River kayaking at night

Last night we went kayaking on the American river with our friends the Loucks. We knew it would be a long trip, however we were pretty confident that we would be done by dark. Well, we didn't quite account for some of the delays that we had along the way. It takes about an hour to drop the kayaks off, then drive the car to the end of the river to drop it off and then drive back to the start. We finally loaded the kayaks in the river at about 6:45pm. It was a beautiful evening. The water was relatively warm and the air was full of warm breezes. We saw lots of wildlife: blue herons, wood ducks, deer, beavers and, of course, fish.

The mini rapids made the ride a little bumpy at times and added

to the adventure - especially for Stuart who had the "tippy" boat. Well, we've agreed to blame the boat, since Stuart tipped over twice in the rapids :) But, he would not be outdone by the boat or the rapids so he and Jonathan walked the boat back to the top of the rapid to try it

again. Success! - I knew it was the boat.

After that short diversion, we continued down the river, enjoying the scenery and the great company until..... the bugs. We don't have a picture of these but if we did you would see them all over our boats and our bodies. I'm not sure if it was the spot that we were in or the time of the evening, but these large winged bugs were flying all around and over us. Fortunately after about 10 minutes they subsided. By this time the sun was down but there was still some light in the sky and the river was lit by the lights in the homes that lined the bluffs - it was beautiful and tranquil.

The light was quickly disappearing and we were not yet at our destination - but the real snag was that we weren't quite sure where that was and we couldn't see well in the dark. Fortunately after paddling in the dark for a while we saw a fishing boat with a light, Jonathan asked where the turn off was and he confirmed that we had passed it a few hundred yards UP RIVER. I have a better appreciation and understanding of the phrase "paddling up stream." We turned around and began paddling up the river. It was a huge effort physically. When I looked to my left at the side of the river bank and could see that I was actually not moving anywhere, I couldn't believe it. Fortunately it was shallow, so Stuart got out and pulled Jennifer and I up stream. We eventually made it to the shore. And just in the nick of time. The security guard was about to close the gate which would have locked us in and our car out. But the guys ran ahead and caught him in time. We loaded up and headed home pretty cold and exhausted. It was a fun trip, full of adventure and surprises - but more memorable was the good company!

Let's do it again!