Uncle Siphuncle Posted February 3, 2008 Share Posted February 3, 2008 All In my experience continued success in collecting depends greatly on willingness to explore new areas, some that other people would never consider visiting. Sometimes you find a few good sites, other times you find nothing, other times you are lucky just to extricate yourself intact from a horrible situation. Yesterday was one of the latter. A buddy and I set up 2 vehicles on a narrow, meandering river for a point to point kayak trip of 10-12 miles. To make a long story short we had to drag the yak out at least 20 times to portage 30-300 yards around logjams and assorted snags. In the first half hour we got caught in a strainer which soaked us both and almost flipped the boat. I had my little outboard clamped onto the transom for the deep stretches but we never got to use it. I lost control of the boat as current slapped us into the second strainer, flipping the yak hard enough to snap the engine off of its bracket and drop it onto the river bottom. We were both soaked. I felt around in the current and located the engine 3 feet down. Luckily it restarted but we had no way to mount it on the boat so I had to just strap it down and lay my legs over it. In all the commotion I had thrown my paddle and it apparently sunk. With no engine or paddle we were miles from the nearest bridge. We floated and spun out of control up to the next snag where we again portaged. High on a bluff I spotted a collapsed, overgrown farm building falling down the slope. I picked through it and took the best board I could find, a half rotten 1 x 4 x 6 and pulled out all the rusty nails. Now my life depended on this old board, which I paddled with for the next 8 miles. Downstream we hit a submerged stump which capsized the yak and throw us both into a deep hole in the frigid water. Mike's waders filled and I clung to the boat. Good thing we had the sense to wear life jackets. Also, I'm glad we thought ahead to strap everything to the boat or we would have lost wallets, keys, cameras, tools, and the engine. About the time my forearms and fingers were cramping from paddling with a board and my skin was getting a little raw we realized with all the slowdowns we'd never make it to Mike's truck before dark. In fact at this rate it would probably be midnight before we got there, a dim prospect considering the pitfalls of this river at night. We spotted some kids fishing and I gave one of them 20 bucks to drive us to Mike's truck. Man, that was a well spent 20 bucks! Some days you just get hosed. We got wet but nobody got hurt. We didn't even care that we didn't find anything and were just glad to get home. Life jackets, cool heads, and a few words with The Almighty prevailed to bring a positive outcome to this debacle. We were actually laughing at our misfortune before it was all over. Whenever a helicopter would fly over Mike would scream and wave his arms. This was just another day woven into life's tapestry of experiences. Actually I've had worse days, like the time another buddy and I capsized my bay boat in the surf and were shipwrecked on Matagorda Island for a little while, but that's a whole other story... I hope you enjoyed my little anecdote. Every bit of it is true. Take this experience and learn from it. Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pool Man Posted February 3, 2008 Share Posted February 3, 2008 Wow, the things we do for fossils.hehe....Glad to hear everyone is alright. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkfoam Posted February 3, 2008 Share Posted February 3, 2008 Dan, Dan, Dan! I guess all of us have been in one of these feces storms before so I hope you don't mind a chuckle at your expense. Anyway your storm sounds more like a hurricane. Reminds me of the time.... and no fossils found either. JKFoam The Eocene is my favorite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatorman Posted February 3, 2008 Share Posted February 3, 2008 Dang Dan, sounds like you had fun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Cris Posted February 3, 2008 Share Posted February 3, 2008 Sounds like a truly unforgetable experience! I've been in crappy situations while fossil hunting, though most of the time it was just me being stupid.. It's amazing what some of us will do for fossils.. I once swam a mile and a half upstream with a set of fins in one hand (didn't realize your legs cramp when trying to use those for an hour at a time, hard.. ha) just to end up with nothing more than what I started with.. "Whenever a helicopter would fly over Mike would scream and wave his arms." ^That one got me laughing good...because I've done the saaaame thing is a lot better of situations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted February 3, 2008 Author Share Posted February 3, 2008 JK Laugh away, that's why I posted this thread. I'm not above joining in on the laughter when well deserved. Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomclark Posted February 3, 2008 Share Posted February 3, 2008 LOL, Dan. I, too, have been in my share of bad experiences Glad it turned out OK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
worthy 55 Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 LOL!!!!!! These two guys just were not thinking! Not a good idea to over load a boat and always a good idea to have a float plan for that very reason! Glad you guys made it. It's my bone!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Pristis Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 JKLaugh away, that's why I posted this thread. I'm not above joining in on the laughter when well deserved. I would not laugh at life-threatening experiences, Dan. I have nearly lost two buddies in separate river accidents. I lost my best buddy in a fossil-collecting accident. I'm glad you're here to tell your story. http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page What seest thou else In the dark backward and abysm of time? ---Shakespeare, The Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted February 5, 2008 Author Share Posted February 5, 2008 Harry Sorry to hear about your loss. Actually I've never heard of a collecting related death or even serious injury here in TX but I'm sure it is just as likely here as anywhere since we can collect 12 months a year. It seems that fishing down here is more treacherous than collecting, or perhaps the figures are biased by the lopsided number of fisherman vs. collectors. I did once have a rocky mudslide miss my head by seconds while collecting a road cut in the rain. That was a sobering experience. Wearing life jackets and maintaining cool heads I'm sure kept our ordeal from getting worse. Once we were out of harms way a little levity surely prevented mutiny in close quarters. Having been in the outdoors all my life, I have what I think is a pretty good feel for the fine line between inconvenience/discomfort and danger. I knew that with a little resourcefulness we could get out of this one. Still, being a family guy tends to keep me from taking some of the risks I used to take in my 20s. In the end my wife failed to appreciate the details of our experience. Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now