Sentimental Reasons, part deux

I wish I could go back in time, grab TDS by the shoulders and say "Don't climb up that tree!!! Stay out of the bog!!!" - rg

good day. 8-1-07. Enosburg falls, VT. 200 miles. Tenting at lawyers landing, the put-in following a short portage around the dam.

Today I saw the first bald eagle of this trip...up close. There was no mistaking this one for, lets say, an osprey. The eagle flew right over head and I got such a great view I could see his eyes. Wow. This was about 6pm, a mile south of Enosburg falls, VT.

What a tough day! My toughest so far. Started the day off carrying my canoe upstream instead of trying to paddle through rapids. What makes this so tough is your footing. Sometimes you see your next step, other times you don't. In both cases I just tried to land each footing and to do so require that I be flexible. I was fortunate to have only landed some cuts and scrapes. You also are constantly scouting the best route, which is always the easiest. Sometimes only my ankles were submerged and other times I could be chest deep.

The water was shallow enough that I spent most of my day carrying, or towing upstream as this section of the river is rocky and even a section not considered Cl II or more was unpaddleable. Is unpaddleable a word? This was exhausting work... but much better than portaging.

I did paddle through some tough currents and could just feel my muscles building. During these times I gave it all I had and more often than not I managed forward progress.

I wonder how I smell? And if so, is the smell similar to that of the river. Because this section of the missiquoi smells so foul that I was smoking cigarettes every half hour to keep from gagging. There are a lot of cattle and hog farms around the river. I know all too well what they smell like.

Hot today. I was slathering on the sunblock to keep the evil uva and uvb sunrays away.

No haircut or shave for me since March of this year. However, I do get in a shower every now and again. I have not done laundry on the paddle and am wondering if people notice????

There was a general store and ice creamery around Sheldon Junction. Just after a bridge. The folks filled my water jugs up for me. I had a PowerAde and strawberry milkshake. This made me think of Bryan Adams song Heaven.

I met a guy named David today from Bennington, VT. He was several days from concluding a 200+ section from ME to Plattsburg, NY. We visited for what seemed an hour. It was nice to see another solo paddler. We talked gear and systems. Pace are you reading...systems. We exchanged trail tips and updates, talked about portages, etc. David will paddle back home, down to Burlington after reaching plattsburg.

I got into town, portaged then found a convenient store where I purchased PowerAde, Water, Chips, Beer, and Roast beef sandwich. Walked back to lawyers landing ate dinner then set up camp.

Tomorrow I hope to upload some recent pics to the website, hit the grocery store and post office all after breakfast and coffee, of course.

Happy Trails,
Totally Different Subject