Hikin' the river...

Last weekend I took two of my nephews for a hike along the James River. Click on the pic for a larger shot, and you can see the two little imps sittin' on a rock.
This shot is downstream about a mile from my fishing hole where we started. The water is a bit high on this day. During the summer a lot of what you see in this photo is easily traversed without getting in water above your knee.

In the summer months, the water is lower, warm and clear, and upstream there are areas that you can wade into above the waist. That's where I like to hang out. The fishing is good, the current not too strong, and the osprey dive bomb for fish.

Generally though most of the river is pretty rapid and strong, and each year the river claims it's share of people. That means if I can't jump from one rock to the other and make that same jump in reverse, I ain't goin' any further. There's a lot of holes and rocks and timber below that current and if you get pinned you're done. Having spent a couple of decades in the river, I have routes ingrained in my head that I stick too. These routes are sometimes altered if we have a severe flood.

I love the river, it's one of the reasons I stay in this city.

OWL inspired this post, thanks sista! ,