Tuesday, October 15, 2019
Thursday, October 10, 2019
A few final items.
The cooks have filed the menu just before the deadline and it looks amazing:
The moon phase report looks just as good as the menu:
The full moon will rise Saturday at 6:07 pm and set at 5:30 am which means it should be at its apex and provide maximum light for a 1:00 am dinner.
The river gauges just turned down after the effects of the big rain last weekend and river levels look great, too. I think the rain will have washed out the stagnant old pools from the drought and will give us a little extra water to keep from dragging. Could be perfect.
Oh, and one more thing you should know.
This is at River Mile 166 just downstream from our Friday night camp:
The sign is real; no idea if the danger is. I've never seen it actually happen, but we've got 10 canoes so somebody's bound to lose the game of air purge roulette. With the Hardison Mill dam rapids first thing Friday and this first thing Saturday, it's a good thing we bought an extra large coffee pot.
Ok, that's it. Meet at my house at 7:00 am or at the put-in about 8:30. Pack for a 50-degree temperature swing: mid-80's Friday afternoon and mid-30's Saturday night. Going to be a good one.
The cooks have filed the menu just before the deadline and it looks amazing:
The moon phase report looks just as good as the menu:
The river gauges just turned down after the effects of the big rain last weekend and river levels look great, too. I think the rain will have washed out the stagnant old pools from the drought and will give us a little extra water to keep from dragging. Could be perfect.
Oh, and one more thing you should know.
This is at River Mile 166 just downstream from our Friday night camp:
The sign is real; no idea if the danger is. I've never seen it actually happen, but we've got 10 canoes so somebody's bound to lose the game of air purge roulette. With the Hardison Mill dam rapids first thing Friday and this first thing Saturday, it's a good thing we bought an extra large coffee pot.
Ok, that's it. Meet at my house at 7:00 am or at the put-in about 8:30. Pack for a 50-degree temperature swing: mid-80's Friday afternoon and mid-30's Saturday night. Going to be a good one.
Monday, October 07, 2019
Trip Week Details
ROSTER
1. Dave C
2. Josh M
3. Jim M
4. Pete F
5. Phil P
6. Rob C
7. Rob H
8. Skip H
9. Stuart F
10. Vernon T
10-1/2. Mike C (Friday only)
11-ish. Bob D (possible Friday only)
LOGISTICS
Whoever is riding down with the trailer meet at my house at 7:00 am Friday. Josh is picking up Stuart at the airport at 11:30 am. The rest of us will either drive down together or meet at the put-in. We will go ahead and run the shuttle and load the canoes. Since it's only an hour from Nashville we may be ready earlier than usual - and earlier than Josh and Stuart arrive - in which case the kitchen crew and anyone else who wants to can go ahead and start downstream. A few of us can hang back and wait for Josh and Stuart and watch their canoes.
Here are updated maps.
Map 1 is Friday-Saturday:
Map 2 is Saturday-Sunday
The distances are 5-11-5 (Friday-Saturday-Sunday). Note this is a change - we are putting in at Hardison Mill Bridge instead of Carpenter Bridge which would have been only one mile of paddling on Friday. There's a new highway bridge at Hardison Mill (Hwy. 431/106) and I didn't know if it was still a river access but I scouted it last week and it's a good one as you can see in this video.
You may also have noticed in the video that the remains of Hardison Mill dam will provide some potential immediate excitement for those of you who are starting early, and potential immediate entertainment for those of us who will be waiting at the put-in with our cameras. Hint: take the middle chute.
I also scouted breakfast at Marcy Jo's, which is just a few miles up the highway from Hardison Mill.
We will call ahead for carry out orders because we don't want to wait for an hour like we did at Readyville Mill last Spring.
Since we will be split up for part of the first day here is how the rest of you can find the Friday camp:
It is at river mile 166.5 where Flat Creek enters from the right (I'll mark it on your maps). The best campsite and kitchen gravel bar is about 100 yards downstream from the mouth of the creek, so you'll need to go ahead and run through the little riffle before pulling over to the right bank.
Here is a video of it from about this time last summer (looking upstream after having just shot the riffle):
On Google Maps it is weirdly, and without explanation, labeled "Iwa Jima Island".
