“Adventure is at Hand” Chapter 2

Book One: “Adventure is at Hand: June 29-July 1, 2012”Chapter 2Hellstorm

No time to waste, with our headlamps on and kayaks in tow we rush towards the river bank. The wind barrels in over the river like a compressor pushing the rain like sheets in front of us. The light reflects back at us and our eyes can’t focus. The quick strobes of lightning illuminate the sky for us to see but the reality of the storm finds us huddled under a cove of falling trees and roots. We are screaming just to hear each other over the thunder, wind and pelting rain. It’s at times like these you realize that God is bigger and stronger than you, but you can rely on Him to see you through it. We pray, pray hard. Protection and guidance.

I reach for my phone to see if there is any signal to get a call out. Two bars and 4G, there are a lot of housing developments around the area and we aren’t far from VA 3 either.  My parents and Addison are the ones I call, John calls his parents. They can barely hear over the storm and confusion but we assure them we will be alright and will see them soon. We contemplate a rescue call. Seeing the helicopter swooping in over the river to save us seems a bit extreme but awesome at the same time. I have never been in an aircraft before, don’ t know if I ever will. It’s not the technology that scares me, it’s my lack of trust in the pilot. I get nervous in public transportation as well. We don’t call for a rescue, we are toughing this out and taking on this wilderness survival experience. Plus, we would have had to sacrifice thousands of dollars in gear as well, over my dead body.

All jokes aside, that was the cold heart truth of the situation. This is dangerous and a matter of life or death. We can’t sit idle on this bank; we are too exposed and too vulnerable. I put on my sandals that were under my kayak seat, they are easier than putting the KSOs on with mud all over my feet. And then remembering, I rush out to the sandy island, our rope was still tied to a make shift dock. You never know when you might need a rope, except this time. I knew exactly when how I was going to use the rope, I am not going to lose this. I then grab the machete off my kayak and brave the storm looking for an entrance into the woods. Not too far back up river I spot a flat spot and a gully and I hack up the slope, sliding down and sinking into mud and muck.

Briars, briars and more briars. Taking my shirt off at the start of this trip has turned out to be a bad idea as my skin is stinging and scraped up. I’m on the flat and find a good spot to run my rain fly and set up our hammocks under. I descend back to John and we move up to our camp site.

Dragging the boats up the hill is a hassle in the muck. John throws me the rope and I haul the boats up as he pushes. The storm dies down and hopefully for good. We gather ourselves and decide our next plan of action. Build a shelter before the next wave of the storm comes and then eat something. It’s pushing one o’clock and my adrenaline is keeping me going, I’ve been up for 21 hours. I continue to hack and slash the briars and small trees out of the way of our camp and we get the rain fly strung across a small gully in between two trees. The hammocks are stacked under it and the boats below that. A nice set up in such a situation. Everything is too wet for fire building and I don’t have the energy to shave off sticks. The wet and coldness needs to go away so we get our camp stoves out and heat up the chili. It warms the soul.

A light rain continues through the night as we climb into our cocoons for a nice nights slumber. I don’t know if it was nerves, the frequent animal noises, splashes close by, or the realization that there is a huge burrow that something probably lives in to our left and the only trail now into the woods is to our right. I sleep on and off keeping watch and listening to the sounds of nature. My machete is within reach if I need it, I hope not, I want to sleep.

“Adventure is at Hand” Chapter 1

Book One: “Adventure is at Hand: June 29-July 1, 2012”

Chapter 1

The 3 Hour Tour

It was a long, hard days of work. Weeks of planning this adventure and I’m starting it exhausted from electrical work, high heat and heavy traffic. The sounds of idle cars and honking horns build my anticipation for this much needed get away. My first real adventure since Joe left. Couple of hours later I finally have the truck loaded up with my gear and kayak and I’m heading to John’s house. John is the kind of character that everyone needs in their life. Happy go lucky, manly, unique, rugged, collected, educated, and traveled.

Knock, knock… I arrive at John’s and I am starving, haven’t eaten since 10:30 and its now close to 7pm. I snack on some chili and a brat while John loads up and then we hit the road, Northwest, not to far but remote. It’s just what we needed.

We arrive at Kelly’s Ford after a slow drive down a dirt road and we commence our expedition. Light is slowly fading so we need to hurry so we can set up camp. Our kayaks are packed with the essentials for an overnight trip. My gear consists of my kayak, paddle, water bottle, water filter, solar charger for phone, the phone, my sleep system (hammock, bug net, rain fly: all by eno), a military blanket, my air pillow and sleep pad, Petzel head lamp, eno string lights, flint, Pocket Rocket stove inside my GSI cook set, some Clif bars, a dehydrated meal, life jacket, first aid kit, hat, glasses, some toiletries, rope, my KSOs, and what wasn’t on my person was shoved into my 35 liter dry sac. Let’s not forget the important stuff, My axe, machete, and survival knife strapped onto the bow of my boat! A light pack for a light trip.

John brought the Half Dome 2 tent from REI, like the one I have, as well as his hammock, his trusty corncob pipe (which he fashions like a sir), his necessities similar to my gear set up and food. John was the chef for the trip providing his famous homemade chili (well famous to us), cheese, chips and beverages. For breakfast we will have eggs and bacon and my meal will be our lunch for the conclusion of our trip.

Ripples expand as we set our boats into the Rapidan. We board and paddle southeast towards Old Mill. The heat hugs you like a heavy wet blanket, but the water is refreshing. We dip our hats and arms in the water as we go to keep cool. It’s not too deep though, the boats drag in some spots and it’s hard to keep pace but we need to find a site to camp before night fall. We get about a mile in and decide on a little island, sandy and clear to stay the night. The water is so low and it’s been dry out so there is no fear of the water rising on us. With our boats docked we start to put up the tent to sleep in since there are no good trees around to hammock.

The wind begins to pick up and we look into the distance. Storm clouds are billowing and lightning streaks across the sky. The weather man said it was going to be clear until tomorrow night… what is this? We hurry the set up and get everything put away and get in the tent to wait out the storm. Only a few seconds later we realize that the tent has collapsed on us and our options are limited.

Scrambling inside the tent, we emerge to be pelted with wicked hail as we gather the gear and tent and shove it into the kayaks to keep from losing everything. Visibility is low and fear sets in as the storm grows strong. The crack of the lightning vibrates your body as your heart pounds into your chest like a hammer. It’s close, a little too close.