Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. James 4-14
When we were returning the Keel boat to St. Charles we encountered some early morning fog in Herman, Mo as shown in this photo from August, 2005. Five years later in August, 2010 we were going to get to experience some of this fog again.
When I landed in Herman the fog was beginning to form on the river. It was my plan to take a quick nap here in Herman so I wouldn't hit the "wall" as I did a few days ago. Since it was going to be a quick nap I didn't want to put up the tent so I just lay down on a picnic table with my light sleeping bag under the shelter there at Riverfront Park in Herman. My plan was to head back out to the river in about an hour.
It was after 3:30 when I woke up cold, hungry and confused. Even if it was August the night was really cool and it was the cold that woke me up. My one hour nap had been stretched into 2 1/2 hours. I picked up my bed and headed back to my canoe, the boy scouts were selling coffee at the checkpoint but breakfast wasn't going to be ready for another hour so I gulped down a cup of coffee and prepared to proceed on. The person manning the checkpoint said the fog was going to get heavy at daybreak so I decided to get in as much distance as I could before then.
When we were returning the Keel boat to St. Charles we encountered some early morning fog in Herman, Mo as shown in this photo from August, 2005. Five years later in August, 2010 we were going to get to experience some of this fog again.
When I landed in Herman the fog was beginning to form on the river. It was my plan to take a quick nap here in Herman so I wouldn't hit the "wall" as I did a few days ago. Since it was going to be a quick nap I didn't want to put up the tent so I just lay down on a picnic table with my light sleeping bag under the shelter there at Riverfront Park in Herman. My plan was to head back out to the river in about an hour.
It was after 3:30 when I woke up cold, hungry and confused. Even if it was August the night was really cool and it was the cold that woke me up. My one hour nap had been stretched into 2 1/2 hours. I picked up my bed and headed back to my canoe, the boy scouts were selling coffee at the checkpoint but breakfast wasn't going to be ready for another hour so I gulped down a cup of coffee and prepared to proceed on. The person manning the checkpoint said the fog was going to get heavy at daybreak so I decided to get in as much distance as I could before then.
The fog was settled in but it looked like there might be 100 yards or so of visibility. One other canoe was preparing to depart so we launched together to aid each other if the fog would get thicker. Once back on the river we encountered another canoe and the three of us headed downriver. Once we were away from the street lights of Herman the fog really closed in around us and that 100 yards of visibility turned into 20 feet of visibility or less.
Within a mile our three canoes were separated and I never did see them again. I don't know if they fell behind, went ahead or simply moved over in the channel. With the heavy fog it seemed my canoe we sitting still. I'm not one that minds being alone but at this point I was more alone than I wanted to be. I knew there was debris, wing dikes and other boats out on the river but being unable to see them sure raised the tension level.
I determined to land the canoe and wait out the fog and began paddling very gently in the direction of the river bank. When I was within a few feet I could make out some trees hanging out over the water and headed to them. I grabbed an overhanging branch and eased my canoe up to the bank.
Once I had my canoe tied up I got out and gathered up some driftwood and built a fire. With cool damp air the fire felt good and I thought it might be a beacon for some others that might be out in the fog. With sunrise still more than a hour away I pulled up a rock next to the fire and waited for the fog to lift.
When the sun came up I was totally amazed. It seemed to me the sun was rising in the west. Instead of landing on the bank of the river I had actually landed on a island and my internal compass was turned around 180 degrees. As the sun began to warm things up I could make out a canoe going by once in a while out on the river as they moved thru the fog. I was going to stay put until visibility opened up because I didn't want to encounter any unexpected objects out on the river.
Once the fog lifted I loaded up and headed downriver again. I must have lost about 4 hours but I did get in another hour of sleep so it wasn't a total loss. Once I got out into the current visibility was much better and it improved by the minute as the sun burned the moisture out of the air.
Last year we encountered some of the worst winds below Herman and this year the winds were still there. Perhaps not a bad as last year but being solo I didn't have the power that Chad and I had last year so I think I must have struggled as much as I did last year.
A few miles above Washington I could see a huge barge that actually looked like a factory building or something coming upriver very slowly. I knew this beast would be putting out a huge wake so I started looking for a landing spot to wait him out.
