Day 9

Wow! Some crazy views today. What do you picture when I say "Dead Lakes"? It doesn't seem like a very appealing image does it? Well, I'm happy to say that the Dead Lakes we visited today were gorgeous. To get to the Dead Lakes we had to take a bit of a detour. We paddled 22 miles in total going from the Apalachicola River to the Dead Lakes (via the Chipola Cut), and then down the Chipola River to meet back up with the Apalachicola. It was a tiring day but well worth it. The Dead Lakes were stunning. I never thought dead trees could be so beautiful but they truly were. When looking across the lakes all you can see is stumps sticking out, like some other worldly chainsaw chopped down a whole forest filled with water. We got some awesome shots of us paddling through the natural phenominon which I'm really exited to review when I get a chance. As we paddled towards our camp site for the night along the Chipola River, we met almost a dozen friendly people who seemed genuinely interested and impressed with our trip. Each new "oh my goodness" or "wow" gave us inspiration to continue on. Around mid-day it started to rain. This rain cloud was no ordinary rain cloud, this rain cloud was out to get us! Obviously I don't believe that this rain cloud had a mind of it's own but bizarrely it did seem to follow us. In all directions there were clear skies except for right above us.  For about an hour we paddled through the rain, thinking that it would eventually pass over us until we relented and pulled underneath the cover of a boat dock and waited for it to pass. It took about an hour for the storm to finally move passed us. Luckily, the sun came out with a vengeance as soon as it was gone and ended up drying out our clothes before we got to camp. Tonight we're staying at Hickory Landing, a National Forrest Campground with lots of other people camping out just like us. Hopefully we can make some new friends by the end of the night!

Day 8

Another lazy day. We decided to sleep in till 9:30. I made some cheese grits for breakfast. We packed up camp and were on the river by 10:30. With the current moving pretty quick, we didn't struggle at all reaching our 18 mile goal for the day. Surprisingly we didn't see a single person all day, which felt weird seeing as we made so many friends yesterday. Alex cought a small large mouth bass that he tied to his kayak and pulled along behind in the water in an attempt to keep it alive so we could eat it later. When we got to camp we video taped Alex cleaning and then cooking the fish in butter, capers, and lemon juice. It tasted amazing. It serves as a perfect appetizer for the Mac and cheese I made afterwards. For desert, we're going to do the same thing with a catfish that Alex just cought. With all the fish he's hooked, I'm beginning to think he's a fish whisperer of sorts. Hopefully in the next few days I'll have some luck with fishing too!

Day 7

Easter Sunday! A very relaxing day. We woke up at our usual 8:30, I made some instant oatmeal for breakfast and then we hit the river by 10:30. The current was racing in the morning. The sun was shinning, it was a beautiful day so we decided not to paddle for a couple of hours and just enjoy the view. I even took off my shirt, hoping for a tan but ending up getting pretty badly sun burned. I didn't really think that one through! Once the current slowed down and we decided to start paddling the day turned pretty average. About a mile before our campsite we stopped and filled up our water bottles at Estiffanulga County Park (try saying that five times fast). At the park we met a guy who, after we told him what we were doing, gave us the usual "ya'll are crazy" response. Alex asked him for some fishing advice on the river and then we headed off to camp. When we got to the sandbar that we were camping at, there was a family already set up about a hundred yards away from us. With nothing else to do Alex and I walked over and met everyone. We talked to them for five minutes and all of a sudden the same guy we met earlier walks up. He was the uncle of the family. For the next hour we sat and exchanged stories about the river. When the family finally had to pack up and go home, Alex and I went back to our kayaks and set up camp. Too tired to cook dinner, we each ate a cliff bar and went to bed.

Day 6

Back in the groove again. After two straight days of rough waters (literally and metaphorically speaking), things seem to be going well again. This morning we followed our normal trend of waking up at 8 and not being able to get on to the river until 10:30. At this point it's a bit astonishing that we haven't been able to quicken our packing process but it doesn't seem to be hurting us. For the first time in the whole trip it rained! As we were getting onto the river this morning we got all of our rain gear out. We were ready to weather the storm. We were greatly shocked when after 30 min of rain and only 10 min of anything substantial, the rain passed. For the next hour and throughout parts of the day there was a light overcast that kept us cool.  The wind didn't help in this regard seeing as there was none (causing the amount of bugs present to be almost unbearable). In the late afternoon we were met by a very welcome visitor, Alex's dad. He came bearing gifts of pizza and Gatorade which we very quickly demolished, expressing much gratitude in-between mouthfuls.  He also brought spare water, extra snack food, a spare phone (sent by my kind twin sister McKenzie) to temporarily replace my broken one, and even chocolate chip cookies made by our mothers. Nothing could have made Alex and I any happier than the things that we received. We said goodbye to Mr. O'Shaughnessey around 4 and kept heading down the Apalachicola River in search of our next camp site. It took us around 6 miles to find it. This spot has one of the coolest views we've had so far. Once we set up camp I had enough time to take a much needed bath in the river. I couldn't believe how refreshing the cold water was after days of not being able to wash off. We ended the day today with around 83 miles left in the trip so hopefully we can knock off a few more of those miles tomorrow!