Because I liked the look of it, I stopped there in the middle of a quiet bright afternoon and made a solid camp on flat gravel under willows. I was tired and my gear needed tending, and it looked like the kind of place I'd been waiting for to spend a couple of nights and to loaf through a little of what the abstractly alliterative military schedules used to call "materiel maintenance." Islands are special, anyhow, as children know with a leaping instinct, and when they lie in public domain you can have a fine sense of temporary ownership about them that's hard to get on shores, inside or outside of fences.
Goodbye to a River, p. 149.
1. Dave C
2. Josh M
3. Jim M
4. Pete F
5. Phil P
6. Rob C
7. Rob H
8. Skip H
9. Stuart F
10. Vernon T
10-1/2. Mike C (Friday only)
11-ish. Bob D (possible Friday only)
LOGISTICS
Whoever is riding down with the trailer meet at my house at 7:00 am Friday. Josh is picking up Stuart at the airport at 11:30 am. The rest of us will either drive down together or meet at the put-in. We will go ahead and run the shuttle and load the canoes. Since it's only an hour from Nashville we may be ready earlier than usual - and earlier than Josh and Stuart arrive - in which case the kitchen crew and anyone else who wants to can go ahead and start downstream. A few of us can hang back and wait for Josh and Stuart and watch their canoes.
Here are updated maps.
Map 1 is Friday-Saturday:
Map 2 is Saturday-Sunday
The distances are 5-11-5 (Friday-Saturday-Sunday). Note this is a change - we are putting in at Hardison Mill Bridge instead of Carpenter Bridge which would have been only one mile of paddling on Friday. There's a new highway bridge at Hardison Mill (Hwy. 431/106) and I didn't know if it was still a river access but I scouted it last week and it's a good one as you can see in this video.
You may also have noticed in the video that the remains of Hardison Mill dam will provide some potential immediate excitement for those of you who are starting early, and potential immediate entertainment for those of us who will be waiting at the put-in with our cameras. Hint: take the middle chute.
I also scouted breakfast at Marcy Jo's, which is just a few miles up the highway from Hardison Mill.
We will call ahead for carry out orders because we don't want to wait for an hour like we did at Readyville Mill last Spring.
Since we will be split up for part of the first day here is how the rest of you can find the Friday camp:
It is at river mile 166.5 where Flat Creek enters from the right (I'll mark it on your maps). The best campsite and kitchen gravel bar is about 100 yards downstream from the mouth of the creek, so you'll need to go ahead and run through the little riffle before pulling over to the right bank.
Here is a video of it from about this time last summer (looking upstream after having just shot the riffle):
On Google Maps it is weirdly, and without explanation, labeled "Iwa Jima Island".
Because I liked the look of it, I stopped there in the middle of a quiet bright afternoon and made a solid camp on flat gravel under willows. I was tired and my gear needed tending, and it looked like the kind of place I'd been waiting for to spend a couple of nights and to loaf through a little of what the abstractly alliterative military schedules used to call "materiel maintenance." Islands are special, anyhow, as children know with a leaping instinct, and when they lie in public domain you can have a fine sense of temporary ownership about them that's hard to get on shores, inside or outside of fences.
Goodbye to a River, p. 149.
Bonnie and I liked the look of it.
Tuesday, October 01, 2019
Company Aytch
This trip will combine the favorite hobbies of several of our members: history, literature, and malacology.
You already knew that the Duck River is the "most biologically diverse river in all of North America" and "surpasses that of all European rivers combined" in aquatic diversity of species. This is primarily because of the freshwater mussels, which Josh has been collecting and displaying at the RRCC headquarters.
He's got the Tennessee Pigtoe, the Pink Heelsplitter and the Cumberland Monkeyface, but we will be on the lookout for the Pale Lilliput mussel which was just reintroduced a few years ago after being on the endangered species list.
It is possible that Private Sam Watkins tried to cook and eat a Pale Lilliput when he was camped along the Duck River with the First Tennessee Regiment of the Army of Tennessee in 1863.
He wrote about it in his Civil War memoir called "Company Aytch - Or a Side Show of the Big Show."
