I went for a 10 mile paddle down a stretch of the Trinity River today (not far from my home).  That's not the small world part.  I was accompanied by the guy in the green pack canoe (and he is still paddling it).   He was also wearing his bucket hat like the one in picture.  As it turns out, he now lives in North Dallas.

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dd

How cool would that be..............I have learned tons from Cliff. 

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Jim -

No rapids on this stretch of river, just a few riffles.  However, we did encounter several deadfall that were completely across the river that we had to negotiate.  And, YES.  Tony DID stand up on a number of occasions to check out which direction to proceed.  He didn't always make the easy choice! But his balance standing in the canoe was like he was standing on a slab of concrete.  In one case, we had to manoeuvre around a deadfall that provided a gap above the water of just over a foot.  He choose to walk forward to depress the bow, straddle the 1 1/2 foot diameter tree, slide his canoe under and re-enter the canoe.  My technique was a bit less daring.  I just laid down in my canoe and drifted under!

At least this little outing gave me a chance to test out my extension to my kayak paddle.  Locally, about all I could find was an 8 ft paddle, but from what I've read, most people seem to use a 9 ft paddle from a canoe (flatter stroke, less wind-milling).  With my extension, my paddle length is now just a little shy of 9 feet.  I found I could maintain about a 3 mph rate of progress with little effort, steering was exceptionally simple and the paddle didn't get in the way as much as I thought it might in tight spots.

dd