Bill and Bruce led the Tuesday Group on an epic 14 miler on the Blackwater River!
The "Crazy 8 Paddlers" braved a horrible weather forecast of cold, rain and extremely high winds to paddle from Franklin to the Chowan and Nottoway Rivers. We were incredibly lucky because the forecast was way off. The rain stopped when we began paddling. The wind only amounted to a light breeze. It was cold but we were all prepared for it. We even had bright sun for 30 seconds!
Bobby Turner shuttled the drivers back from Dockside so we didn't have to paddle all the way back to Franklin!
This Epic Blackwater Paddle was scheduled early October instead of mid November to get better weather. But the forecast was really intimidating. Eight paddlers still showed up despite the weatherman calling for rain, mid 40’s and wind at 11 to 14 and gust up to 20 mph! Everyone even drove to Franklin in rain. We were all dressed according to the forecast.
We met our shuttle volunteers, Bobby and Vivian at the ramp. So many paddlers had cancelled that Vivian wasn’t needed to help shuttle. She provided a much better service. She had a warm dry car at the put in for Margaret and Marti! They watched our kayaks in comfort during the hour long shuttle.
We all thanked Bobby when he dropped us off at the ramp because we couldn’t have made the Epic Paddle so easy without his shuttle.
The low river level left a mossy, slick ramp at the put in. Ellis impressed us all by turning his kayak over in the river, which filled with water while he remained completely dry! After he pumped his boat dry, we all headed down the Blackwater. The paper mill was noisily debarking logs when we launched but we quickly paddled away from the sound and had a quiet peaceful trip the rest of the day. There wasn’t any more rain all day! The gray overcast even gave us a brief 30 second peak at the sun later in the day.
Bruce found an old car embedded in the bank that I had paddled past for decades and never noticed.
I got a video of a night heron that was watching us paddle by and of a goose flying over.
There is little left of the grounded barge that I photographed in the same spot over 50 years ago when I first made this trip. Some of the paddlers even missed seeing its remains.
The span of the new South Quay Bridge is completed but the approaches won’t be finished until August 2023.
The lunch stop at Old South Quay went well and we were pleased that we didn’t have to cope with rain. I ate my steaming hot chicken dinner from my surplus MRE (meal ready to eat). It is amazing that I only have to add a tiny bit of water to activate the heating chemicals included in the MRE. The thriving port of Old South Quay established in 1657 is completely gone without a trace.
A bald eagle watched our progress as we paddled south. He circled over us several times. We also saw deer, great blue herons, buzzards, a rabbit, a turtle, a red tailed hawk, and even a squirrel. We didn’t see any bear but we saw their claw marks where they climbed out of the river. River Keeper Jeff Turner showed me where the bears crossed the river. We had miles and miles of peaceful scenery with no other humans the entire trip.
Margaret spotted a very large bald cypress just before we arrived at the three rivers. The Blackwater joined with the Nottoway River to form the Chowan River. We paddled a short distance down the Chowan to the site of Ft. Dillard, a confederate fort. The fort is long gone but we did see a small snake there. The next day after our trip, Richard paddled back to Ft. Dillard and was lucky to find a pair of reading glasses that had his exact prescription!
We reached our vehicles at Dockside after paddling 14.2 miles in a total of seven hours.
We had a fun meal at Serve Restaurant on Main Street in Franklin. Bobby couldn’t join us but gave each of us a beautifully illustrated book Water-powered Mills along the Blackwater and Nottoway Rivers & Watersheds. Vivian ate with us but she was adamant that we not pay for her supper. So I asked her what could we do to thank her for volunteering to help us. I was taken back when she said I could sing her a song because I can’t sing. But Bruce jumped in and sang her a ballad and we all joined in at each chorus.
It was a good Tuesday!
View Bill's pictures:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/sBbXogHAZk41Cppe8