George River Solo 2018
Day 8
Start Time: 7/22/2018 1:50 PM
Duration: 3:25
Distance / Total (km): 13.2 / 98.9
I woke up at 8:30 after a solid sleep, needed another 90 minutes before I was actually off the ground as I’m feeling a bit worn out. The sky is completely overcast with a warm breeze from the southeast. Made tea & oatmeal, got a weather update and slowly organized for the day. I pushed off at 1:50, paddled east to the tip of the island and turned north towards the highest point of land in the area, a “mountain” towering 500 feet above the water and clearly obvious even though it was 16km away. I was facing an open crossing of more than 9km to reach a pair of large islands. I am thinking, don’t worry about the islands, there will not be a repeat of yesterday’s navigation error, just keep aiming for the mountain and you cannot go wrong!
The paddling is easy; there are some light waves from the east but hardly any actual wind. I took a short break about halfway, the odd thing is that now I cannot see any sign of the mountain, it has become hidden behind the pair of islands even though they themselves appear to be fairly low, I quickly check with the GPS to make sure I’m heading in the right direction and then resume paddling. 2 ¼ hours to complete the 9km crossing, I felt pretty good about that, stopped for a snack, a smoke and to plan the rest of the day.
It was about 9km to the next marked camp; I could reach it by 7:00, I paddled into the channel between the two islands at which point the mountain came back into view about 5km distant, it looked very forbidding with a dark band of storm cloud hovering above its peak. I could not immediately tell which direction the storm was moving from, it soon became apparent it was moving in my direction, I could now heard distant thunder and a then a bolt of lightning told me to seek cover. I abandoned the idea of paddling for another two hours, I crossed to the east side of the channel and found a good spot, driftwood at the water’s edge and a nice flat area of moss and gravel just behind. I knew I had to move fast, the storm was fast approaching. I got the Pod up, tossed my gear inside and tried to secure things as best I could just as the wind and thunder arrived. I was somewhat sheltered from the worst of the wind, the rain arrived in waves, I was hanging on to the POD to prevent liftoff, the channel I paddled across which had been completely calm was now a seething series of breaking waves. it was quite a sight. The rain intensified, the lightning strikes came closer and the thunder cracks were deafening. For 45 minutes I held on while marvelling at the power of the storm and thankful I had not encountered it in the middle of that open crossing.
The rain slowed to a light drizzle, the wind died, in another 10 – 15 minutes the sky to the north brightened and I could get changed into my camp clothes and relax. I made a bag of Pad Thai (Backpackers Pantry), always a reliable meal, very filling. The forecast calls for more rain overnight, I hope it’s only that and no big storm to go with it.
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