On May 15th, my friend Joe and I went kayaking at the Aucilla River rapids, the second-largest rapids in Florida. He had never been kayaking before in his life, so it was a real sink-or-swim learning experience for him. The rapids are close to town, but driving there takes over an hour thanks to miles of winding gravel and sand roads. This particular weekend, the river had started to come down from near flood levels, and the flow was about 800cfs.


Joe about to begin his run






He made it!


The rapids are formed by the remnants of a dam that was washed out decades ago. This image captures most of the run, but it doesn't do a very good job of depicting the water's incredible force, especially under these swollen river conditions.

Here's a more suitable video depiction of the rapids: [link]


There's me. Joe and I shot the rapids using both my old kayak (seen in this picture) and also my new one (seen below), and we both decided that the old one was a lot more fun. Basically, the new one makes it too easy; the old kayak gets tossed around and really lets you feel all of the standing waves as you pass over/through them. We had to dump gallons of water out of the old kayak after each run. (You feel like you're paddling a bathtub when it's loaded down with water).


paddling the bathtub


The rapids are a popular spot for hikers and ATVers. Several people stopped to watch the "crazy kayakers" run the rapids. One of them took this picture.


me in the new boat. like a hot knife through butter.

Here's a video of Joe running the rapids: [link]


As we were driving home along the sand roads, we caught up with and followed a group of redneck ATVers. They had offered us food and beer at the rapids and left about 10 minutes before we did. On the way out, a couple of them jumped off their ATVs and ran into the brush; moments later they returned with a very young deer.





Joe and I had a great time, so the following weekend we invited a number of other people to go back with us. In the end, almost everyone bailed except for 2 Chinese grad students, so the 4 of us loaded up the boats, filled a cooler with food and drinks, and headed back to the rapids. Here is a video I created using shots of everyone running the rapids.

[The Video]

_________________________________________

how far did you guys go?

_________________________________________

not far. You can drive to the rapids, and there's a trail up around the rapids. So... You ride down, empty the boat, drag the boat up the trail, put into the water, and then ride it again.

_________________________________________