.  Every once in awhile, we would come to some rapids but they were nothing. ...just made your kayak go a little faster.  You could hardly tell they were there. There were several pretty waterfalls along the way.  We saw a dark brown weasel running close to the water.  Chuck though it could have been a mink.  He ran along the side of the bank with us, as we paddled.  Next, we saw a big red bat.  It flew down the river, turned and flew back.  That was about it for the excitement on the river UNTIL......we heard a LOT of water! We both laughed and said "uh oh!"  There is was!  "White Water Rapids"!  I held back while Chuck went down them.  I could see the water going over into the kayak and all over him.  THEN! BAM! out he went.  ...into the cold water of the river.  We had on our "frog togs" to keep us from getting wet when we paddled, but they weren't meant to "swim in".  I went next.  The water went over my kayak and me too, but I stayed in.  Once I got through the bad part, I could see Chuck walking in the river and our lunch bag, the dry bag and Chuck's hat all floating down the river...lol.  He managed to collect it all.  There were a lot of down trees in the middle of the river and I ended up stuck in the middle of them all.  The water was moving so fast, I couldn't manage to get my kayak out of it all.  After trying for about ten minutes, I rolled up my pant legs and got out onto the rocks to pull my kayak away from it .  Chuck had walked over to help me, since he was still in the river.  We finally both got back into the kayaks and were on our way again.  I laughed and laughed.  If it had been summer time, I would have wanted to do it again.  It was lunch time, but we had a hard time finding a place to stop on the river because the water was up so high.  We came to "Caney creek" so we turned and paddled up there for about 200 yards before we came to this really nice waterfall and we could pull over to the edge.   As we were getting ready to eat lunch, Chuck noticed hundreds of yellow butterflies, all in piles on the river bank.  I got out to take pictures of them and when I went to get back into the kayak, they all began to fly.  We had hundreds of beautiful butterflies all flying around us the whole time we ate our lunch.  I told Chuck, I felt like we were in a Disney Movie or something.  It was just awesome!  Chuck said that was the time that we needed a little video camera.  ( that's on our list to get )  It was time to head back to the Sipsey and our ten miles were just about up.  I couldn't believe how fast it went.  I think because we had so much fun.  Where we had to take the kayaks out, is really hard.  It's a steep cement hill.  I couldn't help Chuck carry them.  I did good enough just climbing up the hill.  Just as we had landed, two college age boys came and were starting to fish.  I started talking to them and then they offered to help Chuck bring the kayaks up.  No matter where ya go around here, there are always nice people.  Chuck loaded the kayaks and I loaded all the " stuff" into the explorer ( had dropped it off at the take out place) and we drove back to the picnic grounds where we left the truck.  An adventure it was!!!!! Can't wait to see what happens or what we see the next time we take the kayaks to the forest.  It will be soon!