Suwannee River Part 1 - Days 1 & 2

hey y'all Dan with the southern paddler channel here and welcome to 9 days and 220 Mi on the Swani River from Fargo Georgia to Swani Florida it's about 7:30 a.m. on Saturday February 10th and we're at bills Fish Camp six good friends and I all drove down from Alabama yesterday and stayed here last night our shuttle American canoe Adventures will be here at 8:00 a.m. to pick us up and take us all the way up to Fargo Georgia where we will begin our adventures if everything goes as planned we'll end right back up here at bills in 9 days let's get started and see what [Music] happens [Music] oh [Music] [Music] w o [Music] she [Music] [Music] yeah well unfortunately we had a little mishap on the shuttle drive up as we were riding up to Fargo one of the guys looked back at the trailer and noticed a boat was missing we doubled back to a gas station that we had stopped at along the way because we knew all the boats were still on at that point the boat was nowhere to be found so we stopped by the outfitter's office to pick up a replacement everyone had brought their own boats so this was a tough loss and not an ideal start to our trip plus it had put us about an hour and a half behind our planed schedule but now it's 12:30 p.m. and we're on the water and we're going to make the best of it so here we go but I will [Music] later [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] because of our shuttle ride this morning we knew this was going to be one of our shorter mileage days but since we kind of got a late start we decided not to stop for any breaks and just paddle on till we got to our campsite [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] a [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Music] ah [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] oh at 5:30 p.m. we found a camping spot on the side of the river in the Cyprus Creek Conservation area around mile marker 204 we had covered a little over 16 mil in about 5 and 1/2 hours as you can see in this footage there's a lot of this Palm looking plant which is called sa petto at first I thought it was a cud zoo of Florida but as it turns out it's a very important plant in ecosystem there for both animals insects and some believe it even has benefits for humans here's the beautiful swany River this was a pretty decent spot for both tents and hammocks but it had these little Brier stalks everywhere my ankles were chewed up when we left this spot but otherwise it was a good camping spot spot and we were glad to find it that's the way it goes sometimes in our group we had three tents and three hammocks Allan Jerry and Charlie and his wife Tammy were in the third tent and then Wes Dawn and myself were in The Hammocks again this wasn't the perfect Camp spot but it worked well for us and we were very happy to find it late in the day as I pan a little to the right you can see I set my hammock up next to this Gator SL mosquito pit no nothing bothered me but but I did have my bug net up and I'm thankful I brought it well that wraps up day [Music] one it's morning of day two I love this first morning after camping on the river to me this is when it really starts seeming like a trip when you get that first camp in and you wake up out in the wild on the river banks I love that first day waking up now today is going to be a big mileage day so we're going to pack up get everything in our boats and get on the water here as soon as we can we're looking to do about 30 mil a day to make it down to Big shs there's a mandatory Portage there but we're going to stop there and actually camp for the night but we'll get to that later you know day two is also the day that you kind of look to find your groove paddling if you haven't paddled all day in a while it can take a little getting used to so I know that this first day of paddling especially with 30 Mi could be a little rough but I'm ready for that challenge I'm looking forward to it and I'm ready to get on the water and start [Music] moving shiny lights and purple sky everything's so [Music] bright turn off your phone and off your mind at you're so bright I'm up oh I'll take you you to the moon come on up enjoy your ride oh I'll take you to the Moon just be ready to enjoy your life oh maybe it's right now you don't want to waste this time yeah I can't stop you take I take you to the [Music] [Applause] [Music] Moon CH left and right know you feel so right she that wind don't care don't care no know you feel right I'll take you to the moon come on up andjoy your right oh I'll take you to the Moon just be ready to enjoy your night oh baby it's right now you don't want to waste this yeah can't stop take to [Music] the I st I take you to the Moon [Music] you [Music] don't take you to [Music] [Applause] [Music] know [Music] well here it's about 12:30 and we're stopping for lunch normally when I'm on the water I like to keep moving and keep paddling but I do enjoy these little breaks where we stop and get to hang out and chitchat and of course always enjoy eating a little snack it's always a good chance to stretch your legs and again just kind of catch your breath from paddling for several hours on end here's another stop later in the day it's about 3:15 p.m. I think we stopped mainly just because this was a really cool Sandy Beach that we wanted to check out but it's again a good opportunity to stretch your legs and catch your breath but as we get later in the day it's also a good opportunity to kind of regroup we get spread out during the day people paddling at different speeds so as we start looking for a camp spot or or getting ready to take out it's always a good thing to kind of be bunched up a little more so another good reason to stop late in the afternoon [Music] baby don't stop I'm falling even faster now beneath the North Star all things that glow in the dark Two Steps From The Edge Ming closer in the Deep BL the pond of disclosure [Music] with this in my eyes I hold up to the fire iside I'm getting close to the side where I can see what's behind oh the sh of my life The Shred of my [Music] life maybe somewhere you would show me what's missing now don't know if I dare to follow through Two Steps From The Edge moving closer in the Deep bless the pond of [Music] disclosure with tears in my eyes I hold up to the fire Insight I'm getting close to the side where I can see what's behind oh the tears in my eyes I hold them to the fire inside I'm getting close to the side where I could see what's behind oh the [Music] sh The Shred of my [Music] life the sh of my [Music] eyes man look some those shows Tau this is big shows and we're pulling off for the day we've done almost 30 Mi over about 8 and 1/2 hours and it's time to get off the water now these shows and this rapid is runnable depending on your skill level and the water level but with seven more days left none of us decided to risk it besides we're going to Camp here tonight so this was a good spot to get out get our boats and gear out walk up this Trail and try to find us a good spot to set up camp for everybody there are no amenities here at Big Shows but it's generally accepted as a camp spot you can tell that a lot of people camp here like we did the shows provide a good background of white noise if you like that but personally I prefer the quiet but I did hear a few in our group say that it was a little noisy so it's getting dark and we're setting up and I was in a hurry and I tied off to a dead tree and when I sat down in my hammock to kind of tighten my ropes I heard a crack and it came tumbling down fortunately nobody was hurt but it did poke a hole in one of Dawn's dry bags but I knew better than to do that I was just in a hurry and didn't pay attention well this is the end of day two I hope you join us for part two of 9 days and 220 Mi on the Swani [Music] River

Channel: Southern Paddler

Views: 1,254

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Id: oX5wy2IFM7c

Length: 23min 58sec (1438 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 25 2024