Reader, did you ever eat a mussel? Well, we did, at Shelbyville. We were camped right upon the bank of Duck River, and one day Fred Dornin, Ed Voss, Andy Wilson and I went in the river mussel hunting. Every one of us had a meal sack. We would feel down with our feet until we felt a mussel and then dive for it We soon filled our sacks with mussels in their shells. When we got to camp we cracked the shells and took out the mussels. We tried frying them, but the longer they fried the tougher they got. They were a little too large to swallow whole. Then we stewed them, and after a while we boiled them, and then we baked them, but every flank movement we would make on those mussels the more invulnerable they would get. We tried cutting them up with a hatchet, but they were so slick and tough the hatchet would not cut them. Well, we cooked them, and buttered them, and salted them, and peppered them, and battered them. They looked good, and smelt good, and tasted good; at least the fixings we put on them did, and we ate the mussels. I went to sleep that night. I dreamed that my stomach was four grindstones and that they turned in four directions, according to the four corners of the earth. I awoke to hear four men yell out, "O, save, O save me from eating any more mussels!"
Company Aytch, pp. 62-63.
On the Fall trip we are going to paddle the exact same section where the Private Watkins took an AWOL joyride in a stolen canoe to try to see his sweetheart in Columbia, Tennessee. The chapter is called "DOWN DUCK RIVER IN A CANOE - Ora Pro Nobis."
At this place, Duck river wended its way down to Columbia. On one occasion it was up - had on its Sunday clothes - a booming. Andy Wilson and I thought that we would slip off and go down the river in a canoe. We got the canoe and started. It was a leaky craft...
Company Aytch, p. 68.
But we will save that passage, and many other good ones, to be read aloud on the river by the light and hiss of the Coleman lantern. Teaser: Ora Pro Nobis means "Pray for us."
Sam Watkins fought in just about every battle that mattered, and marched across or camped next to many of our favorite streams. He's got passages in the book about the Stones River (right where we were this Spring), the Harpeth, the Tennessee - all the rest of them rebel rivers.
You already knew that the Duck River is the "most biologically diverse river in all of North America" and "surpasses that of all European rivers combined" in aquatic diversity of species. This is primarily because of the freshwater mussels, which Josh has been collecting and displaying at the RRCC headquarters.
He's got the Tennessee Pigtoe, the Pink Heelsplitter and the Cumberland Monkeyface, but we will be on the lookout for the Pale Lilliput mussel which was just reintroduced a few years ago after being on the endangered species list.
He wrote about it in his Civil War memoir called "Company Aytch - Or a Side Show of the Big Show."
Reader, did you ever eat a mussel? Well, we did, at Shelbyville. We were camped right upon the bank of Duck River, and one day Fred Dornin, Ed Voss, Andy Wilson and I went in the river mussel hunting. Every one of us had a meal sack. We would feel down with our feet until we felt a mussel and then dive for it We soon filled our sacks with mussels in their shells. When we got to camp we cracked the shells and took out the mussels. We tried frying them, but the longer they fried the tougher they got. They were a little too large to swallow whole. Then we stewed them, and after a while we boiled them, and then we baked them, but every flank movement we would make on those mussels the more invulnerable they would get. We tried cutting them up with a hatchet, but they were so slick and tough the hatchet would not cut them. Well, we cooked them, and buttered them, and salted them, and peppered them, and battered them. They looked good, and smelt good, and tasted good; at least the fixings we put on them did, and we ate the mussels. I went to sleep that night. I dreamed that my stomach was four grindstones and that they turned in four directions, according to the four corners of the earth. I awoke to hear four men yell out, "O, save, O save me from eating any more mussels!"
Company Aytch, pp. 62-63.
On the Fall trip we are going to paddle the exact same section where the Private Watkins took an AWOL joyride in a stolen canoe to try to see his sweetheart in Columbia, Tennessee. The chapter is called "DOWN DUCK RIVER IN A CANOE - Ora Pro Nobis."
At this place, Duck river wended its way down to Columbia. On one occasion it was up - had on its Sunday clothes - a booming. Andy Wilson and I thought that we would slip off and go down the river in a canoe. We got the canoe and started. It was a leaky craft...
Company Aytch, p. 68.
But we will save that passage, and many other good ones, to be read aloud on the river by the light and hiss of the Coleman lantern. Teaser: Ora Pro Nobis means "Pray for us."
Sam Watkins fought in just about every battle that mattered, and marched across or camped next to many of our favorite streams. He's got passages in the book about the Stones River (right where we were this Spring), the Harpeth, the Tennessee - all the rest of them rebel rivers.
