I went kayaking this afternoon - obviously on the Flint River. This trip was notable for two reasons: first, it was the first time that I flipped on a solo trip, and secondly, I made the 3.5-4 hour trip in 2.5 hours. I spilled early in the trip - actually in a place where Richard and I have flipped before on separate occasions. And I think it is significant that I'm just now flipping on a solo trip, since the majority of my river trips are alone (since I have my own boat and gear, any time that Richard can shuttle me I'm on the river without spending a dime - which I love). Where I spilled today is a great place to flip your boat, because the water is comfortably shallow and it's near a quite convenient pebbly bank. So once I flipped I managed to keep my boat upside down and walk it to the bank where I emptied it rather quickly. However, it had been so hot when I fell in, that once I got the boat settled, I decided to hop back into the water for a bit and cool off. It was great timing.
Thankfully there were hardly any people out on the water while I was out there, and I actually got a chance to stop at the caves and wander around for a bit. Very nice. The next time I've got someone with me I'd like to spend more time in the caves.
It was attempting to make up for the lost time flipping and cave exploring that I pushed so hard and managed to cut an hour off the trip unexpectedly. :) But I welcome a workout that I enjoy, and since I'm getting to know the Flint so well, I don't need as much time to look around. Quite sunny today; I am lobstery of legs and chest right now - oops! It was all good, though. Here I am on the river - not beautiful, I know, but gone are the days where I put on makeup and fix my hair for kayaking trips. It was so hot today that it wouldn't have even mattered anyway.
Looking rough, but I had a great trip! You can see the river looks rather brown today - a result of the week's precipitation. It wasn't any higher than usual, though. Richard and I ran into Ben of NACK at the Hwy 72 take out yesterday, and he said it had dropped something like 8 inches in about 24 hours! That would have been fun. The water was even slower today than it had looked yesterday afternoon.
