Another Rainy Day

I had to work Wednesday and Thursday so I wasn't able to get in the water on those days. While I was at work Thursday night thinking about getting in the water early Friday morning, my boss came to me and said I would be working late. 16 hours I ended up working. Overnight. When I finally got home I was exhausted and afraid I wouldn't make it to the river. I tried to sleep but it wasn't working out very well. So I did the only thing I know to do when I'm so tired I can't think straight...I went kayaking. And boy am I glad I did. Rain pushed me out of the water, but before that, I got a few pretty good pictures of our scenic river. I didn't see much as far as animals go, but I was able to get some more New Castle 40s out of the water.

Close Call

I really feel bad for whoever cleans this guys underwear. This is a port-a-potty in the parking lot at the park. I had to poo really bad, but at the sight of this, my butt shut so tightly I burped. No need to poo anymore, let's go kayaking. By the way, to who ever did this, thanks for not wasting any TP cleaning it up. (Note: Notice the near full roll of shit tickets on the toilet.)



A Nice Scenic View
In this photo you can see The Woolen Mills dam to the left of the water tower. The dam was used to provide power for the Woolen Mills, a multi-industrial facility that cut wood, ground flour and most notably, made fabric for Confederate soldiers uniforms. There are plans to breach the dam. More on that later. The water tower is in the area of the mill, not sure if it is part of the mill or not, but probably is. That bare spot on the hill directly above the river is Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson(Charlottesville is in love with this guy. If a city could masturbate, Jefferson is who C-ville would think of and don't even think about calling him TJ).



An excellent tree to jump from

Many area residents have discovered this tree in Riverview Park. It is the best platform for jumping I have seen on the river. Be careful though, this is a river and river bottoms are always changing. I recommend getting in the water and checking it for obstacles before jumping!






The river as a playground
This is between Riverview Park and Free Bridge (Rt250 at Pantops). A nice little beach lines both banks in this area just downstream from a lazy bend and upstream from faster moving shallow water that qualifies as whitewater on really good days. There is a trash can on this beach, but some people are just too lazy to put their stuff in it. An unfortunate aspect of this perfect beach is the large amounts of litter (mostly beer paraphernalia) despite the extremely convenient location of the trash can. The water is in good shape and few people cross the river to the even better beach on the opposite bank. There you will find litter free sand and lots of room to spread out on. No trash can on the left bank though. To get to this area, start in Riverview Park and trek along the trail from the back of the parking lot(as opposed to the trail that follows the river through the playground, both will get you there, but the back way is faster). Go to the left at the junction where the two trails from the park meet. Another 1/4 to no more than 1/2 a mile the beach will be on your right. If you get to a foot bridge crossing a riffle, you have gone too far.


Strange Bubbles
I noticed these bubbles forming in the wake from my kayak and paddle. They were very strange and I have to admit that I immediately thought, "Oh my God! Foam!" A mysterious foam has been plaguing the James River lately. With that on most people's minds in this area, including mine, I got freaked out when I saw this. It was just silt and pollen on the surface though. I don't think we have any foam epidemics in our beloved Rivannna.



Really scary bubbles
These bubbles freaked me out. Even after closer examination, I was still a little freaked by this. My camera isn't very good on detail, but the white stuff is bubbles caught by the vegetation. The water here was not moving so it was fairly easy for me to get close and take some pictures without disturbing it. You can't see it in the photo, but there are tiny black "pills" stuck in the viscous type sheen that the bubbles are stuck to. The "pills" are in the water and appear to be eggs. Being no biologist, I have no idea what it is. I hope it's not some kind of shit.



River Filter
In my last post I briefly mentioned fallen trees acting as fish habitats and filters for the river. Both are good, and even the stuff that is filtered can be beneficial to the fish. Click on the above picture and you can see how sediment and sticks have been trapped by this tree. Some of the stuff in sediment is very tasty to a fish. Then comes a human. Dopey, dumb humans. If you look closely after clicking on the picture to view it larger, you will see trash that has been filtered by this little habitat. This poses a great threat to all marine animals. Remember hearing how sea turtles get caught in those plastic things that hold soda bottles together? This is how it happens. There are several soda bottles in this tree along with little bits of trash that can be mistaken as food by a fish or turtle. Would you eat plastic or foil wrappers from a candybar? No, because it can't be good for you, right? It's not good for little animals, either. This stuff gets caught in their digestive system or hangs around a body part. Depending on how stuck they are in your garbage, an animal may not be able to swim properly and drown or open its mouth to eat. An unfortunate thing I have noticed in the Rivanna is large quantities of trash.


A body for Rush
I once heard Rush Limbaugh tell a caller from Virginia that if factories and pollution in rivers are killing fish, where are the bodies? Here's a body for you Rushy. I don't have any idea how this fish died, but isn't it strange a dead animal is not being eaten by anything? Rush went on to say that fish aren't being killed by pollution from things like mercury because nobody had ever seen hordes of dead fish lining the banks of the river. The only evidence scientists had was the lack of fish in an area around a factory. In Rush's words, the fish realized something was wrong with the water and moved upstream, they didn't die. This is what he said to a lady from Virginia who was unsure as to believe scientists on the issue of pollution or not. She bought it. You idiot. He also said man cannot destroy what God has created. One of his metaphor's to this analogy was that we as humans, cannot move mountains. I guess Rush Limbaugh has never been to West Virginia.


Auhhgggg!! More Rain!
I wasn't going to outrun it, so before hiding the camera under my PFD, I snapped this photo of the rain running at me from up river. I had a good day on the river. I was tired, but I got to think a lot and I had the chance to see a few things nobody else saw. Depending on the weather today, I am hoping to go to a new spot and do some exploring. I promise the next post will be more fun and not so crabby.


Until next time,


Fair winds and following seas.