Wednesday, September 25, 2019
Coffee Matters
You may recall that our coffee pot turned up missing on the last trip. Most likely it's serving as an artificial reef somewhere at the bottom of the Buffalo River.
Fortunately, Cowboy Coffee can be made in any old kettle and that's how we got by last Spring. Cowboy Coffee is just boiling the water and the coffee together in one pot. The secret is how to make the grounds drop out before you pour it. Here are some well known methods:
- Splash cold water on the surface
- Add eggshells
- Shake salt over it
- Put the grounds in a sock
The reasons it's a "secret" is that none of those things really do anything. You just need to show all the people who are standing around with empty coffee cups that you're doing something. They're going to end up straining the grounds out with their teeth anyway.
I think everybody seemed perfectly happy about the Cowboy Coffee method and we're going to go with that for awhile. For one thing, it's a lot easier and faster than waiting for the percolator - which has to be positioned just right over the fire to work.
But we do want a proper coffee pot and another benefit of the Cowboy Coffee method is there are a lot more options for good looking coffee pots without the perc than with them.
So here's the new club coffee pot which will debut next month on the Fall trip:
We made sure we got one with both an upper and lower handle on the back. Because while searching for giant coffee pots we discovered this:
All-those-in favor-all-those-opposed-APPROVED!"
Here is a preview of our new coffee tipping machine in action...
Next project: figuring out how to hook it up to Proud Mary.
Fortunately, Cowboy Coffee can be made in any old kettle and that's how we got by last Spring. Cowboy Coffee is just boiling the water and the coffee together in one pot. The secret is how to make the grounds drop out before you pour it. Here are some well known methods:
- Splash cold water on the surface
- Add eggshells
- Shake salt over it
- Put the grounds in a sock
The reasons it's a "secret" is that none of those things really do anything. You just need to show all the people who are standing around with empty coffee cups that you're doing something. They're going to end up straining the grounds out with their teeth anyway.
I think everybody seemed perfectly happy about the Cowboy Coffee method and we're going to go with that for awhile. For one thing, it's a lot easier and faster than waiting for the percolator - which has to be positioned just right over the fire to work.
But we do want a proper coffee pot and another benefit of the Cowboy Coffee method is there are a lot more options for good looking coffee pots without the perc than with them.
So here's the new club coffee pot which will debut next month on the Fall trip:
We made sure we got one with both an upper and lower handle on the back. Because while searching for giant coffee pots we discovered this:
All-those-in favor-all-those-opposed-APPROVED!"
Here is a preview of our new coffee tipping machine in action...
Next project: figuring out how to hook it up to Proud Mary.
Thursday, September 19, 2019
Spring Trip 2019
We're still licking our wounds about letting the Fall 2018 trip slip away.
It was the first time we have missed a trip in twenty-eight straight Spring/Fall seasons. The only other time we skipped one was right after our first trip - and that was only because we had not yet converted to the twice-a-year format so we didn't really "miss" one at all until now.
The good news is that the trip this Fall will now be a celebration of two things: Trip #30 and the beginning of a new streak. We love recognizing special occasions here at the RRCC. We will probably have a ceremony.
Here's something else we'll celebrate. This Fall we are going to paddle the section that was Floyd's very first RRCC trip back in 2005.
Not because this will be his last. Floyd will be doing river trips forever. It's because it will be Sister's first.
Floyd and Sister will have their own ceremony on the island at the mouth of Cedar Creek. Floyd will ceremoniously pass her the RRCC Orange Dildo.
The section itself is one we have intended to do twice now and never made it. The first time we redirected to the Buffalo (poison ivy / UFO bar) because of flash flood predictions. The second time was when we cancelled last fall. So the planning is all done and you can read about it here:
https://rrcc.blogspot.com/2018/04/duck-river.html
Except this will be a Friday-Sunday two-nighter so we will put in at Carpenter Bridge on those maps.
Also here are the photos from the Spring 2019 trip to get you in the mood (right click to open a new window if it doesn't work):
https://photos.app.goo.gl/ay1rvvS2sL16Wt4P6
It was the first time we have missed a trip in twenty-eight straight Spring/Fall seasons. The only other time we skipped one was right after our first trip - and that was only because we had not yet converted to the twice-a-year format so we didn't really "miss" one at all until now.
