I had a get together with some people on Saturday, for a hike and picnic in the national forest. After that, a friend and I were canoeing to a campsite somewhere on Hunters creek. We left kind of late, and the sun was threatening to set on us, so we detoured up a small tributary to see if we could reach the forest edge and set up our campsite before dark.
We both got wet before we got to high ground, because we had to get out of the boat and drag it through the marsh grass. The next morning, my friend went for a run in the forest with some other trail runners, and, while he was gone, I had a leisurely breakfast while I attempted to dry our things on a clothesline near the fire.
It was a pleasant morning, so I went out to explore a little. I discovered that the tide was going out, and our trip out was going to be a lot harder than our trip in. So, I broke camp, loaded the boat with all of our gear, and proceeded to drag the boat across the marsh grass, into the small tributary, and out to the main creek. I sent my friend a text message with an alternate rendezvous point, so he wouldn’t have to deal with navigating the marsh.
Of course, as all of you know, I’m pretty experienced at navigating the marsh, so I wasn’t really worried about the trek. I did have a heavy boat with a load of gear to drag behind me, but I was confident that I’d get through.
It was a pretty active weekend, with the hike, a pretty long canoe paddle, and getting in and out of that camp site. I don’t think I’ll camp there, again. It wasn’t worth all of the scratches and cuts I got from the saw grass. The good news is that I recorded a little video while I was slogging out. The video actually shows the easy part of the marsh trek, but I really couldn’t get any video until the channel got wide enough to have a clear view. I was up to my crotch in mud a few times before I set up the camera. By the way, this is me, trying NOT to sink!