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and Jack Woodward
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Hey Y 'all ! This past weekend (10/2/07) I was all by myself on my outing. Dot was tied up with a memorial service on Saturday, so I decided to go it alone. We had marked a spot on my GPS on our last outing as a possible 'put-in' further upstream on the Suwannee River. During the past week I received my new GPS, a Garmin Legend, high sensitivity model with a color display. And it is NICE ... really NICE !! So I can go under trees and in canyons and next to tall buildings and not lose the GPS signal. And it does indeed work. On our past outings, I would end up with 5 or more individual 'tracks' on my GPS because it had lost and regained a signal. Not on this last outing. I have one continuous track on my GPS for the entire 13 mile+ round trip. Way to go Garmin !! As is our 'norm', Dot and I would usually paddle upstream 3 or 4 miles before turning around. This time I paddled over 6 miles upstream. UGH !!
This was on the way up to the Suwannee River put-in. And this 'moment in time' is just that. On the way back home after my outing, all the hay bales had been picked up and put up. There was nothing left but an empty field. So between us and God, this sight is just a memory.
This is at the put-in off of Rte. 177 at Reeves Landing. That is my 'new' used truck and one of my 'old' kayaks in the water. I had forgotten how little room there is in a single, one person kayak. Dot and I have been using 'Big Red', a tandem kayak almost exclusively. But, 'cramped' as I was, I 'made do'.
Heading upstream. I put-in at roughly 8:45am. The still rising sun made 'seeing' difficult at times as it reflected off the water.
As you already know, some of the tree root systems here are pretty awesome.
Still 'early' in the morning heading upstream.
The reflections in the still water are pretty neat to look at.
Here you can see what I mean about the reflections of the sun off the water. Here you can see the sun in the sky above and reflecting off the water below. Needless to see, it was fairly blinding.
But the scenery is, as always, gorgeous.
Another root system. This is an Ogeechee lime.
Dot and I have seen these 'canoe trail markers' up in the Okeefenokee Swamp'. Granted, the Suwannee River is a part of the Okeefenokee trail system, but the '4 mile' thing has me somewhat baffled. This point on the river is at least 15 miles or more from the Okeefenokee Swamp. It is really more like 4 miles from the Suwannee River visitors center near Fargo. I will have to ask about this one day. I kept an eye out for more markers but didn't see any.
Still heading upstream. I am pretty sure this is still part of the river that Dot and I had been on.
The cypress trees along the river really make this section of the Suwannee very attractive.
As most of my viewers already know, I am a sucker for sand pattern pictures.
I really like sand patterns. No two are ever alike.
And then there are the ones that show simple beauty.
Still heading further upstream.
Some of the root systems defy imagination.
This was a strange sight indeed. The 'bulb' of a trunk at the base of the tree is easily 7 feet in diameter. Pictures just don't do 'justice' to the sight I beheld.
Upstream.
This was pretty impressive. The root system you are seeing obviously came from a fairly big tree. The roots extend horizontally outwards, then nosedive downward. I am assuming that at one time the roots were totally underground. Then through the process of erosion, the roots were laid bare. What ever tree they came from wasn't going to be uprooted for ages to come. Simply amazing.
Again, this photo doesn't do justice to this pine tree. For it is truly immense. There was a point heading upstream where it became apparent that I was entering into a pine forest. The scent of pine in the air was dominant over all the other scents.
Here you can see the ripples on the water that were kicked up by the wind. The weather forecast was calling for 15 to 20mph winds with gusts up to 30mph. As I headed upstream against the already very substantial current, the occasional wind in my face was another impedance to my forward progress. As soon as I would stop paddling, the current would 'grab' the boat and send me downstream in a hurry. If the wind was there also, I was really heading back downstream in a bigger hurry.
More of the scenery heading upstream.
I should start doing more black and white photos.
This river is just like the St. Mary's in one perspective. It is always changing 'character'. It would go from narrow to wide, and back again, just by rounding a curve.
As I've said before, the cypress trees on this river truly add to its' character.
And the root systems are always mind boggling.
What lies ahead is what keeps one paddling ever onward.
Heading upstream as I was, it amazed me how many places the river opened up and widened.
But when it narrowed down it became even more attractive.
Pictures just do not do justice to the size or height of some of these trees.
And when it 'opened' up, it really opened up it seemed.
Looking ahead was like looking into a magnet. It kept drawing me upstream.
When the river narrowed down was when it seemed to get more beautiful.
But when it 'opened up', was almost like a 'downer'. Ugh, another long straight stretch to paddle though. Yeah, it was pretty, but still a bit of a drag to paddle through.
It got to where I was looking for the narrow places.
This was kind of neat. Like an avenue of trees.
Near one of the other potential put-ins I found.
Another rest stop. Thank Heaven for shady trees.
A bouquet of flowers.
This is heading back downstream. I can tell because I have my feet up on the boat. It's time to kick back and relax and enjoy the downstream ride. By the time I got to here, I was really whupped.
Upstream or downstream . . the scenery is magnificent.
