The plan was for my brother and me to kayak to the Bodine campsite. We would camp out overnight with my two children ages 3 and 5.
The morning of the trip started out bad. A whole dug for putting in new sewer and water lines into the house filled up with water due to two down spouts on the house located directly over the hole pouring water from the morning rain directly into the whole. I added extensions to the downspouts and started the work of removing the water that found its way into the basement from the whole outside. My house did not have water or sewer for two days prior while the pipes were being replaced. I had to carry three shop vacs full of water up the basement steps to get the water out. I called to let the rest of the group know I would be late. I was expected at 8:00 am on July4 and it was already 7:30.
I finally made it to my parents at 9:30. My parents with my kids followed my brother and me to the campsite at Bodine field. My mother stayed with the kids while my dad dropped us off at what I believed to be the Speedwell put in for the Wading. It was about 11:30.
We started off expecting to make it to Bodine in 7 hours or less.
My dad tried to talk us out of the trip since he did not like how the river looked at this point. The river was very shallow and had a spillway over some debris right at the start and than looked like it ended in a swamp.
My dad drove back to the camp and picked up my kids and mom and took them to a museum in Tuckerton. Any one with small children may want to check the museum out the kids had a blast. They dressed them like pirates and had them look for hidden treasure, and climb up to the top of a lighthouse.
The river was very tight with lots of fallen trees that we had to navigate around. About three miles down the “river” we ran into a spot where we could not find where the river continued. Looking for the way down river we paddled down several canals that turned out to be dead ends. I was a bit worried since I could not recall seeing on the map of the river a place that looked like the one we were at and the sky looked like it could rain any minute.
We ended up portaging over a damn and ended up in another dead end. Launching into the kayaks when coming back over the damn was difficult because the bank was very steep and sandy. I went first in my 9ft kayak and my brother went next in his 14 ft kayak.
I warned him as he tried to sit in the kayak that most of the boat was off the ground and he may tip over. He grumbled something and continued to get in the kayak. I prepared to help him if he fell. It happened in a flash, he tipped over like he was sitting on a spindle and went completely under, his head just missed the dam. I thought he would be sucked into the dam. He popped back up out of the water hat still in tact. I had already paddled two stokes to him in the instance that it happened. It was a real close one, but he was ok. At this point I started laughing in nervous relief and than in amusement at how ridiculous the whole thing looked.
We decided to check the area out one more time for a way down stream and than head back up stream. It was already 2:00 and we traveled less than 2 miles in the direction of the camp that was 9 miles from the put in.
We swallowed are pride and paddled back. We had to get out of the kayaks twice and sludge through some muddy grassy areas. I called my dad to pick us up where he dropped us off. Not sure what we would have done without cell phones. At first we could not get a reception so I was thinking about walking back to the camp or flagging down a truck from one of the liveries to take us back.
At the campsite we had a great time. This was the kids first camp out. They really enjoyed pumping water from the well and I kept them full of food. My son while answering the call of nature discovered a box turtle.
Unfortunately my daughter did have a tick dug into her scalp that was discovered when we got home. Other than that I did not have a single tick on me the whole time. I went out and got some permethrin from Wal-Mart and will be stricter with forcing the children to keep their hats on and shirts tucked in next time.
We all really enjoyed the trip and can’t wait to get out again.
Lorun
The morning of the trip started out bad. A whole dug for putting in new sewer and water lines into the house filled up with water due to two down spouts on the house located directly over the hole pouring water from the morning rain directly into the whole. I added extensions to the downspouts and started the work of removing the water that found its way into the basement from the whole outside. My house did not have water or sewer for two days prior while the pipes were being replaced. I had to carry three shop vacs full of water up the basement steps to get the water out. I called to let the rest of the group know I would be late. I was expected at 8:00 am on July4 and it was already 7:30.
I finally made it to my parents at 9:30. My parents with my kids followed my brother and me to the campsite at Bodine field. My mother stayed with the kids while my dad dropped us off at what I believed to be the Speedwell put in for the Wading. It was about 11:30.
We started off expecting to make it to Bodine in 7 hours or less.
My dad tried to talk us out of the trip since he did not like how the river looked at this point. The river was very shallow and had a spillway over some debris right at the start and than looked like it ended in a swamp.
My dad drove back to the camp and picked up my kids and mom and took them to a museum in Tuckerton. Any one with small children may want to check the museum out the kids had a blast. They dressed them like pirates and had them look for hidden treasure, and climb up to the top of a lighthouse.
The river was very tight with lots of fallen trees that we had to navigate around. About three miles down the “river” we ran into a spot where we could not find where the river continued. Looking for the way down river we paddled down several canals that turned out to be dead ends. I was a bit worried since I could not recall seeing on the map of the river a place that looked like the one we were at and the sky looked like it could rain any minute.
We ended up portaging over a damn and ended up in another dead end. Launching into the kayaks when coming back over the damn was difficult because the bank was very steep and sandy. I went first in my 9ft kayak and my brother went next in his 14 ft kayak.
I warned him as he tried to sit in the kayak that most of the boat was off the ground and he may tip over. He grumbled something and continued to get in the kayak. I prepared to help him if he fell. It happened in a flash, he tipped over like he was sitting on a spindle and went completely under, his head just missed the dam. I thought he would be sucked into the dam. He popped back up out of the water hat still in tact. I had already paddled two stokes to him in the instance that it happened. It was a real close one, but he was ok. At this point I started laughing in nervous relief and than in amusement at how ridiculous the whole thing looked.
We decided to check the area out one more time for a way down stream and than head back up stream. It was already 2:00 and we traveled less than 2 miles in the direction of the camp that was 9 miles from the put in.
We swallowed are pride and paddled back. We had to get out of the kayaks twice and sludge through some muddy grassy areas. I called my dad to pick us up where he dropped us off. Not sure what we would have done without cell phones. At first we could not get a reception so I was thinking about walking back to the camp or flagging down a truck from one of the liveries to take us back.
At the campsite we had a great time. This was the kids first camp out. They really enjoyed pumping water from the well and I kept them full of food. My son while answering the call of nature discovered a box turtle.
Unfortunately my daughter did have a tick dug into her scalp that was discovered when we got home. Other than that I did not have a single tick on me the whole time. I went out and got some permethrin from Wal-Mart and will be stricter with forcing the children to keep their hats on and shirts tucked in next time.
We all really enjoyed the trip and can’t wait to get out again.
Lorun
