End of Season Mud

Well, I went out paddling on Tuesday (November 4) after I voted in the mid-term election, and again today (November 5). Tuesday’s trip was a nice paddle, and a pretty day to be on the water, but the low tide was really lame, for some, inexplicable reason. I did wade around a bit, and found the water was pretty chilly. The mud was still pretty warm, but there was little mud to be found at the high tide level.

Today’s trip was much better. I think it was a few degrees warmer, and the tide was much lower. As it turned out, I couldn’t even stay out until the tide came in, because the sun was setting, and this time of year the temperature drops fast as the sun gets close to the horizon. I was rather sad, having to paddle back while the tide was still low, and looking at all of the exposed mud while knowing that there wasn’t enough daylight left to get muddy, get cleaned up, and get off the creek before dark; even if I could manage to avoid hypothermia.

As it turned out, it was a yellow thong day. MuddyStarry ordered a yellow thong for me, and I was determined to wear it into the mud before winter. This first image (on the right) is from Tuesday, when I didn’t have a low tide. You may notice, in the background, that the water is pretty high. This little bit of video was shot when the tide was at it’s lowest on Tuesday, after which it started coming back in very quickly. The rest of the images are from today, including the one above.

I barely got the thong muddy on Tuesday, but I got completely immersed, today.  As a matter of fact, the exact spot I picked was so deep, I went well below the surface and couldn’t find the bottom. There must be a deep hole right there, because I can usually find the bottom in that general area.

As long as I stayed in the mud, I was not cold. I suppose I would have gotten cold, eventually, but the mud temperature was very mild. Once I came out of the mud, I started to get a chill. It was a warm day, but the breeze was just enough to accelerate the evaporative cooling. Getting washed off in the cool water was a little painful, but I hurried to get clean, so I could get dried off and into some warmer clothing.

It was at that time that I looked at the sun and knew I didn’t have time to go back into the mud and get out before it would be getting dark and cold. Sadly, I was surrounded by awesome mud that was calling my name. Well, I guess that’s the way the cookie crumbles. At least I got one good sink. I’m afraid it may be my last one this year. Unless we get some really nice weather in the end of November, I may not have another opportunity.

I’ve still got some video clips to edit and release. I’ve had some other work to do, so I’ve been slow in releasing mud videos, but I’ve got all winter to release the ones I’ve got left. It it’s anything like last winter, it’s going to be a long one.

Warm regards to everyone, and thanks to MuddyStarry for the thong. The thong washed up well, so it will live to be in another video; probably in 2015.