Six Miles Out (Rivanna, Crofton to Palmyra) 7/8/12

 

6.2, actually.

When we met kayak lady the day we bought Banana, she mentioned that one could put kayaks in at the other boat landing upriver and kayak down to the one we were using. She said it was a really easy, good route to learn on, and we could easily do it. We decided after practicing that first day we bought big boats that we would do the Rivanna trip the next day.

Man, I hate when people lie to me.

First of all, the river runs 6.2 miles between the Crofton boat landing and the Palmyra one. That's six point two for those of us who don't like math. When I saw that I was a little daunted, but the woman said it was easy peasy. We figured even if we just floated it we could do it in three hours, faster if we paddled.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

We put in at the Crofton landing at 2:00. Immediately it became apparent that the river was low. Very low, actually. Dave got stuck within feet of put-in. We had a hard time getting going but then it seemed better...for a little bit.

This, unfortunately, is NOT us.

I cannot even begin to estimate the number of times we got hung up on high spots. We poled, pushed, shimmied, shook, even got out and portaged, most of the trip. The spots that we could actually just float along with the current were few and far between. We had to paddle almost all the whole time that we were actually in water. Even that wasn't so bad as those hang-up spots. It was completely exhausting. Then it started getting dark, windy, and thundering in the distance. J spent the middle of the run crying. Literally.

After three? four? who knew how many? hours, we were praying as we approached each bend of the river. "Please, please, please let there be a huge bridge on the other side." No such luck. At one point I was beyond believing that we were still on the right river. I was trying to think if there had been any forks we'd inadvertently taken. It stunk not knowing where we were and how much farther it was. We kept trying to guess from what little we could see other than woods up on the river banks.

I went ahead of Dave and J, hoping to see some good news farther up that I could report back. I did eventually find people swimming at an unknown swimming hole. I asked them what time it was, and a lady told me it was 6:00. Four hours?! I asked her where we were and her husband told me we had about another mile. I said to him, "My husband and daughter are coming down behind me. Do not, I mean DO NOT, tell them that." I could just see the two of them climbing out of their kayaks and refusing to paddle one more inch. The lady asked me how long I'd been kayaking and I said, "Well, you said it was 6:00 now, right? I've had this one about 26 hours."

Fortunately, it was just a little farther, easy paddling, and we saw the bridge. They had no idea of the distance (or the time, as it turned out--it was closer to 7:00!) There was a great little mini rapid at the end, and the sun came back out. Once we got there everything was fine. David didn't enjoy the hang-up spots AT ALL, but agreed that this was our biggest adventure ever. J even stopped crying and grinned.

She did say that she's never going over a mile again. Maybe I shouldn't tell her about the trip I have planned for the James.