Monday, August 14, 2017

My Paddle to the Sea

John Lane, My Paddle to the Sea: Eleven Days on the River of the Carolinas (Athens, GA: University of Georgia, 2011), 208 pages, no photos, one map.



Having grown up paddling what I considered the rivers of the Carolinas (the Cape Fear and Yadkin/Pee Dee watersheds), I have wanted for some time to take this trip (on paper) with John Lane down the Broad, Conagree and Santee Rivers.  This basin does drain both of the Carolinas, but only a part of the western part of the state.  When I lived in Hickory NC in the mid-80s, I had paddled a couple of rivers that flowed into the Santee basin through the Catawba River. Lane limits his trip to the lessor of the Carolinas (South Carolina) as he stars out on Larson Fork, a creek that flows by the back of his property in Spartanburg, and follows it downriver to the sea.  But he doesn’t begin with this trip, but with a fateful family vacation three months earlier in Costa Rica, where they paddled Whitewater Rivers.  It had been raining and on their last day, there were several fatalities.  Thankfully, the Lane family all survived, but it was a horrifying experience. 

Lane is not the first to paddle this river, nor even the first to write about it.  In his possession, he carried the writings of others who have paddled the river, including a group of students from the college where he teaches (Wofford College), who’d paddled the river in the late 60s.  Although today, much of the river goes unnoticed, in the 18th and 19th centuries, before the railroad, water was the easiest way to travel up country.

Lane is accompanied by two friends.  Venable, a lawyer from South Carolina who found a new and agreeable life in Alaska joins him for the first week.  He a large burly dude that looks like a bit like a John Brown and John Muir mix (139).  Although he sympathizes to environmental causes, he never joined the Sierra Club because he disliked their cup (73).  The man must have spent his time hiking in well watered locations and not had to scoop water from streams or springs that’s only an inch or so deep.  Lane and Venerable paddle through the upper part of the river.  Most of their days are rainy, but they make the best of it as they share stories of their lives and experiences outdoors.  At Lake Marion, Venable heads off to do some turkey hunting before heading back to Alaska.  Steve, a slender but strong paddler, joins Lane as they paddle through coastal plain on the way to the sea. 

The two sections of the river are very different.  The upper part of the river is fast as the water rush off the mountains and foothills.  Along the way, they pass places of history, where water powered industry.  Some of these dams are still present and present challenges for them as they canoe downriver.  This section of the river drains a large amount of the upcountry and even parts of Western North Carolina (through the Warteree/Catawba River system that joins the Congaree to form the Santee. Lane mixes into his narrative history from the region.  This area saw Revolutionary War battles.  In the early 18th Century, they attempted to tame the river for transportation and power.  The river proved especially difficult for transportation and most of the canals were soon abandoned.   However, “the rivers, like the Scots-Irish who settled the upcountry, had proved stubborn and resistant to authority” (117).

In addition to historical insights, Lane shares stories of authors who lived along the river.   Two of the more prominent ones are Julia Peterkin and Archibald Ruthledge.  I’ve not read Peterkin (but she’s now on my list) but I have found the writings of Ruthledge to be soulful.  Although I have a problem with his paternalistic views of African-Americans (but then he was writing in the 30s and 40s), I am moved by the way he describes the land and appreciates the wilderness of the Santee River.  Lane also offers a bit of advice on the art of canoeing and canoe-camping, including a nice description of the “J-Stroke” which the paddler in the stern uses to keep the canoe straight.

The book ends, unsurprisingly, at the sea!  Reading My Paddle to the Seas is an easy and enjoyable float without ever getting muddy or having a sore back from a day of paddling.