The good news is that the trip this Fall will now be a celebration of two things: Trip #30 and the beginning of a new streak. We love recognizing special occasions here at the RRCC. We will probably have a ceremony.
Not because this will be his last. Floyd will be doing river trips forever. It's because it will be Sister's first.
Floyd and Sister will have their own ceremony on the island at the mouth of Cedar Creek. Floyd will ceremoniously pass her the RRCC Orange Dildo.
The section itself is one we have intended to do twice now and never made it. The first time we redirected to the Buffalo (poison ivy / UFO bar) because of flash flood predictions. The second time was when we cancelled last fall. So the planning is all done and you can read about it here:
https://rrcc.blogspot.com/2018/04/duck-river.html
Except this will be a Friday-Sunday two-nighter so we will put in at Carpenter Bridge on those maps.
Also here are the photos from the Spring 2019 trip to get you in the mood (right click to open a new window if it doesn't work):
https://photos.app.goo.gl/ay1rvvS2sL16Wt4P6
Monday, April 01, 2019
Trip Week
Rivermen: let's meet at my house at 7:30 am Friday. If anyone wants to meet at the put-in instead just let me know. The directions are as follows:
1. Go to Readyville, Tennessee.
______________________________________
We will eat Friday lunch at the Readyville Mill restaurant after we run the shuttle. All other meals will be handled by the kitchen crew on the river. Each riverman needs to bring his own plate, utensils and drinking vessels. And also a BOWL this time (see menu). Beer and water are BYO. No disposable plastic water bottles. Per usual, Tim is in charge of first-stop cocktails each day. Josh and I will be shaking up martinis, dirty and dry, for that magic hour just before sunset when the fire is made and everybody is in dry clothes.
Menu:
Friday Lunch: Readyville Mill "Eatery"
Friday Dinner: Pete's Riverman Fish Chowder plus "Accompaniments Which You Will Find Pleasing."
Saturday Breakfast: Lowrybread, coffee, tobacco
Saturday Lunch: Muffalettas
Saturday Dinner: Occo Bucco and more A.W.Y.W.F.P.s.
Sunday Breakfast: See Saturday Breakfast
______________________________________
A few roster changes.
Vernon has been upgraded to probable. Kirly has been downgraded to unlikely. Rob Cannon is also in play now, although that was before Auburn got in the Final Four. Hoping he decides to come catch a bunch of radioactive fish and listen on the radio. There is precedent for this.
FYI there are no real options for joining us later in the day on Friday, but if it helps anybody I can definitely get you on or off the river Saturday morning for a one-nighter (either night).
_____________________________________
From the Central Procurement Office:
Acquisition 1. Last trip we lucked in to two big, pre-cut logs to use for the Grumman when it was in kitchen counter mode.
Remember how nice it was to have it up off the ground and you didn't have to lean over for meal prep or to find your ready-rolls in the dark?
It was so nice, in fact, that we have decided not to leave that to chance any more. We're going to try out these folding saw horses. If they work we might get another pair for the fall trip and double the counter space.
Acquisitions 2 through 12...
For the aforementioned magic cocktail hour.
1. Go to Readyville, Tennessee.
______________________________________
We will eat Friday lunch at the Readyville Mill restaurant after we run the shuttle. All other meals will be handled by the kitchen crew on the river. Each riverman needs to bring his own plate, utensils and drinking vessels. And also a BOWL this time (see menu). Beer and water are BYO. No disposable plastic water bottles. Per usual, Tim is in charge of first-stop cocktails each day. Josh and I will be shaking up martinis, dirty and dry, for that magic hour just before sunset when the fire is made and everybody is in dry clothes.
Menu:
Friday Lunch: Readyville Mill "Eatery"
Friday Dinner: Pete's Riverman Fish Chowder plus "Accompaniments Which You Will Find Pleasing."
Saturday Breakfast: Lowrybread, coffee, tobacco
Saturday Lunch: Muffalettas
Saturday Dinner: Occo Bucco and more A.W.Y.W.F.P.s.
Sunday Breakfast: See Saturday Breakfast
______________________________________
A few roster changes.
Vernon has been upgraded to probable. Kirly has been downgraded to unlikely. Rob Cannon is also in play now, although that was before Auburn got in the Final Four. Hoping he decides to come catch a bunch of radioactive fish and listen on the radio. There is precedent for this.
