Date: 2003-07-30
From: Luray, Va.

To: Campton Campground
Miles today: 17.5

Date: 7.30.03Starting Location: Luray, Va.Destination: Compton CampgroundMileage: 17.5 The day started early when the alarm went off, reminding us that we weremeeting Keith, the canoe guy, at 8:30. Yep...we are hiker trash! We areaqua blazing! Keith was going to pick us up and deposit us, our stuff and acanoe down on the river. I was completely and totally excited! Bumpkin,however, was a bit trepiditious. She is concerned....about the river,aboutturning over, about her lack of significant experience, and mostimportantly, about my complete and total lack of experience! :)I told her to relax! How hard can it be? What I lack in finesse, I willsurely make up for in enthusiasm! Besides, we both know how to swim, andfor 85% of the trip, the river is only 2-3 feet deep! :) So, off we went! The river was peaceful and quiet. Birds took offperiodically and the occasional splash of a turtle sliding off of a logcould be heard. We paddled for a while and rested when we needed to. Ifeelvery good about the decision to do this, cause I feel like we are stillpropelling ourselves North under our own power.   However, I quickly became aware that the muscles used to propel a canoeNorth are signifcantly different from those used in hiking!We took our time, though, trying not to over do it. This was a two daytripso we had to save something for tomorrow! The river wound back and forth, always heading us towards theShenandoahs.The left bank of the river was predominantly Shenandoah National Park, andwas wild and overgrown. It lent an air of wilderness to the river thatmademe feel completely removed from the rest of the world. The right side ofthe river is all private property, and from time to time gorgeousriverfronthomes would drift by as we picked out our favorites. This is a greatplacefor dreaming!   After lunch, which was had while sitting in the grass at a boat ramp,the real fun began. For three miles, the river goes through an extrememlyshallow area, and our rear ends which had fallen asleep hours ago, woke upas we began to bump into rocks on a regular basis. We kept getting stuck,and with riotous laughter, would wiggle ourselves free. I told Bumpkin wewould be the only people in the history of the river to get stuck, and beunable to get off of the rock cause we were laughing so hard! After an hour of scraping bottom and hee-hawing hysterically, we reacheddeeper water. The only thing left to do was Comptons Rapids. These hadbeen built up quite a bit in the brochure and by Keith, our driver,so wewere a little nervous! Having proven early on that we have absolutely noability to go straight, and knowing that getting through the rapidswithoutwiping out depended on us going straight, we were a tad bit unsure. As weapproached the rapid, the water took us and we just went along for theride.I got soaked, but was squealing with delight! It was a short rapid, but ohso much fun! As we caught our breath, we looked up to see our campsite there by theriver. Ten minutes later, we had pulled up the canoe and picked out aspot.When we began to set up our tents, it was with a little alarm and lot ofembarassment that we realized that neither of us had bought our hikingpoles! Both of our tents require hiking poles to be set up!! Oh man!!!Well, never let it be said that we lack creativity! Preparedness,maybe...but creativity no!! Using the picnic tables, some rope, and halfofthe rocks in the fire pit, we both managed to jury rig a shelter of sorts.Shaking our heads, we sat down to a dinner of Mashed Potatoes and LiptonsNoodles.I am sunburned and starting to stiffen up quite a bit, but man....todaywasfun! Keep you fingers crossed that my tent doesn't collapse on me in themiddle of the night! :) I am going to bed.Love, Anna aka Mud Buttwww.trailjournals.com------------------------------Local access to PocketMail mobilee-mail now available in Europe, NorthAmerica & Australia http://www.pocketmail.com