OK, so i got to help chaperone a youth group canoe trip Saturday, after being sick (as in, couldn't keep food down) Friday. Needless to say, i was a bit hesitant, but i didn't want to miss out on quality time with the kids. And i definitely got plenty of quality time, yes, indeedy.

The Bear Creek Canoe Run (BCCR henceforth) is divided into 3 sections, the highest section being level 2-3 rapids, the lower two sections being level 1 (read:really calm water, easy to keep from tipping a boat, unless you're stupid or careless, or a snake falls infrom a tree branch or something).

We took the second section, approx. 8 miles (c. 12 km?), estimated time 4 hours. A nice little trip, with occasional tiny rapids letting us rest from rowing, and the rain keeping us soaked but cool.

Well, as young children will sometimes do, the youngest canoe team in our group (Oh, yeah, it's 2 people per canoe) were in some kind of race to be the first ones done, we were behind them, then the rest of the group (5 more canoes, 2 kayaks) was keeping mostly together. My main goal was to keep those front kids in sight, so they wouldn't go too far.

But they did. When my partner and i got to the take-out spot (which was NOT really well-marked for first timers like our young kids), i just kept going because i didn't want to lose that first canoe down river. When we finally caught them, i told them i was pretty sure we just missed the take-out, because we were past the third bridge, which was the "you've gone too far" marker given us before we put out.

So, instead of 8 miles in 4 hours, we got to do 15 miles (c. 23 km?) in 7 hours, and that section past the third bridge was dead water (translation: whole lotsa paddling).

At one spot, a tree lay all the way across the water, with barely room for a single canoe to pass on one side. Another spot, a tree branch broke and fell behind us, scaring my partner. But i'm pretty sure the inch-long green spider on her arm scared her more (our boat came