FYI there are no real options for joining us later in the day on Friday, but if it helps anybody I can definitely get you on or off the river Saturday morning for a one-nighter (either night).
_____________________________________
From the Central Procurement Office:
Acquisition 1. Last trip we lucked in to two big, pre-cut logs to use for the Grumman when it was in kitchen counter mode.
Remember how nice it was to have it up off the ground and you didn't have to lean over for meal prep or to find your ready-rolls in the dark?
It was so nice, in fact, that we have decided not to leave that to chance any more. We're going to try out these folding saw horses. If they work we might get another pair for the fall trip and double the counter space.
Acquisitions 2 through 12...
For the aforementioned magic cocktail hour.
Wednesday, March 27, 2019
2nd Half Plan
Ok, the last time we talked we had made it to McKnight Branch five miles down the river. That will be Campsite #1.
Here's the map for the second half of the trip (still paddling right to left on your screen).
Given our more "mature" approach to river miles, and the fact this will be two nights instead of one, it seemed unlikely we could camp at the big gravel bar island again. But it turns out that for the very same reasons we may end up in that general vicinity the second night. Not making any promises, but that could be Campsite #2. It's definitely a good one:
Here is the current roster based on the info I have:
Rob
Skip
Tim
Josh
Pete F. Feldman
Myers
Phil
Dave Coviello
David Fox
Kirly
Vernon is a maybe. Mullowney will be out of the country
And here is a Public Service Announcement:
https://fox17.com/news/local/tdec-warns-not-to-consume-bass-found-along-east-fork-stones-river-in-rutherford-county
Of course, this only applies if we catch enough fish to make a dinner so...
Here's the map for the second half of the trip (still paddling right to left on your screen).
Given our more "mature" approach to river miles, and the fact this will be two nights instead of one, it seemed unlikely we could camp at the big gravel bar island again. But it turns out that for the very same reasons we may end up in that general vicinity the second night. Not making any promises, but that could be Campsite #2. It's definitely a good one:
Here is the current roster based on the info I have:
Rob
Skip
Tim
Josh
Pete F. Feldman
Myers
Phil
Dave Coviello
David Fox
Kirly
Vernon is a maybe. Mullowney will be out of the country
And here is a Public Service Announcement:
https://fox17.com/news/local/tdec-warns-not-to-consume-bass-found-along-east-fork-stones-river-in-rutherford-county
Of course, this only applies if we catch enough fish to make a dinner so...
Friday, March 15, 2019
Stones River Plans - Part I
Ok got the logistics worked out I think. Our total trip will be right around 20 miles.
In 2004 we put in at Goochie Ford which was a low-water bridge. The locals called it "The Slab." Zoom in on the map in Mullowney's hand at our Brown's Diner planning session and you can see all the notes for that trip.
Apparently we paddled 13 miles to the big gravel bar island campsite. And since that was our first (and last) one-nighter, that means we also drove from Nashville and ran the shuttle that day. Adult sized serving!
We are older and wiser now and will probably do our river miles something like 5-10-5, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
Since 2004 , there have been two interesting developments that make it likely we will put in about a mile upstream from Goochie Ford at Readyville (pronounced REEDY-ville).
First reason: The Slab at Goochie Ford is not a slab anymore. It's actually a low bridge now, which is different from a low-water bridge. The former you can paddle under (appealing), the latter you portage over or around (less appealing, and probably why we put in there last time).
The second positive development is the mill at Readyville. https://www.readyvillemill.com/
Click on history. Since we were there last it was purchased, restored, and reopened as an operating grist mill. Just like the glory days of Rat McFerrin. They open at 9:00 am on Saturdays so we can buy our dry goods that morning.
Bonus fact from the history of the mill: the Stones River did not get its name from the stones in the river, or from The Stones, but from Uriah Stone. Uriah did have some big stones though. He was not afraid of creditors or Indians: http://vagenweb.org/lee/UriahStoneMA.html
Actually maybe he was afraid of Indians: https://www.dnj.com/story/news/local/2014/11/15/harbers-history-lesson-river-carries-stones-legacy/19104745/
Bonus reasons for putting in at the mill: they have given us actual permission to launch there, and we don't have to clamber over all that rip-rap at Goochie Ford with our heavy canoes and cast iron. Really the only reason we won't is if the water is too high to get the canoes under the bridge at Goochie Ford.
