Cartersville to Maidens, 17.5 miles
Apparent in the above picture, Day two started early with a light river level fog and a beautiful sunrise beckoning me down river. Saturday was planned as a short day because of a commitment to attend a wedding that afternoon at Clover Forest Plantation just off the river. My plan was to start early and get to Maidens and complete my portage to Brightly Bed & Breakfast in time to get cleaned up and depart for the wedding. It was nearly 8:00 am when I finally pushed off and paddled past the Cartersville Bridge. I was surprised at the hour and a half it took me to eat breakfast and break camp. Having to haul gear up from the boat, make breakfast then haul everything back down to the boat and re-pack certainly added to the lengthy morning routine.
It was another beautiful morning, warming quickly. Not much wildlife – ducks, geese and lots of butterflies. I did see a heron and while I am not in the habit of talking to birds, I made a point of telling him that he was missed the day before. The paddle was a quick one with a slight current pushing me and I was ashore at the Maidens boat ramp by noon. I did have one potentially serious misstep involving my dayhatch cover. I pulled behind a large rock to get a snack out of my day bag and had my dayhatch cover sitting on my spray deck. When I turned to put the day bag back, I forgot about the cover and knocked it into the water. In theory I knew that they would sink, but boy did it sink fast. I got concerned knowing that a makeshift cover would limit my ability to store items in the day hatch as well as be another inconvenience and time killer. I made myself calm down and wait for the silt to clear. Luckily the cover was barely visible in about three feet of water, up against a piece of submerged tree on the edge of a rock drop-off. Very gently, I began fishing it up the slope and into shallower water. The process took quite some time as I had to stop frequently to allow the silt to settle to ensure that I did not accidentally knock the hatch cover back into deeper water. Very lucky ending. Had I been another 2 feet back from the rock it is unlikely I would have been able to see or retrieve the cover.
The B&B is approximately 2 miles, mostly uphill, from the ramp; but with Kate not due to arrive until at least 2pm, I had plenty of time. The portage started fine as I unloaded the heavy gear, drained my water bottles knowing that I could refill at Brightly and asked a man who was fishing next to the ramp to help me lift the kayak onto the cart.
I only made it halfway out the gravel lot when one of the tires came off of a cart wheel. I popped it back on and made it to the top of Bateaux Landing Rd when it happened again. Having plenty of time and a repair kit, I decided to use marine adhesive to glue the solid rubber tire back onto the wheel. After completing the repair and waiting approximately 30 minutes for the adhesive to set up, I started toward the bridge crossing. Almost immediately the tire popped back off –adhesive was not the solution. If I was to make it to Brightly on time, I needed to get moving so decided to just roll it on the plastic wheel. This worked, it just made the boat a little harder to control. In order to minimize the stress on the cart wheels, I placed the cart well toward the stern which shifted more of the load onto the tow vehicle – um, me. The bridge was quite narrow and the trip across, facing traffic, pulling an 18 foot kayak on a cart with one tire was quite hairy. I was glad to be over the bridge but the uphill struggle to get to Rt 6 was exhausting. Once across the bridge, I stashed some of my heavier gear next to a farm road gate and covered it with my canvas tarp. Eventually I made it to Brightly.
After putting the kayak in the tractor barn, Dee, the owner of Brightly, gave me a ride down to pick up my gear. As we were preparing to back out a truck pulled up with a man who had come to fix the gate. I was glad that my stuff was already safely loaded in the back of Dee’s car. Kate arrived and I got showered, shaved and dressed for the wedding. We had a great time, but called it a night a little earlier than we would have otherwise, as I needed to be on the river early the next day and cover some miles. We made it through the wedding ceremony with clear skies, but rain began during the reception. If I only knew how long the rain would last and how hard it would be at times, I might have stayed in bed a little longer the next morning. . .
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