It was a windy day on Lake Martin. We checked the wind direction heading out so we would have a harder paddle out and an easier paddle back in. We maneuvered through the cypress and tupelo trees, crossing logs that would sink beneath us as we skid across them.
Just when we reach, what I consider one of the most beautiful areas of the lake, we found out that one of our group had arachnophobia. Not the kind that makes you scream and tell your partner to get it out but the kind that makes you scream and almost walk on water to get away from it. As her partner tries to remove the spider, she is looking for a tree a climb. It was at this point that I decided to take the group into more open water.
Unfortunately, there was another spider overhead (a golden silk spider, harmless) that resulted in almost the same reaction.
I had asked early in the trip for someone to do something to give me a story for this trip report and I must say I was extremely entertained by the choice of events. There was also mention of alligator worries while in a boat but I did not find this out until after I told the story of Hendri Coetzee, famed whitewater kayaker who was plucked from his boat by a crocodile on the Lukuga River in Congo in December of 2010. I did go on to explain that American Alligators are not man killers like crocodiles but I don’t know if that relieved too many worries.
We stopped along the rookery, listened to frogs and birds, watched frogs and birds, had some interesting conversation then sat out on the open lake to observe all of the wonderful cloud formations as the sun set before allowing the wind to help us back to the dock where we had a wonderful meal before the mosquitoes got too bad.
I was out on the lake Tuesday night, before Isaac made its way through the Lafayette area, to take advantage of what usually is, and was, fantastic hurricane clouds and an awesome sunset (sunrises too). The hurricane clouds were still lingering the night of our Pack and Paddle trip and we were treated to a wonderful sunset.
-Stacey Scarce, Trip Leader
To see more photos from this trip, click here!