So ends another good day on the water. Even though I was all alone (without Dot), I still enjoyed myself. There's a lot to be said for being totally on ones' own out in the wild. Out there, it was just me and the Creator. There is a true sense of being and belonging. Others may have money and are 'kings' in their world. But out here, I am in Heaven. And all the money in the world cannot buy you that.
ENJOY !!!!
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Email to Jack Woodward mailto: jackwoodward66@hotmail.com
Link to Page St. Marys 1 St. Marys River Moniac to St. Rte. 121
Link to Page August 25, 2003 Little Talbot Island Beach Starfish
Link to Page Sand Patterns 1 Sand Patterns 1
Link to Page Sand patterns 2 Sand Patterns 2
Link to Page Flower1 Flowers for the Ladies 1
Link to Page St. Marys 2 St. Mary's River Stokes Bridge with Dorothy
Link to Page Irenes' Animals Cute Animal Pictures
Link to Page St. Mary's 3 St. Mary's River Stokes Bridge myself
Link to Page Jacksonville Zoo Jacksonville Zoo
Link to Page Guana 10 15 05 Guana Lake
Link to Page Guana 10 22 05 Guana Lake
Link to Page Dot
Link to Page An outing with Anne St. Mary's river with Anne Hopkins
Link to Page 12_04_05 stokes St. Mary's River Stokes Bridge
Link to Page Trout Creek Trout Creek (new)
Link to Page Suwannee River Jan. 14,2006 Suwannee Jan. 14, 2006
Link to Page St. Marys Solo St. Mary's Solo Trip
Link to Page Olustee Battlefield Olustee Battlefield State/National Park
Link to Page Stokes to SR 2 St. Marys' River Stokes Bridge to SR 2 NEW
Link to Page March 11, 2006 St Mary's St. Mary's River
Link to Page Okeefenokee to Moniac St. Mary's River Okeefenokee to Moniac
Link to Page Black Creek Black Creek
Link to Page St Marys with Amber St. Mary's with Dots' Granddaughter
Link to Page Guana Solo 04/15/06 Solo at Guana
Link To Page Oupas' Outing 04/22/06 St. Mary's with Oupa Seane
Link to Page Guana with Dot 04/29/06 Guana State Park
Link to Page Guana Charlie Donna Jimmy 05/06/06 Guana State Park
Link to Page St. Mary's River Westberry's 05/13/06
Link to Page Okeefenokee 5/20/06 Okeefenokee Swamp
Link to Page Thompkins Landing with Dot 5/27/06
Link to Page Thompkins Sabrina 6/10/06
Link to Page Thompkins Landing with Stephanie 6/24/06
Link to Page St. Mary's River with Pete 7/8/06
Link to Page Suwannee 7/15/06 7/15/06 with Dot
Link to Page Link to Elena Lev
Link to Page St. Mary's Charlie & Jimmy 7/22/06 with Charlie and Jimmy
Link to Page Simpson's Creek 7/26/06 Simpson's Creek with Dot
Link to Page St. Mary's C.R.2 9/2/06 C.R. 2 with Dot
Link to Page Stokes w/ Dot 9/9/06 Stokes Bridge with Dot
Link to Page St Marys Dot Charlie 9/16/06 St. Mary's 121 to Stokes
Link to Page Jacksonville Zoo 9/23/06 Jacksonville Zoo with Dot
Link to Page Circus at U.N.F. 9/30/06 Circus
Link to Page Talbot Black Rock and Trees 10/06/06 Talbot Black Rock
Link to Page Sunday 15th 10/15/06 Cloudland Canyon vacation
Link to Page Monday 16th 10/16/06 Cloudland Canyon vacation
Link to Page Tuesday 17th 10/17/06 Cloudland Canyon vacation
Link to Page Wednesday 18th 10/18/06 Cloudland Canyon vacation
Link to Page Thursday 19th 10/19/06 Cloudland Canyon vacation
Link to Page Friday 20th 10/20/06 Cloudland Canyon vacation
Link to Page Oklawaha 10/28/06 Jacksonville Canoe & Kayak Club
Link to Page Oklawaha 11/04/06 with Dot and Charlie Bear and gang
Link to Page Oklawaha River 11/11/06 Oklawaha
Link to Page Oklawaha with Dot 12/02/06 Oklawaha with Dot
Link to Page Juniper Springs Juniper Springs with Dot
Link to Page Okeefenokee Jan 14 2007 Okeefenokee Swamp
Link to Page St. Mary's Stokes 2/25/07 St. Mary's Stokes
Link to Page St. Marys at Stokes 3/17/07 St. Mary's River at Stokes Bridge
Link to Truck Stuff http:///www.truckchamp.com Truck Stuff
Link to Silver River Silver River 3/24/07 Silver Springs/Silver River
Link to Some Past Videos Some Videos Videos
Link to St. Mary's River St. Mary's 4/21 St. Mary's River at Stokes Bridge
Link to Okefenokee Swamp Okefenokee 4/28 Okefenokee
Link to Oklawaha Oklawaha 5/6/07
Link to Suwannee River Suwannee River 9/7/07
Link to Suwannee River Suwannee Dot and Tom 9/15/07
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