Day 5

What do you do when you have 15 mph winds in your face, a kayak FULL of water, and 7 miles of lake to cross? Just keep paddling. Today we had an appointment to be locked through a dam 7 miles from our last camp site. The original appointment time was set for 4 o'clock which would have given us plenty of time to sleep in, maybe fish a little bit and still make it there on time, but instead the lock operator called around 11:30 and said we had to go through at 3. We thought: "Ok, no big deal it's only 7 miles. We can make it." That view point lasted right up until about halfway across the lake when we decided to just give up on bailing water out of our kayaks. The wind and waves were so strong that if we stopped paddling we were moving backwards. We made it to the dam right on time, just as the lock operator was about to leave. We couldn't help being filled with a great sense of accomplishment as we looked back at that seemingly hellish lake and down at our kayaks full of water. After we were locked through the dam into the Apilachicola River (woohoo!!) we took a two hour break. During that break I walked into town and bought four cheese burgers, two large fries and a large Dr. Pepper from a Hardee's half a mile away from the dam. At that moment, that was the best tasting food I'd ever had. We got back on to the river around 5:30 and were just barely able to find a suitable camp site before dark. Aside from the hog prints in the mud and the howling coyotes in the distance it should be a great spot to spend the night. 

Day 4

Well, I guess all the fun had to come to an end at some point, right? Today we paddled 16 miles and halfway across Lake Seminole without getting out of our kayaks once. It was a bit rough. We could have stopped at a different camp site around the 9 mile mark but we decided to push forward and use the daylight to get a few more miles in. In all seriousness it wasn't that bad of a day. It was just very tedious. We didn't meet anyone new so there wasn't anybody to talk to except for when we yelled at a jerk in a speedboat who almost tipped both our kayaks, getting us both soaked to the bone in the process. To top it off when we got to camp I found that my phone somehow got water damage while inside of a "waterproof" case. I can only assume it was false advertising. Tonight we should be getting to bed relatively early. Hopefully a belly full of camp food and a good night's rest will raise my spirits.

Day 3

We figured it out. Today we, for the first time, avoided all problems and had an amazing day because of it. We woke up at 8 (even though our alarm was set for 6:30...whoops) had a wholesome breakfast of peanut butter bagels, packed up camp in roughly an hour and hit the river by 10 o'clock. Our time on the water today was slightly boring. We trolled for fish a little bit, got some hit with no luck. What astounded me about today was that we were able to keep a steady pace. Whenever we took breaks we didn't let them get out of hand because we knew we had to keep moving if we wanted to reach camp at a reasonable hour; and we did. 17.5 miles later we reached our camp site at Neal's Landing in Florida. We made it to Florida. I can't believe we've already covered 50 miles in 3 days and secondly I can't believe how quickly time has passed. It feels like only minutes ago we were waving goodbye to our parents in Fort Gains and now we've somehow managed to make it to Florida!  Tonight was the earliest we have made it to camp so far: 5:50. This is roughly 2 hours earlier than we'd been at camp the last two days. I used those two hours to shower for the first time in days (what a relief) and to scower the park for a power outlet in order to charge our gear (which I did end up finding. Alex did his own thing setting up trot lines and fishing for striped bass. He ended up catching the biggest catfish I've ever seen in person. This thing was the fattest fish of all time, it had to have been at least 10-12 lbs. In the middle of showering and fishing Alex and I met a very rowdy, kind man by the name of James Harper who told us many a good story that kept us entertained for an entire hour before he had to go home to his family. When we told him what we were doing he said something that I loved: "If you ain't out here livin, you might as well be dead." That gave Alex and I more confidence than we could ever ask for. After a good meal and some footage review I'll be ready to hit the hay and continue on living tomorrow.