Either way our first night will be somewhere after the confluence with McKnight Branch (traveling right to left on this map):
I'll preview the second half of the trip next week.
In 2004 we put in at Goochie Ford which was a low-water bridge. The locals called it "The Slab." Zoom in on the map in Mullowney's hand at our Brown's Diner planning session and you can see all the notes for that trip.
Apparently we paddled 13 miles to the big gravel bar island campsite. And since that was our first (and last) one-nighter, that means we also drove from Nashville and ran the shuttle that day. Adult sized serving!
We are older and wiser now and will probably do our river miles something like 5-10-5, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
Since 2004 , there have been two interesting developments that make it likely we will put in about a mile upstream from Goochie Ford at Readyville (pronounced REEDY-ville).
First reason: The Slab at Goochie Ford is not a slab anymore. It's actually a low bridge now, which is different from a low-water bridge. The former you can paddle under (appealing), the latter you portage over or around (less appealing, and probably why we put in there last time).
New Goochie Ford Bridge
The second positive development is the mill at Readyville. https://www.readyvillemill.com/
Click on history. Since we were there last it was purchased, restored, and reopened as an operating grist mill. Just like the glory days of Rat McFerrin. They open at 9:00 am on Saturdays so we can buy our dry goods that morning.
Bonus fact from the history of the mill: the Stones River did not get its name from the stones in the river, or from The Stones, but from Uriah Stone. Uriah did have some big stones though. He was not afraid of creditors or Indians: http://vagenweb.org/lee/UriahStoneMA.html
Actually maybe he was afraid of Indians: https://www.dnj.com/story/news/local/2014/11/15/harbers-history-lesson-river-carries-stones-legacy/19104745/
Bonus reasons for putting in at the mill: they have given us actual permission to launch there, and we don't have to clamber over all that rip-rap at Goochie Ford with our heavy canoes and cast iron. Really the only reason we won't is if the water is too high to get the canoes under the bridge at Goochie Ford.
Either way our first night will be somewhere after the confluence with McKnight Branch (traveling right to left on this map):
I'll preview the second half of the trip next week.
Thursday, March 07, 2019
Spring 2019
Spring trip gonna be April 5 - 7. That's pretty soon fellas. One month from tomorrow, in fact.
Our hopeful/probable destination is the East Fork of the Stones River. In Rutherford County just on the other side of Murfreesboro.
Depending on how you measure it, the Stones was the first river that we did as a real canoe club. Exactly 15 years ago in the Spring of 2004. That was the trip of the first Osso Bucco and the beer pigs, and led to the adoption of some of the first RRCC regulations, especially new rules on medical marijuana and concealed carry.
It also had one of the best gravel bar islands we've ever camped on...
We can't guarantee it will work out to stop there again because river access points have changed in the last 15 years and we have not been able to scout them because of high water and flooding. But there are many good gravel bars like it along the way. We will for sure stop and have a toast.
We will also pass the old site where Brown's Mill used to be. When we did it in 2004 the mill was gone but the remains of the dam were still there which created some excitement for us getting through.
Below is a surprisingly in-depth video about the mill and the removal of that dam in 2014. It's excellent and is mandatory viewing if you're even thinking about going on this trip.
Basically, they blew up the dam just for us. So the least we can do is go float it again.
Our hopeful/probable destination is the East Fork of the Stones River. In Rutherford County just on the other side of Murfreesboro.
Depending on how you measure it, the Stones was the first river that we did as a real canoe club. Exactly 15 years ago in the Spring of 2004. That was the trip of the first Osso Bucco and the beer pigs, and led to the adoption of some of the first RRCC regulations, especially new rules on medical marijuana and concealed carry.
It also had one of the best gravel bar islands we've ever camped on...
We can't guarantee it will work out to stop there again because river access points have changed in the last 15 years and we have not been able to scout them because of high water and flooding. But there are many good gravel bars like it along the way. We will for sure stop and have a toast.
We will also pass the old site where Brown's Mill used to be. When we did it in 2004 the mill was gone but the remains of the dam were still there which created some excitement for us getting through.
Below is a surprisingly in-depth video about the mill and the removal of that dam in 2014. It's excellent and is mandatory viewing if you're even thinking about going on this trip.
Basically, they blew up the dam just for us. So the least we can do is go float it again.
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