1989

Canoe Trip

David and me at start of canoe trip

David at in front

My brother David was always planning and going on adventures and so he planned one for us while I was back in Florida, two days canoeing down the Santa Fe River.   He had it all planned out, where to put in, where to camp the night, the food, tent and he had a 16 foot yellow canoe.  It reminded me of the trip we canoed down the Swannee with Dad when we were kids but Dad wasn’t going down the river with us, but he did drive the car and drop us off.  It was a bright sunny day but rather on the cold side around 50 degrees that morning but was supposed to warm up into the sixties. We said our goodbyes to Dad, telling him we would see him the following day to pick us up, and we were off.  It did warm up that day and we took off our coats and hats as we gently let the current gently carry us down the river with only the occasional paddle to steer around a bend or obstacle in the water.  After we lost site of the bridge where we put in at the river was pure wilderness along the river with alligators on the banks and turtles on logs basking in the sun along the river.  All kinds of birds, great blue herons, kingfishers flashing in the branches, cormorants sitting on a branch with their wings outstretched to dry, pileated woodpeckers making a knock, knock sound echoing across the water.  It was quiet, it was peaceful.  David and I didn’t talk much, pointing out something to see or to steer, but we did reminisce about the trip down the Swannee with Dad when we were boys.

Me at the stern

Mid-day we pulled the canoe up on a sandbar and had lunch of sandwiches that we had brought and then contained on down the river. Late afternoon we came to the campsite along side the river that David had found and set up our tent, fixed dinner, and made a fire which we sat by into the evening until bedtime when we crawled into the tent and our sleeping bags.  The temperature had dropped but was warm enough in the sleeping bag.  Well at least until about two in the morning when I had to get up and pee. I unzip my sleeping bag and it was cold, much colder than when we went to bed, the temperature had dropped below freezing. I unzip the tent door and rush out in my underwear to the nearest tree, finish my business and rush back to the tent.  I was freezing so I put my coat and hat on before climbing back into the sleeping bag.  I didn’t sleep all that well after that being so cold and just after daylight David got up and went out of the tent. I still laid there for another ten or fifteen minutes when I hear the crackling and popping of a fire.  I sit up and peek out the tent door and see that David had got the fire going so I get dressed and go out and sit by the fire as we made hot chocolate and oatmeal for breakfast.

Stopping for a rest

We didn’t have all that far to go the that day, so we sat by the fire until the sun got higher and it warmed up a bit.  The river in the morning was most beautiful with a fog rising from the water lit by the morning sun just rising above the trees.  Around nine o’clock we packed up our camping gear into the canoe and set off down the river again.  The second day was much like the first, just floating down enjoying the beauty and serenity of the river.  We stopped on a sandbar again for lunch and shortly after we set out a young couple in a canoe came paddling up behind us.  With us mostly drifting they soon came up along sides us and we say hello and they ask where we are headed, and we tell them O’Leno State park and they tell us they are going further down the river to another park.  I ask them what they are going to do when they get to O’Leno and they ask, “What do you mean?” and I explain to them that the river, starting at O’Leno, goes entirely underground, to then come back up three miles away at River Rise.  Well, they didn’t believe me, they thought I was just kidding them. They paddled forward, soon leaving us behind as we watched them disappear around the next bend of the river.

Campsite on the river

We reached O’Leno a couple hours later and Dad was there waiting for us with the car.   As David and I approached the boat ramp, there pulled up on the sand was that couple’s canoe.  I didn’t see them around, perhaps they were walking the trail to where the river goes underground a quarter mile down the river.  At least I hope so, ever since as a boy seeing the river slowly circling in a big circle and disappearing underground, I had dreams about it and being sucked underwater.  I hope that wasn’t their fate.

The next day Dad and Mom drove me back to Jacksonville airport where I returned home to spend Christmas with Julie and Anne.

Snow in Florida