An Adventure!

And so it begins ...

Shopping for camping provisions

Cheese filled hotdogs!

Cheese!

Baby fowlers toads hopping on the front lawn

(And in the kitchen!)

Too many baloney sandwiches

(And what's meat baloney anyway?)

Beer!

(Umm ... Beer!)

Anxious music

Alarm going off way too early ... no where near enough sleep

Coffee!

(And eggs, sausage, hash browns.)

How much gear can we fit in a canoe anyways?

(A lot more than we had.)

((And note the plastic bags around our gear.))

(((That's foreshadowing!)))

How much food will we need?

(A lot less than we had.)

((Too many baloney sandwiches.))

Off to get ice ... and more coffee.

Hmm ... this thing is kinda tippy.

How do you steer this thing?

(And why isn't anybody else having difficulty?)

((And why are we always last?))

Snake!

Success, we made it the lunch spot!
(Umm ... baloney sandwiches)

Where we saw ...

Baby Kingbirds!

Katie, Princess of the Pines and her Frog Prince

Off again

No one but us in the middle of the Pines
(No sight or sound of other humans.)
((Are we lost? Or just way behind?))
(((Did I mention we were always last?)))

"I am paddling, can't you see?"

Rapids! Weeeeeeee!

Lost? Where'd everybody go?

(Why are we so slow?)

((And why isn't my phone working?))

Hey! My Sunglasses!

A juicy pickle, shared.

I'm Going In!

(Good thing for those plastic bags!)

Shoe grabbing mud.

My camera can't swim.

(RIP Canon 300D 2003 - 2010)

((The memory card could!))

Gorgeous dragonflies
(I wish I had taught my camera to swim.)
:-(

Eight hours and we've traveled five miles!
(And made it to the campsite.)
((What? No showers?))
(((But delicious cold drinking water.)))

Sitting in the river relaxing our tired bones.

Lots of smiles

Sand in inappropriate places.
(How'd that get there?)
((And no showers.))

Nighthawk!
Ovenbirds displaying!
(Are you sure this is the Pine Barrens? There's way too many birds.)

Banjo music and tall tales around the campfire
(And physics discussions)
But no poetry.
:-(

"HEY JERSEY DEVIL, IS THAT YOU?"

Whip-poor-will bedtime serenade.
(And who knew sand could be so hard?)

Coffee!
(But only one mug)

Cheese dogs for breakfast!

Flies!

Bog Asphodel!
(And lots of mud!)

How DO you steer this thing?
(Panic and pirouettes Sunday morning)

Orchids all along the river!

Hey, we're getting good at this!
(Most of the time anyway)
((Sorry about that branch))

"You can't talk and steer at the same time!"

First to Constable Bridge!
(Who's the slowpokes now?)

#@!$!% Snags!
(And *#$@ sandbars)

Rope swing!
(Water, cool and refreshing)
(("No it's cold!"))

Pleasant Mills -- takeout
(We survived!)
((Two days to go ten miles?))

Loud van ride back
("What?")

Goodbyes

Blueberries!

More coffee

Looking at trip photos
(While enjoying a very cold beer!)

Shower!
(My feet are still dirty!)

All this adds up to a wonderful overnight canoe trip down the
Mullica river in the New Jersey Pine Barrens with my bestest birding buddy.

(But next time it's kayaks!)

*****

Thanks to Russell Juelg of the Pinelands Preservation Alliance
for leading the trip. And to our companions for making it such a fun one.