Sunday, May 04, 2014

Kayamping in Kentucky.....

The title really doesn't express the true BIGNESS of this experience.

The last weekend in April, we did an overnight Kayak trip in Mammoth Cave National Park.
It was our longest paddle to date - 20 miles Saturday and 11 on Sunday.

You may ask, "Who in the world are you doing all this crazy stuff with...?"
I have to tell you, it's a group of people we met through  Meetup.com - Bowling Green Canoe and Kayak group.
This particular group has been around for a while now.  The website says it was founded back in 2008.  There is a pretty good group of hard core paddlers, who try to go out almost every weekend, or at least the 2 x's a month as scheduled .  I've sort of wormed my way into the group.  Hey, if you show up, you belong.

Being the person voted most likely to - bring tooooo much stuff -  it was very interesting trying to pack for this trip.
I spent several days organizing all the stuff we really needed and then the stuff we were bringing to share in food.  I thought I did an impressive job of bringing the least amount of stuff possible, but more than what I needed.  I did need my jacket, that I almost left behind.  I also could have used a sheet or something - my sleeping bag was not quite right for the bum I was trying to squeeze into it.  I wiggled around enough to finally get the important bits warm and Hubby fit in his fine (except for his feet (of Course)) and we did get a bit of sleep.

Thanks to my brother for the tent and little air mattress. Hope you weren't planning on getting that back any time soon.  I found an air mattress thing for Tom (on sale) and we got back-packer sleeping bags.

We have accumulated a few dry bags now and thank goodness.  I spent an evening packing and repacking to fit everything the best I could.    Funny thing is- we almost forgot to cook the bacon before we left.  That would have taken FOREVER to do in the woods.  We got it done and packed for the trip in record time.

In actuality, Hubby and I had a LOT more room to take stuff than we needed.  The loaded down cooler was really the only thing that put his boat at a feeling of tipsy.  I had plenty more room behind me in my boat and I know we did not over stuff his boat; I'm thinking of getting a camp table or tiny camp chairs.  Our boat seats are the camp chairs, but getting up and down is a little rough.

15 people went and we did have an excellent time.  And Hubby was the only person who wound up IN the water.  And that was saving someone else's gear.  It was warm enough that he dried out and didn't suffer from the quick rinse.

So, you probably want to see pictures.....  Of course....  Here....



 Blue Hole- very cold water...


 need a new sign...

Yes, lovely canoe as table..

Strawberry ice cream. yum...


Packing to leave 

 Cooler weighed a lot less going home.



If you want to see more photos - including some from a big DSLR ( oh I'm too chicken to take mine..)  The link is at the bottom of this page.  The DLSR photos are at the end of the pictures - go to page 13 and 14....

http://www.meetup.com/paddling-51/photos/21540682/


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