The Hogtown Navy Flotilla goes away down the Suwannee River
By Sue Smith

For those of you who did not make the canoe trip (read this as everyone except Wayne, Sue, Mark, Anne, Jack and Erin) you missed the greatest. Nine miles without another human being. No houses, no boats, no people, just 15 foot banks of rocks carved in fantastic patterns. The weather was perfect, sunny with a cooling breeze. The beer flowed freely, including a Brooklyn Stout and a bunch of Belgians (except for the one that needed a corkscrew). We camped on the very tip of the park where the river flowed around us below where the tents were pitched. Instead of putting in at the Outpost and hurrying to get to an unfamiliar pick-up spot, we were driven up river so we got out almost where our tents were after all the Outpost people had gone home. If the water had been any lower, we would have had to portage, but it was just low enough to ensure there were no power boats anywhere and we had a few laughs when one of us would get hung up on a sandbar and have to back off to go around. You all missed a super trip that we need to do again with more people. What was amazing was seeing the pole marking the high water marks 40 feet above where the water was. It is hard to believe it can vary so much.

All in all it was a marvelous time. My only regret was that I didn't walk down to where the Spanish music was playing when I heard it around 12:30 when I woke up, but instead rolled over and went back to sleep.

Back to November 2002 front page