Have you been wondering where I’ve been? Well, I’ve been deep in the swamp, exploring places that are so remote and treacherous, that no one before me has returned to tell about it. The first day, I had to backtrack because I couldn’t get through all of the fallen trees and there was no clear path. When I returned and overlaid my track onto the satellite imagery, I realized that I had taken a wrong turn and was heading into the woods. In going off course, I explored some ground that I may not have otherwise explored, so it wasn’t a wasted trip. However, I set out the next day to correct my routing error and pursue my original goal.
On day 2, I took an entirely different track. I did connect to my old track, so there would be no gaps in my exploration, but once I had established the condition of that route, I resumed my northward track with the goal of connecting back to Hunters creek near my new sinking hole, from which I had been exploring on foot and encountering really deep mud.
Along the way, I found a marshy wooded area that was fraught with uncertain footing. I never knew when I was going to find firm (enough) ground and when I would just sink up to my thigh. I’ll be returning there, someday.
The trip on day 2 was physically exhausting. I had to hack my way through fallen trees and drag my boat through really deep mud where there wasn’t enough water to paddle, or I just didn’t want to get into my boat because I was coated in mud. At some point, I realized that I had to break through to the other side because I just couldn’t bear to turn back. When I was getting close to my destination, the mud was getting really deep. I had to use my boat to hold myself up, or I’d sink way too deep to be able to make any progress.
I shot as much video as I could, but there were times when it was all I could do, just to make forward progress. I shot a full immersion video right before I backtracked to the cut-through and made a beeline for the creek so I could wash up and dry off. It was a warm day, but I had been wet for hours and my core temperature was dropping.
I got rained on a few times, but once I got to my cleanup spot, I put up a tarp, heated some water on my camp stove, grabbed a snack and got into some dry clothes. I still had some time left, so I hung out for a while, cleaned my boat, and relished my adventure.
I had about 4km (2.5 miles) to paddle back to where I started, but the winds were calm and paddling on the open water is like a walk in the park, compared to what I had been through. I was paddling against the incoming tide, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t notice.