Alone on The Red

“Little by little, the time goes. Little by little, the days pass by. Little by little, the air clears.”-Robert Plant

Wednesday, October 22nd

I felt even better than yesterday.  My spirits improved when I found the local mini-mart.  I  lined up my GPS with the banks of the river, climbed through some brush, found a field and walked to the store.  It was around 8:00am and I walked out of the woods on to a very congested, morning rush hour, highway.  I crossed the highway and made my way to the store to acquire a few items.

The store had a newpaper vending macchine outside.  I was curious if my story made the Shreveport-Times so I pulled one out and opened it up and found that I did not make the front page.  Too bad, however, my story was on page 3.  I decided to have some fun with the story.  One of the store patrons came out and I said to him “Man, check this out.  This guy quit his job to canoe from Montana to Dallas.”  He looked at the article and said “How cool is that!!”  I said “Yea, he must be a cool cat.”  I then pointed at the picture and said “Boy, that looks like me.”  He looked at the photo, looked at me, looked at the photo and asked me “Are you canoeing?”  Affirmative.  We had a nice chat and I disappeared back into the woods.  It was quite the scene with me crossing morning rush hour traffic with groceries into the woods.  I located my boat and headed upriver.

Officer Fazzio was correct.  The river is much stronger, I am now really paddling upstream.  The river has changed, it is no longer as lush as below Shreveport, the river is undamed, sandbars are everywhere and it is more shallow.  I was still able to make fairly decent progress and settled in for the evening on a very large sandbar.  I did not see any boats or fisherman but did see some folks working on what appeared to be a ranch on river left.  I wondered what was in their minds as I struggled upriver.

This thing could go on for a while.

Why do they call it The Red?

Not sure.

campsite

campsite with Keith

campsite with The Helinda

The sun sets then rises

Thursday, October 23rd

The day started out with clouds.  They didn’t last long.  Another warm and sunny afternoon on the Red River.  What fall? I am almost back to Arkansas, I thought I might get there today but no luck.  I settled for passing under the Louisiana 2 bridge and finding and even larger sandbar than last night.  Almost like a scene out of Mad Max (but nowhere as desolate as South Dakota).

I saw no one today.  The Red River is now repeating itself, I was very curious about this section of my journey.  There isn’t much information about canoeing the Red, I didn’t know what it would be like.  The water, so far, has been deep enough to make steady (but slow) progress.  It is more shallow than below Shreveport and I find my paddle hits the bed on occasion.  I did have to hop out of my boat today and drag it about 20 yards after I got hung up on a sandbar.  It is more advantageous to paddle the inside bends as the current isn’t as strong, the challenge is that’s where their is shallow water.   I didn’t paddle far enough to the outside on a particular bend and became stuck on a sandbar.

I wonder how many people have canoed out of a state, paddled another 500 miles and returned to the same state?   Arkansas tomorrow.

clouds

river

danger

get over more

Louisiana scenic highway…that way

told you so

Mad Max meets Red River

Can I keep it?

Canoe with river

Friday, October 24th

A tough day.  Whatever doubts I had about the river being swifter have been removed.  My progress is slowing down, the river seems like it is getting faster, and it has been difficult mentally at times.

The first part of the morning was going fine until I entered Arkansas.  When I made the turn into Arkansas the river was wicked fast.  The current pushed me back, I decided to ferry across the river and try the other side.  I got caught on a sawyer and didn’t realize it at first.  I eventually freed myself from the sawyer but paddled into a sandbar trap. 15 minutes later I was humping it back upriver.

I made few miles today, I really have no idea how far I am going on a daily basis since I have no river mileage maps.  Also, there are no mile markers on this section since it isn’t a commercial river.  Heck, no one is out here.  I’m it.  I did hear shotgun blasts and 4-wheelers.  Signs of life on The Red.

On the positive side, all doubts have been removed about locating suitable campsites.  Sandbars are everywhere.

get over

cliff

another cliff

cloud cover…just in time for bed

Saturday, October 25th

Who in their right mind decides to paddle 700+ miles upsteam?  I must be tapped. This is maniacal.  These were some of my printable thoughts today.  I think the heat and the upstream paddling are getting to me.  I canoed my rump off today and made little progress.  I have been taking the trip on a day by day basis, a section by section basis if you will although my mind will occasionally drift and think when will this odyssy end? Don’t get me wrong, it has be wonderful and Ithe experience has been remarkable but today I had a revealation.  This thing could go into December.  I really have no timetable but thought I would be done by Thanksgiving…and i still very well may but it’s a question now.

I spoke with Norm, Robin,Vicki and my brother and they said take it day by day. You’ll finish when you finish.  It’s comforting to have such a great support staff behind me. I’ve reached the point where I am not even going to think about it….just worry the next bend.

I did see humans today on the river. a group of folks riding four-wheelers. I stopped and spoke with them for a few minutes, they provided me with an ice cold Sprite which was welcome on another hot afternoon.

I pulled into camp completely spent from paddling upstream.  It felt good.

I told you it all looks the same

tent is drying

Red River

trees on river left