Date: 2016-06-17
To: Oriental, N.C.
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

I was surprised at how much my kayak trip down the Neuse River, from Falls of the Neuse near Raleigh to Oriental on the Pamlico Sound, resembled my Appalachian Trail thru-hike last year.In one major way, however, it was unlike the hike: I was not certain I could make it all the way. On the hike to Maine I had no doubt, ever, that I would finish, assuming I wasn¢t killed or injured, or fell seriously ill.I had my doubts about the river trip when I woke up on the morning of what would be the eighth and final day.But, first, the similarities:¢¢        I was tired at night, exhausted is more like it.I thought my partner, Mike Johnson, a retired Navy Commander, and I were going to more or less float down the Neuse. But to make the miles we wanted to make, to get to the spots where we wanted to camp, I had to paddle almost constantly. We averaged almost 30 miles a day, with a top day of 36.5 miles.¢¢        I blistered.On the Appalachian Trail I blistered the sides of my heels when I failed to replace worn out boots quickly enough. On the river, my feet were fine. The rest of me blistered even though I applied lots of sun screen and wore a wide brim hat. It was 90-plus degrees most days with little or no cloud clover and no shade. I fried, even my lower lip.¢¢        I had little appetite for trail food.If I couldn¢t get to a restaurant I didn¢t eat much of anything. I was the same way during the first few weeks on the trail.¢¢        The best part of the day was the end of the day.When I hiked all day, up, down, up, down, I could hardly wait to get where I was going. I felt the same way on the river trip after I had paddled all day. ¢¢        Like the A.T., the Neuse changes dramatically as you move downstream. The second half of the trail was considerably more difficult that the first half. Same with the river. Near its headwaters at Falls of the Neuse the river isn¢t much bigger than a good size creek. For the first 100 miles or so, as the river gradually widens and deepens, you run into a lot of obstructions, strainers, they¢re called. They let the water go by, but they don¢t let you go by. Countless trees have fallen into the river.   Some limbs are sticking out, some are just beneath the surface. They are not a big problem but you have to stay awake.A few miles before you get to New Bern the Neuse begins to widen dramatically. It¢s a mile wide at New Bern. It looks like the ocean, with waves and white caps if the wind is up. From New Bern on it gets wider and wider, about two and a half or three miles wide by the time we reached our destination, Oriental.¢¢        The river has angels too, and I met two.More about them later.¢¢        And, yes, just like the trail, I lost stuff.I lost so much stuff on my thru-hike I stopped writing about it. It was embarrassing. On the river trip I lost a knife scabbard and my cell phone. More about that later, too. ¢¢        My brother, Dave, came to get me.Dave drove to Maine to pick up me up when I finished my thru-hike and when Mike and I got to Oriental, there he was. Trail angel ¢ Bill HinesWithout Hines¢ help out trip would have ended at New Bern, assuming we had gotten to New Bern.Before we left Raleigh he had advised us about where we could camp. He had also emailed me a spread sheet identifying the distance between every bridge on the river so we always knew where we were, more or less. That spread sheet was invaluable, even though it was not perfect. One time Mike and I paddled hard for 50 minutes to cover what the spread sheet said was six tenths of a mile. The actual distance we covered have to have been more like three miles or more but when I mentioned that to Bill he said we must have encountered ¢thick water.¢ I admit, I didn¢t get it at first.Hines is a volunteer for Sound Rivers, a foundation that tries to protect the Neuse and the Tar-Pamlico Rivers. He is 70 years old but he paddles all the time, has for years, and he could go long and fast. I couldn¢t keep up.Early on I asked him how many minutes he paddled per hour.¢Sixty,¢ he replied.[Hines didn¢t rub it in, not at all.   Still, I couldn¢t help but wish I could have rolled the clock back to last July, and have him join me in Munson, Maine, at the start of what they call the ¢100-mile wildernesses.¢   That¢s a 10-day hike, according to the trail club that maintains that section of the trail. I hiked it in five days.]   Bill met us at Cow Pens Landing, about 23 miles upstream from New Bern, and loaned us two sea kayaks. They were longer, which means faster, and they had skirts to keep waves that might come over the bow or the side from flooding them. He was also our guide for the last 40-some miles, to Oriental, showing us the way and reassuring us that we could do this. What a good guy.Trail angel ¢ Rhonda HughesBill had advised me, several times, to say hello to ¢Rhonda¢ when Mike and I got to Seven Springs, on Day Four.We did.She let us camp in the backyard of her and her husband¢s home, a beautiful, grassy spot next to the Neuse. She let us shower in their bathroom. And, best of all, she fed us supper ¢ string beans, boiled squash, mashed potatoes and stew beef and gravy. [I had had two Pop Tarts for breakfast and candy for lunch.] I ate two heaping plates of food. And then I ate the desert Rhonda had prepared, a freshly baked slice of cherry pie topped with home-made ice cream. Bless that woman.Now about that cell phone¢¦.When we got to Oriental and began unloading our kayaks my cell phone was nowhere to be found.Bill called Blackbeard Sailing Club, where we camped on the last night, asked if anyone had found and turned in a cell phone.No luck.There was the slimmest of possibilities that I had left my phone at the spot where I had pitched my tent. [I live in hope.] So Brother Dave stopped by Blackbeard on the way home and there it was, lying in the grass.* * *I made a vow on the morning after the night Mike and I camped at Cow Pens, my first vow since my wedding 53 years ago. Here it is: I vow never again to camp in a public place ¢under a bridge, anywhere near a road, or at boat landing ¢for as long as I live.When Mike and I began pitching our tents at Cow Pens, a boat landing, several people told us we couldn¢t camp there ¢ not allowed. Actually, it was. Bill Hines had obtained permission.A little later two fellows arrived on motorcycles and asked if we were armed. We said ¢No.¢ They were surprised. They had paddled most of the river, they said, and they always carried weapons. You might need a weapon here, especially when it got dark and the drinking started.And still later, a North Carolina wildlife officer showed up, called by someone who thought we were camping illegally.He advised us to get written permission next time and then he did something I¢ve never seen a lawman do: he gave us his name and telephone number and said to call him if and when the trouble started. If he couldn¢t come, he said, he¢d call for a trooper, or a sheriff¢s deputy.With that, I laid down to go to sleep.The first shot was fired at 2:15 a.m., in the parking lot a few feet from our tents. The next two shots were fired a few minutes later. After that let¢s just say I slept fitfully.* * *Mike, Bill and I camped the last night at the Blackbeard Sailing Club and when I woke up I was not sure I could make it to Oriental.Paddling in what amounts to the ocean is nothing like padding in a river. There is no current to help you. And for part of the way Bill expected that we would have to paddle into the wind. He was right.It was not an easy day for me, but it was doable. ***Since I returned home on Monday evening several people have asked me, ¢Did you have fun?¢And my response is the same as it was when I finished my hike: ¢Define fun.¢The trip down the Neuse was beautiful, interesting, challenging. I learned stuff ¢ I almost learned how to paddle a kayak. I met some terrific people. I made good memories.   I¢m glad I went. Everything doesn¢t have to be ¢fun.¢