Perfect

Day One

Conditions for a canoe trip down Hatchett Creek don't get any better than they were on April 9-10, 2005. I guess you would say they were perfect. The air temperature and humidity were just right, and the flow rate was 800-900 CFS as we launched our boats at Short's Bridge. We decided to paddle the upper part of Hatchett, camp at Steve's cabin and take out at US-231 Bridge. George and I paddled tandem in my old red Coleman, Stephen Paddled the blue Old Town, Nathan and William Paddled the red Mohawk and Steve took his green Coleman.

We launched at 9:15 AM and floated past old trees that had blocked the creek in years previous. Thanks to whoever cut those things out. George tried fishing and I tried paddling. Nathan and William were getting used to the Mohawk but soon learned how to manage it. Stephen paddled the 11' Old Town using a kayak paddle. We all enjoyed the great weather we were having.

The fish just weren't hitting because if they were William and George would have filled up the buckets. It really didn't matter if we caught any because George had several catfish he had caught thawing out and ready for the fish fry at Steve's cabin. George did catch one red-eye and it lived to be released at the end of the trip.

It had been about 7 or 8 years since we had paddled this part of Hatchett. Several new houses have popped up along the banks. The pond on Hatchett used to be fairly remote, but not anymore. Several large homes have been built on the right side above the dam.

The boys had paddled ahead of us for most of the morning. I hoped they would stop and wait for us at the dam. We did catch up with them in front of the old log cabin on the pond where we camped when I was young. William was soaking wet. He had reached for a lure hung on a limb, lost his balance and fell in. He did manage to hold on to the lure. William also found a large turtle on the bank and managed to catch it and put it in his boat. He later thought something was wrong with it so I suggested he throw it back in the creek. He did and when it swam off he saw that it only had three legs. This caused him to dive in a spiral helix fashion as we watched him disappear in the green water.

We all paddled down to the dam. Steve took out on the left side and everyone else took out on the right. We dragged our boats around the dam and stopped on the bank for lunch. I had a bucket of KFC, some bread and drinks. The chicken didn't last long with 3 teenage boys eating from the bucket. Steve had his usual smoked muscles, which he tried to get Nathan and William to eat.  He new better than to ask Stephen.

After lunch we all shoved off and headed down creek. Just after Hog eddy the creek makes an "S" turn. With the water level being what it was this would be a fun ride. George and I were first to enter the turn. We made the right hand turn just fine. As we entered the left hand turn I intended to brace left but missed my stroke. The canoe rolled left as George and I strained to lean right. We didn't strain enough because water spilled over the left gunwale and over we went. The creek flows fast and deep in this confined channel. We tried to stay with the canoe and work it over to the right bank. Half way down we managed to get stopped and tie the rear of the boat to a bush on the bank. We had lost our paddles, net, fish bucket and real. The cooler and food box were still tied in as well as my ammo box that held my camera, wallet, GPS and keys. Stephen stopped but could not help from his boat, so he went on down where Nathan and William were. George and I managed to roll the water out of our boat and load our cooler and boxes back in. Steve was just coming down the shoot and I hollered for him to throw me his extra paddle. He did and we cut loose our canoe and shot down creek. I saw my paddle hung in some brush and motioned for Steve to grab it as he went by. William and Nathan had my other paddle, the net and fish box (with the one little red-eye still in it). The dip in the creek felt good and our clothes were soon dry. The only thing we lost was George's fishing rod. William saw it bob up once and go under for good.

We pulled up to Steve's cabin at about 2:00 PM. Everyone was ready to take out and stretch out. George and I drove back into town to get the fish to cook for supper. Steve and the boys stayed and went tubing in the rapids above the cabin. I came back and made some pictures of the boys building a dam using large rocks found in the area. The dam was on a little spring that runs into Hatchett just above the cabin.

I lit the fish fryer and started cooking catfish at about 6:00. Meg, Martha, Mary and Sally came down and brought hush-puppy mix, french-fries, slaw, tea and a whole lot of atmosphere. Everyone was starving by the time the french-fries were done cooking, so we dove in and feasted till it was all gone. 

After supper Steve walked down to the creek to toss some fish parts into the water. It was dark but he knew where he was going. I heard him call out my name in a rather urgent tone, so I stopped what I was doing and responded. He said there was a big copperhead down there and to bring something to kill it with. I found a machete and got my 6 million CP flashlight (sets leaves on fire) and went to the creek. There I found Steve and a highly agitated copperhead. As a matter of fact, Steve was highly agitated too. I handed him the machete and he proceeded to whack at the snake, but the handle just seemed too short. The snake was moving off toward the creek as Steve chopped away always just missing his target. I kept the spotlight on the action and finally Steve hit his target. The snakes head popped off clean and the copper body wiggled and twisted and finally went limp. Steve said that he stepped off into a hole that felt spongy and after taking another step he heard something following him in the leaves. There was just enough light to make out the large body and the triangle shaped head cocked back ready to strike. That's when Steve started calling. We tossed the snake into the creek for the turtles. The boys had pitched a tent about 15 feet away but decided to sleep in the cabin instead.

Day Two

Steve and I got up at first light. I hit the shower and Steve started fixing breakfast. The boys eventually started stirring around and hanging out by the fireplace. Another perfect day was dawning, and the water level was holding around 800 CFS. Steve fixed fried eggs, hickory smoked bacon, slow cook grits, biscuits and coffee. We sat down to another feast and believe it or not we were all hungry. Nathan had never had fried eggs like Steve made so he decided to watch me and see how I did it. He took his eye off me for a moment and when he looked back my eggs were all gone. He decided to trim off the white, eat that and leave the yellow. There was not much for the turtles to eat that morning.

We floated away around 9:15 AM, passed under US-280 bridge and on to the health camp rapids. I used Dick's red Coleman today. Mine was still leaking from a hole worn in the keel. Nathan and William centered a large boulder and rolled their canoe. I came along when they had it pulled up to the bank with Stephen and Steve helping. We showed them how to roll the water out of their boat the easy way. Soon they were on their way.

We saw ducks, lots of buzzards, an osprey and countless turtles, lots of plants blooming on the banks. I told the boys about the falls at Thrasher's cabin and that I wanted them to stop and wait for me to get into position to photograph them going over the falls. Steve was first over, and he slid on down to the eddy in front of the cabin. Stephen was next but he went a little left of where Steve went and tipped but didn't turn over. Nathan and William were next. They followed Stephen and when they tipped the canoe rolled upside down. They washed on down to the cabin where Steve and Stephen helped them gather stuff and watch as they emptied their boat the easy way.

We were half way now and ran the second of two rapids on Hatchett that was somewhat challenging. Everyone made it without incident. We stopped on a granite outcropping and ate peanut butter sandwiches that had been left over from a church function. We also had drinks, chips, pudding, deviled ham and sardines. We left from there and went the rest of the way enjoying the day. We did stop at the old camp spot about a mile above US-231. Last year the whole sandbar was washed away. This year about half of the sand was back and it was good enough to camp on. Hopefully, it will fill back in to what it was 15 years ago. We called George and told him we would be at the bridge at 3:00. We slid under the bridge exactly at 3:00 and George drove over at the same time. We drug the boats up the muddy bank and loaded them onto the trailer along with all our gear and headed back to the cabin to pack the rest of our stuff and head north.

G. Sanders, April 2005

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