Memorial Weekend on the Sabine
May 28-30, 2011
by Harmon Everett
Philip and Tisha got to Burr Ferry
Bridge about 4 on
Friday. Then they had a looonnnnggg wait
before anybody else showed up. Lots of people dropped out and the attendance
was really…sparse.
Mike showed up from Ft. Worth. Tim showed up for his first overnight excursion. I (Harmon)
showed up around 8:30. We decided to
wait and do the shuttle with Danny Saturday morning. Some fairly rude folks camped out directly on
the two track from the parking pad down to the water, and some others came onto
the beach around 10:30 or so with a very loud truck which they drove up and
down the beach for a while before parking it and letting it run while they
pitched their camp. Next morning Ron and
Judy Nunnelly showed up, and Bob and Bobby.
Boy, when Danny says it is time to do the Shuttle you’ve got
to be there or you will miss it. Tim
missed the first one, which was a good thing, because I’d left my video camera
in my car when I did the shuttle and Tim graciously brought it back for me when
he went on the second shuttle. Mike missed both shuttles. Tisha and Philip said
they’d take him back to the put-in so he didn’t have to worry.
We got all shuttled and On The Water by 10 or so. Besides us, Aaron and Kelly were a couple
that more or less kept along with us. There
was a big church group from Beaumont, and a group of 4 kayakers from Houston that we would see
at camp and pass at lunch, or they would pass us. Compared with the 100 - 200 boats that have
done this trip before, it was pretty lonely.
I had a mount for a sun umbrella. Within half an hour the wind had pulled it
out and it sank. It didn’t do it in a
section that was a foot or so deep – no, it waited until it found a hole at
least 10 feet deep and I couldn’t find it again. Note to self – tie down your
umbrella!
They Call The Wind Mariah
All day Saturday we battled headwinds of 20-30 mph. Sunshine and warm – if it hadn’t been for the
wind it would have been beastly hot, but - small favors. Tim was getting beat up by the wind in his
boat (OK, we all were), so I spelled him for a while in his boat.
After battling headwinds for what seemed like forever, we
made it to First camp. The wind
continued to blow, making it a challenge to put up tents or shade tarps.
The Matticks and I chose spots shadowed by some trees. Ron and Bob and Tim chose a spot close to the
river. Mike went upstream to the
beginning of the sand bar so he didn’t have to drag his boat very far. The next morning Mike’s tent was almost
totally surrounded by water – but it didn’t get to his tent! His own special
island! He didn’t have to drag his boat very far to get to the water!
I tried his boat the next morning. It is a racing We-no-nah design, very skinny,
round bottom, and very, very tippy. I was afraid of tipping it over every
second I was in it.
I’m used to being
able to use lots of torso and swivel while paddling my kayak. With Mike’s boat, not-so-much. I lasted about
15 minutes before gladly taking my boat back.
When a gust of wind blows over the water, besides stirring
up waves and whitecaps, the surface of the water gets much rougher at even very
fine levels of detail. I wonder what
that means the physics of the wind/wave interaction is doing?
Saturday night I brought out my water purification kit and worked up a gallon or
so. I have a 3 step process. I line a collapsible canvas bucket with a new
clean garbage bag and fill that with water from the river or source that I pour
through a coffee filter. I might add a
cloth filter to the coffee filter also. Then, once the canvas bucket is filled
with filtered water, I get out a Katadyn pump filter which is advertised as
providing 99.9 percent clean water, down to 3 microns. I pump this super filtered water into an old
style Gatorade bottle, with the wide mouth.
It is the right size to use a Steripen ultraviolet water purifier to
kill off any remaining bacteria. The
whole process took about half an hour to provide a gallon of cleaned and
purified water.
Sunday we stopped to play and cool off at a couple of beaches. We passed a dead alligator that was probably
ten or twelve feet long.
At camp, after another meal, one member of our group, who
has asked to remain nameless, asked: “Hey, could you look and see if this is a
tick?” and showed a black spot on their back.
On closer examination we determined it was indeed a tick. We dabbed on alcohol, and some “Medicated
tick cream” but it didn’t back out by the time they left after take-out. Stay tuned.
This should be a good safety minute.
The internet says you should gently grab its head with tweezers and
gently pull it loose, and not to use alcohol or creams.
Sunday night we were sitting in the water and some fingerling minnows kept nibbling at
my legs. I tried out my waterproof video
camera to try to catch them at it.
It was another struggle Sunday night to put up the tents and
shade tarps in the constant wind. But there wasn’t loud music, and we were all
pretty beat, so we slept good.
Tim decided to try sleeping under his boat. He dug out a little depression and used a
little bug spray and said it worked out fine.
Monday we decided to get an early start. There was less wind. As usual there was lots of dodging tangles of logs and deadheads.
After an hour of paddling we passed a huge
snapping turtle. When we circled back we
noticed it was caught on a trot line from the bottom of the river.
We stopped for a break and Ron and Judy and Bob and Tim and
Bobby and Aaron and Kelly caught up with us.
Soon after, the black water from Anacoco creek entered from the left, and soon after that, we reached
the takeout, and its long, long walk carrying our gear and boats out.
What a great trip! See you On The Water!
More photos: Facebook
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The author, Harmon Everett
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