Sloan’s Bridge , Black River

Bad Day became a Great day,

I got up about 0600hrs for the driving to Oakboro, NC Rocky river Run, I checked the water gauge, the water over night had moved 4.3 foot to 14.1 foot, James texted me, and I notified that that level it was a safety risk, I checked the gauge again 1.5hrs later and the water was 16.2 and still rising.

So texted Garett that we was a “ No Go “ at this stationed, texting back and forth we decided on the South River, which be an equal drive of 1 hr drive. I was concerned while getting there as it rained lightly the whole way.

The put-in was the boat ramp Sloan’s Bridge, we did a reverse put-in, drove to take out and dropped of Garrett’s HRV. As soon as we got to put-in the rain stopped, always a good sign, the water did look alittle low, but this section is pretty much always do able .
As we paddled the weather got warmer, to the point we was thinking we might hit a sand bar and take a layer off, but decide to keep going, this is a very nice calm section that was filled with lots of wildlife and downfall, I stopped counting after 10, but all this was either a go around, go over. 2 downfalls was a portable or out and over, we decided to take lunch at the downfall that would be a portage as it was lunch time and offered a great sandbank for that purpose. Even a nice place to sit at, we did a quick lunch and back into the water, the downfall in this area was thick trees and would require 12in bar or greater, not of concern for us, as we was focused on the current beautiful weather and nice flow of the water , even at this level.
We did have a pucker factor even , Garett was moving along nicely and I was a few feet from him, when we suddenly turned 90 degrees in 1/10 second, I was thinking I would ram him, which I did, no time to react. And than my boat whipped 90 degrees, the was a sub surface obstruction, which did not indicate anything on the surface. It was good for a laugh, all and all was really mental and emotionally relaxing, we ran into a young man and his son and hunting dogs on the bank, he was teaching his son about hunting, we greeted them from the water and what beautiful dog he had, which the dog agree by long continuous barks, which shattered the silence of the river.

We finished the paddled around 1330hrs and began around 1030hrs with alittle over 8 miles of paddling.

During the paddle, I noticed that the Cypress trees had a red in them like Cedar wood and noticed also that there was no mistletoe growing on them, is this a different species tan the Lumber River area? We did see a lot of ducks, mostly in small groups of 5 or less, lots of beaver activity, and a beaver shelter on the bank, I could see alittle into the opening, and many nice limbs that he left that would make excellent walking or hiking sticks. A lot this area had a lot of “Wait a minute vines”.

The take-out bank was washed away, but we did find an area that we could wedge our boat in between the bank and a tree that worked very well, the trail to the take out was pretty muddy, so Garett got to do so Muddy, I think I saw a big grin on his face, we drove over to Subway and I treated Garett to 2nd lunch. After words we agreed this was a great paddle.\

On the drive home, going through Roseboro, it brought back the love of rural America, a couple walking on the sidewalk holding hands smiling at each other as they do, a father and son playing catch in the front yard, a youngman filling the truck up while his father looks on in approval, this had me thinking, is it the drive home from kayaking that causes me to reflect on the moments of life that will be forever cherish, or was it the kayaking on the river that opened my mind to this, something to ponder for another day?!
Garett posted the pictures and I will post a video later

God Bless you and yours for all your days,
Scott
Song is dedicated to my friends what has helped me along over the years