...and I'm back.

I left at 5am Saturday morning and went up to the North Georgia mountains to go canoing and camping with my brother Todd, step-dad Steve, and good friends Ed and Jeff, and Jeff's 2 roommates Reid and Ryan. The Etowah river was this year's river of choice. My brother Todd and friends do this trip once or twice a year and always make a big deal out of it, but I've never gone. But this year, I found it hard to come up with a good excuse not to. So, I decided to go check out the action. We left early in the morning and after dropping off cars, and picking up canoes and all that, we finally got in the river around 10:30a Saturday. We paddled and chilled out on the river for several hours, stopping at various points along the way for bathroom breaks, leg-stretching, sight-seeing, and the rare manual-canoe-extrication (i.e. - Class 3 rapids (i.e.- waterfalls)). The canoing on Saturday was good fun. With perfect temperature and weather, we cruised along. Todd, Ed and Steve dropped some lines in to fish. Steve even managed to catch 3 small trout which he saved and had for dinner. Todd and I kept up on our two-way radios to stay on top of rapids, updates, and occasional personal insults. The radios came in handy since at times, with 4 canoes, your crew can get separated by a good bit of distance. But we were able to stay in touch even when we couldn't see each other around river bends and such.

On the advice of the people at the canoe rental place, we decided to port at a campsite that they happen to own. We made camp sometime around 4-5p. After setting up camp, and eating an informal meal, the boozing, which had already begun from the moment the canoes hit the water early AM continued in earnest. From corn whiskey moonshine and Bad Apfel, to Jim Bean and beer, it was all welcomed. We got a good campfire going and had a nice neighborhood of tents setup. Some people took to casting a fishing line out at the rapids that our campsite was at, others like myself, took to taking advantage of Mother Nature's bathtub, and got a good bathing off in the frigid but invigorating waters. After, all that was left was sitting around drunk, telling stories and horsing around. All that typical male bonding stuff. We all struggled to stay awake until midnight so as to celebrate Steve's birthday! It was tough to do... and 2 of our passengers, Todd, and Reid didn't make it. Sadly for Reid, the result of his passing out led to a tea bagging incident which was in fact caught on film. That kept us up til Midnight and with the hour passing, we all quickly said goodnight.

We woke up early Sunday and slowly gathered our tents and gear and loaded up the canoes for the trip out, which would be about 4 hours. We paddled and took our time, stopping fewer times on this day than previous, probably more due to the fact of fatigue than the fewer portage availabilities. One highlight was the miners tunnel. This tunnel (the entrance of which is pictured right) goes right through this small mountain that the Etowah runs adjacent to. Apparently it was blasted during the gold rush era of North Georgia's history in order to divert the Etowah River so that it's riverbed could be mined for gold. In any event, the tunnel remains, and is an opportunity for thrill seekers. I was all gung-ho about this, because the adrenaline rush seemed exciting. My canoe partner, Steve, was not as thrilled about it when I suggested the idea previously. But once on seen, he was ready to shoot it. The problem is, the tunnel is only about .2 miles long, and of course, pitch black dark with a steady fast moving stream of water.... Much like a very bumpy and rapid filled log ride at Six Flags, but in complete and total pitch black darkness.... anyhow, from the entrance you are supposed to be able to see the light on the other side. And we couldn't see it. We all ported our canoes and talked it over with another group of canoers who had been canoing down around us. It was split as to who was ready to risk it and who wasn't. But, in the end the insanity prevailed, and Ed and Jeff decided to dawn a flashlight and shoot the tunnel. It was absolutely hilarious as Ed and Jeff, with their CD player, decided they needed tunes to take them into the tunnel... So they fired up Guns and Roses "Knocking on Heaven's Door", and slowly disappeared into the cave as if riding off into the sunset. It couldn't have been more funny sight. After no blood curdling screams were heard and a soft-confirmation that they had made it to the other side was reached, Steve and I suited up. I put on my cats eye, and manned my spot at the front of the canoe and Steve in the back and we headed in with screams and yells. We shot into the entrance fast as the flow of the Etowah concentrates into the tunnel. Through various failures of communication, the mention of rapids at about the first quarter of the tunnel came never reached us, and were a surprise. We dropped a good bit and were jerked around wildly. With no horizon reference point, and a head mounted light that did little good since it is so dark in there, that there is little to reflect light off of to guide us, it was all we could do to not get caught up on the jagged walls of the tunnel, or worse, tipped over. But we made it past the "invisible" rapids and once past, finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel. Our remaining ride was calm and effortless and it was awesome. Our tunnel ride was highlighted once more by a man-hole sized skylight about 3 quarters of the way through that shot clear up to the blue sky, and then, our ride came slowly came to and end. A great 4 foot rapid-filled drop into a small cove at the end into daylight signified that "we had done it". And it was awesome! Sadly, Todd decided not to shoot the tunnel, but he was the only one in our crew who didn't. He instead, opted to drift around the mountain on the Etowah and meet us on the other side. Perhaps he was better off. The tunnel was not without danger. Apparently, as we learned later, the other group of canoers who went after us, had one canoe in their group shoot it and got caught up on a part of that rocky wall.... Well the boat behind them waited and then entered into the tunnel not knowing that the other boat was stuck, and ended up colliding with that boat. All was well in the end, but that wouldn't want to be the place I'd want to have an "incident". Nevertheless, I'm glad we did it. It was the perfect ending to our adventure.

After that excitement it was mostly chilling out on the river, and a little fishing by Steve, and Ed until we finally reached our pull out spot around 4pm. Then... ugh... the work. The worst part of the trip is when you're exhausted and tired and wet, and THEN you have to unload gear, and drag canoes 50 yards and load them up. But, thankfully with a crew of 7, it was done in a fair amount of time, and our trip was done. Aside from the exhaustion and mess of dirty clothes and gear, and sunburnt knees, it was great fun though! Adventures... I'm in.



( ** River Data For my own personal future reference:** )
(pictures soon to follow I hope... if the even came out)

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Guns & Roses - Knockin' On Heaven's Door