April 13 - Upper Platte
Published on 4/13/2011
After meeting for a hearty lunch, our group reconvened at the Veteran's Campground put-in, and shuttled all the cars to the takeout. Trip hosts Lois and John brought two cars (a result of having different volunteer commitments earlier that day), so John was able to take all the drivers back, leaving all the boat-carrying vehicles at the takeout at Deadstream Road. That was handy!
Other participants were Marv & Marlene, Tracie, Linda, Jocelyn & Max the dog, and Sara.
The river was running at its normal level, not particularly high, but with the usual assortment of downed trees and other obstructions. Sara and Jocelyn did a great job of clearing a nice little slot at one end of a downed tree, so the boats could get through with a minimum of hassles and no super-tight turns. Linda didn't stop in time. Lesson #1: when someone yells, "Hold up", you need to heed the warning. Fortunately John was able to get out of his boat and walk over to pull Linda out of the tricky spot. Lesson #2: make sure you wear high boots when it's springtime on the river. Max was covered in sawdust, but didn't seem to mind. I didn't see it, but I heard that later on Jocelyn vacuumed him off.
After the lumberjack job, Marv headed into the slot a bit too close to John, and ended up sideways to the tree. Lesson #3: don't get too close to the person in front of you, especially in tricky currents. Tracie demonstrated the paddling finesse she had honed last summer, by slipping easily through the slot with the comment, "A piece of cake!" Actually, a short while later Linda learned Lesson #3 the hard way, when she didn't notice that Tracie was entering an eddy that was about to slow her down. In fact, Linda learned a bit more that day, like Lesson #4: if your boat capsizes, try to avoid any people who might have cameras. And Lesson #5: change to dry clothing since you are carrying it along for just that reason.
Marlene learned Lesson #6: take advantage of good places in the woods the moment they present themselves. Some folks learned Lesson #7: if you have dinner plans after a paddling trip, you may have to change them. A lesson learned (but not the hard way) is how to do a back ferry, catch an eddy and then peel out. Although I have often mentioned that "back paddling is your friend", if you want to get to the takeout before sundown, you need to learn to use some forward strokes to maneuver. And you have to be able to talk and keep paddling at the same time. Everyone learned that lesson as we crossed the corner of Platte Lake near the end of the trip. And we all learned lessons #8, 9 and 10: take a pump, take a sponge and don't trust the bulkheads in plastic kayaks - put everything in waterproof bags.
I learned how neat it is to get back in my boats after a few months off, and how much I appreciate the camaraderie of good paddling buddies. Written by Lois