by Trevor Clark
I started my journey down the Alabama Scenic River Trail on Wednesday, May 20. For the first two days I battled strong headwinds on the open waters of Lake Weiss. Lake paddling is my least favorite, especially when I have the wind against me.
I’m happy to report I’ve Portaged my first damn and I’m now on the Coosa River! Turns out I packed too much and I’m over my estimated gear weight. It’s primarily food and some gear essentials like stove fuel, fishing gear, plant press, etc… It took me several 0.8 mile trips to carry my gear to the base of the dam. At least I only have 4 more Portages to go!
My second camp site was less than desirable, but it was getting dark. While gathering firewood by flashlight, I was excited to find some Wood Ear Mushrooms. I was able to cook them up and include them in my coconut curry dinner. They are the sliced up mushrooms you get in sweet and sour soup and they take on the flavor of whatever they are cooked with and serve as a great immune booster. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, they are used for treating colds.
If you are interested in checking on my progress in real time then you can click the following link which my SPOT personal location beacon updates every 20 minutes or so: https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=d00555462c4529d00
Want to read more about Trevor? Check out his introduction here !
