The warm days of Spring are upon us. I have finally come to terms with the end of Winter- albeit reluctantly. I am now ready to again venture out to explore the outside world especially that which involves water. So on a recent Sunday, I decided to leave this world for a while. No, I am not talking about jumping out a perfectly good airplane to skydive (maybe someday but not this time), but another type of escape. My escape involved a lazy sojourn paddling down Big Cedar Creek near Cave Springs, Georgia, located in Northwestern part of the state. Loren Eisely, a noted naturalist and educator once said, “If there is magic on this planet, it lies in flowing water.” Let’s all give an Amen to that.
I was lucky to have one of my daughters with me to enjoy the creek and her company. Big Cedar Creek holds many fond memories from my childhood years but this was my first time actually paddling a section of the creek. My parents were friends with a family that had a rustic cabin on Big Cedar Creek. I spent countless summer days exploring the slippery shoals looking for whatever moved. I will confess that some of my activities included my trusty Remington Nylon 66 22 rifle in hand, with the objective of trying to shoot the ubiquitous silver fish (which I now know as Gizzard Shad). Through trial and error, I learned that I had adjust my aim and shoot not where I saw the fish but about two inches above. The refraction of the light was to blame.
Paw Paw tree fruitWell, back to my paddling journey. As I slipped my kayak into the creek, I was quite surprised by the water temperature since my childhood swimming memories suggested that the water would be very cold – but that was not the case on this day. I’ve long blamed my distaste for cold water on my early days of Big Cedar; there goes another reality check from my youth. The water level of the creek was somewhat below average so my daughter and I had to carefully select our path through shoals and the minor rapids to keep from getting stuck- although we still did manage to get stuck. Overall the scenery was spectacular with blooming Mountain Laurel hugging the banks, the orange native azaleas in bloom, limestone rocks and cliffs, Ospreys in flight and my first visual of the flower of the Paw Paw tree (Asimina triloba). The Paw Paw tree has a delightful fruit that sort of resembles a mango and makes excellent jelly.
Our trip/escape was occasionally interrupted by a few creekside cabins as well as a herd of cows enjoying themselves in the cool water. I know the cows like the water but it would be much better for the creek and my olfactory nerves if they did not.
Eventually our escape from this world came to an end as we passed under the highway bridge with cars speeding overhead, which signaled that the takeout point was just ahead. The time on the water was way too short. But now I am dreaming of more paddling days to come.
