[Paddlewise] Fw: Paddling Chicagof

> ----- Original Message ----- as a sea
> > kayaker, I have this vision of piling up driftwood to stay out of the
soup
> > while trying to get a night's sleep.
> >
> > Douglas Montgomery
> > San Francisco
> Arthur Hebert and I have had to do just that when paddling the Louisiana
> coast several years back. (We just wished there were driftwood available.)
> The fresh water swamps hereabout can become impassable in late
> summer, -completely clogged with a beautifully flowering, floating water
> hyacinth, (Eichhornia crassipes) that folks locally call "lilies". The
story
> is that lilies were brought as ornamentals by a South American country to
a
> world's fair or similar exposition and the flowers given away. Thus
> imported, and having no local consumers they have spread widely and can
> render paddling impossible.
> Lilies are flushed out into the coastal bays when the fresh waters rise
and
> vast mats float alongside the marsh.  Their hollow bulbous (floating)
bases
> can be dragged up into the marsh and piled to give a few inches of
elevation
> above the fetid muck.  It ain't classy camping but it permits one to be
> there.
> I expect that paddling the Louisiana coast may help when we find ourselves
> in similar situations along the coast of Campeche on the southern gulf.
> Larry Koenig
> www.lacostadelgolfo.com
>

***************************************************************************
PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed
here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire
responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author.
Submissions:     PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net
Subscriptions:   PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net
Website:         http://www.paddlewise.net/
***************************************************************************