The moon is up a bit and is giving an eerie glow over the treetops. First we think it is fog moving in. It was very surreal. But the traffic is getting louder. And around the bend, we see headlights fly by about 20 feet in the air. Funny, you couldn’t even see the bridge. I mutter “Oh man”. I was never so happy to see a car in my life. Now, instinctively, we are paddling faster. Our goal is in reach. We just hope we don’t pass the canoe launch, and ahead on the left, we see it.

9 PM.

Kevin and I are at the launch. He brings his truck down and has the heater running. I call my wife and tell her we are safe and to let Kevin’s wife know. My wife wants to know what happened. But, I can’t talk. The shivering now sets in. We are literally shaking violently from the cold. There is no way we are going to load up the canoe tonight. So I decide to leave it and pick it up in the morning.

The ten-mile drive to that hot shower felt like an eternity.

Reflections:

I am the first person to preach personal responsibility, and with this fiasco, I have one person to blame. Myself.

Kevin did an outstanding job watching out for obstructions. And he has the scars to prove it.

I know hypothermia was setting in. They say one of the first symptoms is flawed decision making. We experienced this.

The teamwork we were displaying earlier had left. We would pull up to a fallen tree, and we wouldn’t know what to do. I would paddle one direction, Kevin would say “what are you doing”? I would answer, “What do you want me to do”? Indecision, it hit us hard. I think we started getting short with each other.

What went wrong? First, I didn’t research this river. I had no clue to the challenge or true length of the paddle. After speaking with the Ranger, I found it was considered a nine-hour paddle in good conditions, and they haven’t really opened it for use or had a chance to clear it out. So, even the 6 hours I gave us wasn’t sufficient for the run.

Second, clothing. We all knew a front was coming thru. Yet, I (we) did not have the correct clothing for the conditions. I put on my PVC rain jacket, but it didn’t have any effect on the wet blue jeans I was wearing.

Third, basic survival equipment. We had no flashlight, matches, first aid, etc. At one point Kevin was impaled by a very thorny bush. One thorn, about 1 inch long was broken in off in his fore arm. Luckily the pocketknife I carry has a small scissor on it and I used it as tweezers.

Forth, no float plan. My wife knew where we were going, but she didn’t know WHERE we were going. If that makes any sense. Please make sure your spouse, significant other or who ever know exactly where you are and what time you expect to get out.

Had a Ranger or someone else seen our trucks at 8:30pm, I fully expected a call be made to the Sheriff. I cannot count the number of times I looked to the sky expecting to see a helicopter. If that happened, it would just be another case of an idiot causing resources to be mobilized when the situation could have been avoided by the simple application of common sense.

Honestly, I am mad at myself and frankly I am embarrassed. I know better, but I didn’t think it thru.

We did this, so now, you don’t have to.