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It would probably be a toss-up as to whether I've written more about rivers or trains...  Here are are the books I've reviewed in this blog that deal with flowing water (and I may have missed some):  

The River Home (Waccamaw River)
The River of Doubt (Rio Roosevelt)
Drifting into Darin  (Altamaha River)
The Mekong  (Mekong River)
Goodbye to a River (Brazos River)
My Green Manifesto (Charles River)
Indochina Chronicles (Mekong River)
Rock Me on the Water (Green River)
River Time (Essay on World's Rivers)
The Founding Fish (about Shad and East Coast Rivers)
Trembling Earth (Okefenokee Swamp)
The Cape Fear (Cape Fear River)
Old Man River  (Mississippi)
Porcher's Creek (A coastal creek in SC)
Down the Wild Cape Fear  (Cape Fear River)
Water and Sky (Athabasca & Kazan Rivers, Canada)

22 comments:

  1. Done many river paddles/ fishings in my lil yellow banana boat, and 1 ocean paddle in my klepper kayak ... The ocean trip off the west coast Vancouver Island was a one time scary experience ... cuz there are ... killer whales all around ... I have never been that scared in my life being out there with those creatures, friend Sage, as I was very much aware that I was in their territory and was definitely ... considered being potential food ... ya ... Love, cat.

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    1. I have paddled in the ocean in a kayak--actually do it often--but we don't have whales (but I have seen 100s of jellyfish and have thought, I better not roll this boat!)

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  2. Lol, this post reminded me of the children's book, Paddle to the Sea by Holling.

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  3. My Dad and Uncle made many trips to fish Santee Cooper, this reminded me of their fishing trips there.

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  4. Sounds like an interesting book. I love rivers too, though tend to walk alongside them rather than paddle them

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  5. I've never paddled a river or any other body of water for that matter, but I do enjoy being near the water. Sounds like an interesting book.

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  6. You can't go wrong reading about river travels in my opinion and I've read a number of those on your list. I may have to add this one to the pile as well.

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  7. I'd like to travel down river on a kayak, but I'm not a camper. So I'd have to settle for day trips, or just read about it!

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  8. It must be nice to travel with a book that tells of someone having gone there before. Interesting way of doing it

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  9. I checked out the books you've reviewed about rivers. The two I've been on are the Mekong and the Green. I've made notes to buy the books you've reviewed, especially the one about the history of the French in Laos. Having lived there for a time, I'm always eager to read about it. Glad you linked to those past posts.

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    1. The Mekong is a good book, but a little dated. I haven't paddled that river, but I did boat down it from Cambodia to Vietnam... You should write about your Laos experiences

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  10. Seems as though this book was written specifically for you.
    Gosh, I did a bit of water sport in Costa Rica years ago. But I'm far too cowardly to attempt white water rafting beyond a guided beginner's, low level one. It's sad and scary to think about lost lives.

    Thank you for the thoughtful review.
    Be well, Sage.

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  11. I've not paddled anywhere other than our pond, and I'm not sure a single paddle in a john boat counts! I spent my childhood on rivers and lakes in fast boats (ski boats) and it pretty much cured me of wanting to continue that as an adult.

    Now you need to link up all your train posts so I can share that info with my son-in-law.

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    1. These are only my book reviews--it would be a long list to cover all the rivers I've paddled (but I am doing more sailing now I'm on the coast)

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  12. I haven't read it but it sounds like a good book.

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  13. Another thorough and interesting review, Sage. You read so many excellent books and make me what to challenge myself more in my reading. Have a good one, my friend!

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  14. For a moment I thought this might be your book, because it sure could be, as you are the waterboy with his canoe like no other! Very interesting read again, and like always you pull us right in!

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  15. I'm guessing most, if not all, of those books are non-fiction, and the book you have reviewed definitely goes on my list. I would also highly recommend "A River Runs Through It," keeping with the river theme, but fiction, and about fishing rather than paddling. It's in my all time top 5 and one of the few books around that was done justice (in my opinion) by the movie.

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  16. I'm going to see if I can find this book. Thanks for the review.

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  17. This does sound a good book, thanks for sharing your thoughts about it.

    All the best Jan

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