Saturday on the Stream

March 29, 2025
I would not have guessed that a college honors class would consist of a field trip to canoe with our professor, but I enjoyed every moment this past Saturday. Upon arriving to the canoe launch site, Jenna and I buckled up our life jackets, and traveled upstream on our canoe. Jenna was at the stern of the canoe where her main role was steering. I was at the bow where I strongly paddled to keep us moving. Looking to our left, I saw 2 eyes peered above the water glaring at me. Although we were not expecting to see alligators due to the cloudy weather, I had spotted our first one. At first scared, I reminded myself that these creatures are more afraid of us than we are of them. As we paddled a bit further upstream, Chris pointed out the rustling of the bushes on our right, and he suspected they were pigs. Around 30 seconds later, I spot 2 pigs running in the brush. I vaguely heard them "oink" and then they were back in the saturated brush. At this point in the paddle, I was getting tired of going upstream, and could not wait to turn around allowing our canoe to drift with the current. Shortly after our turn around, Jenna and I ran into a rock slightly hidden underwater. Our canoe was now stuck. While everyone was paddling forward, we were rocking back and forth trying to tip off the rock. For a split second, I thought our canoe was about to capsize, but at that moment, it quickly slipped off the rock and we were on our way downstream. Because I did not have to paddle as much when we were headed downstream, I was able to take more time to enjoy the view around me and spot other wildlife. I saw numerous turtles that were basking in the now sunny skies. The turtles dramatically ranged in size, and I thought they were quite cute. A few minutes into heading downstream, Jenna ran us into a tree, and we could not stop laughing. Eventually, we pushed our way out from all the branches and followed our group. Near the end of the paddle, we encountered a small alligator that was hanging out by the shoreline. Due to our amateur canoeing skills, we almost ran into the alligator as well, but it noticed us and moved away. This was a great way to spend a Saturday morning, and I am grateful Dr. Williams invited us to the nature center to canoe!



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