Green, Red and Gray- Canoe Trip

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On Saturday two of my friends and I drove 3 hours southeast of here to paddle the Lumber River 11 miles down stream to Boardman, NC. I rode with Roger in his homemade 25 year old cedar strip 18.5 foot canoe. The cedar strip canoe was a delight to paddle and when we ran into the Lumber River Canoe Club we got lots of comments on what a cool boat it is. Roger and I had paddled this section of the Lumber river 3 weeks short of a decade ago. He had noted the greens from the mistletoe, the reds from the blooming maples and grays of the Spanish Moss in the paddling guide book we use.

The weather was nice around 60+ degrees and mostly sunny in the morning and a bit cloudy in the afternoon.

Green(mistletoe), Red(maple flowers) and Gray(Spanish moss)

This is Jan is his kayak, he just paddled under that downed tree. The Lumber River has lots of obstacles to paddle under around or pull your boat over. This trip did not require any pull overs, thank goodness.

A view of the Lumber River, when I first paddled this river back around 1990 it was not registered as a National Wild and Scenic River. 81 miles of the river was designated National Wild and Scenic River on September 28, 1998. The big tree near the center is a Bald Cypress full of catkins.

Here are two members of the Lumber River Canoe Club we just happened to see them on one of their weekly outings.

Red maple in bloom as seen from the canoe.

Spanish Moss and Mistletoe.

Bald Cypress knees in the water.

The lumber River State Park has lots of camp sites on the river this was the second one we passed. The camp sites are free and have a huge fire ring, room for 4-5 tents, a 2 picnic table shelter, river deck, trash can and lantern posts. And as you can see an easy landing for the canoes.

Close up of mistletoe berries!

This is a crooked Bald Cypress tree, with lots of cypress knees on the right of it.

Does not look like much does it. Think again in summer those are Marsh Mallow bushes I think or some other kind of hibiscus. We saw loads of these all the way down the river.

Jan  and his reflection in front of Bald Cypress trees.

A blockade of cypress knees. On the right is a knee at least 2 meters tall!

Oh, we hoped to see at least one butterfly on this trip, we failed on that. Today in our yard the first butterfly of the year, a Mourning Cloak gave an appearance in the front yard and driveway.