Date: 2013-07-15
From: Shenandoah National Park

To: river, here we come
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Monday, July 15thShenandoah River9 1/2 river miles We gathered up all of our gear and equipment and drove to the river. It was high, but not running over the banks at flood level like it was before so we decided to make a go at our long awaited aquablaze. We got our rafts out for the first time to blow them up with the furnished hand pumps. We had plenty of manly men, so it didn't take long to inflate the rafts. It was all real now. We were finally getting on the river...yeah! We filled the coolers with beer, and diet cokes for me. I didn't think it was a good idea to be drunk on a high and possibly dangerous river, so I became the designated non-drinker to make sure someone kept a clear mind. When we were all coordinated, prepared and launched, it was already around 1:30 or so, so we were getting a late start. It's just the first day. We christened the boats the R. S. Dingleberry and R. S. Chuckleberry, which Thistle, Ducky, Sunshine and I were on. RS stands for "River Ship". Launch! We were finally on the river! The launch went smooth. We were floating down the murky Shenandoah River. With all of the sediment in the river, there was no clarity at all in the water. It was a brownish-gray muck. The flow was a little faster than usual because it was high, but the rapids were pretty small for the most part. We took turns singing songs, telling corny jokes (my specialty), and just had a good time among friends. We had boat wars where we ambushed one another's coolers and cut each other's float path off. We were attached together at times and apart a majority of the time, but always within sight of both boats. You could see around the river bends where entire trees came down the river and were trapped in large heaps of debris. We identified different trees as we floated by. We saw birds diving for fish. It was just so nice and peaceful. I was really worried about getting sunburned on the river. For the first time in ages the sun was shining hot with no threat of rain. I was starting to get baked when Nomad offered me an umbrella and saved the day. I'm such a wussy, but in fairness to me I am pretty light-skinned. Somehow while we were on the river the Chuckleberry crew (recall I'm the sober one) lost two paddles, both cooler tops, a seat cushion, and who knows what else. Luckily, the Dingleberry crew were either behind or in front of us to retrieve our stuff. Whenever someone got in or out of the water, the raft took on a little water. We bailed for most of the day. Luckily I put all my stuff in plastic bags and in a waterproof bag too. Nothing really got wet in the bags, except when I had Mr Speaker out it got splashed a couple of times and my phone and camera got it too. Eventually I put it all away. There was no way this crew was going to be still even for a moment. At one point I was in the water, trying to retrieve our cooler top. This part of the river was a bit rocky, so I kept hitting rocks just underneath the rolling blanket of silt. I didn't like this situation. It could be dangerous if the water were to lodge my left leg against and/or between a couple of rocks. The water was so heavy with volume there was no fighting it. So I swam to shore and just left the cooler top, which was retrieved later down river. The Chuckleberry picked me up and I stayed in the boat the remainder of the day. After about 5 1/2 hours or so, no one really looked at the starting time, we saw the ending destination approaching.   We did the 9 1/2 miles at a rate of about only 1.73 miles per hour, which is more like hiking speed. I was surprised at this, but recall we didn't really know the time since no one looked at the time we left. Since it was already 6:00 pm we knew we didn't have time to go further. We needed to get to camp so we could set up while it was still daylight. We found our camp from yesterday and had a beer or more before retiring for the night. We are now in our aquablaze stage. I can't believe the weather finally let up. It was a perfect day for going down the river.