I had originally titled this column “The End”. It was to be the column that brought our summertime feature “Rollin’ Down The River” to an end as I had planned for this week’s feature to be about the end of the Chipola River. But mother nature and the Chipola River had other ideas, as I had gotten the cart before the horse so to speak.
I thought that where “The Cut” and the Chipola River meet (see Rollin’ Down The River) was the end of the Chipola River. It seemed to me that the Big River was overtaking the Little River and anything south would be considered either part of The Apalachicola River or possibly a new river, like Brothers River as I had heard. But as I paddled the area this past Saturday I conversed with a few of the locals, most of whom were enlightening their thoughts with their favorite malt beverages.
“Nope, that there is the Little River (local slang for Chipola River),” they replied when I asked if the river south of the cut was considered part of the Apalachicola or Brothers Rivers. Brothers River comes in further south and the 18 mile stretch from The Cut to The Big River (local slang for Apalachicola River) is considered to be the Chipola River.
Not that I didn’t trust their information, but I went back and watched the Dick Hinson video about his trip in 1986 with Sonny Anderson down the Chipola. The video has served as a trusted resource for my journeys down the river. Somehow I had not paid close attention to the final portion of the video because the locals were right on the money. The video confirmed that the Chipola indeed runs on south of The Cut before eventually meeting up with the Apalachicola.
What’s all this mean for Rollin’ Down The River? We are not through yet. We still have another section to paddle to complete the entire river, from start to finish. But I had mapped out my trips this summer to wrap up this week, as the onslaught of high school football and volleyball will fill our sports pages.
So I’ve made an executive decision. The “final run” is “on hold” until cooler weather. I’ll also give my buddy Chris Matthews a call to see if he’s up to a fall or winter overnight excursion. I suspect we’d have to do a little camping along the way and right now the heat and gnats are just too much to take. So Simply Put, we are not quite to the end. But stay tuned ‘cause we’re going to make it, just you wait and see.
From the front porch: Uncle Bob said he is getting to the point where he can’t stand people who are intolerant.
I thought that where “The Cut” and the Chipola River meet (see Rollin’ Down The River) was the end of the Chipola River. It seemed to me that the Big River was overtaking the Little River and anything south would be considered either part of The Apalachicola River or possibly a new river, like Brothers River as I had heard. But as I paddled the area this past Saturday I conversed with a few of the locals, most of whom were enlightening their thoughts with their favorite malt beverages.
“Nope, that there is the Little River (local slang for Chipola River),” they replied when I asked if the river south of the cut was considered part of the Apalachicola or Brothers Rivers. Brothers River comes in further south and the 18 mile stretch from The Cut to The Big River (local slang for Apalachicola River) is considered to be the Chipola River.
Not that I didn’t trust their information, but I went back and watched the Dick Hinson video about his trip in 1986 with Sonny Anderson down the Chipola. The video has served as a trusted resource for my journeys down the river. Somehow I had not paid close attention to the final portion of the video because the locals were right on the money. The video confirmed that the Chipola indeed runs on south of The Cut before eventually meeting up with the Apalachicola.
What’s all this mean for Rollin’ Down The River? We are not through yet. We still have another section to paddle to complete the entire river, from start to finish. But I had mapped out my trips this summer to wrap up this week, as the onslaught of high school football and volleyball will fill our sports pages.
So I’ve made an executive decision. The “final run” is “on hold” until cooler weather. I’ll also give my buddy Chris Matthews a call to see if he’s up to a fall or winter overnight excursion. I suspect we’d have to do a little camping along the way and right now the heat and gnats are just too much to take. So Simply Put, we are not quite to the end. But stay tuned ‘cause we’re going to make it, just you wait and see.
From the front porch: Uncle Bob said he is getting to the point where he can’t stand people who are intolerant.
No comments:
Post a Comment