Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Day19: Jacksonville to CP6 at Fort Clinch

... as reported by DancesWithSandyBottom

SandyBottom paddled 30 miles into a 13 mph headwind today, Day19 (Wednesday), to reach Ft. Clinch in the afternoon. She was delighted to arrive before sunset. She was even more delighted to learn that RiverJohn and DrKayak were still at CP6 and were waiting for her so that they could all start Stage4 together on Thursday morning.

SandyBottom started the day paddling at 1:00 AM and had traveled 7 miles by 4:30 AM. The winds were chilling and strong. For most of the day the winds were NNW or N at about 13 mph. She said it was very difficult paddling into the headwind. In the section where the ICW cuts across the St. John River, SandyBottom said she only averaged 0.8 mph. She said she was glad she had timed that crossing so that it occured during daylight hours.

Ft. Clinch State Park is quite beautiful and its campgrounds are in high demand. Chief had made sure a campsite was available for the challengers. Wednesday evening SandyBottom enjoyed the hot showers, made good use of the laundry, organized her gear, replinished her supplies, and enjoyed downtime with folks at the campsite --film photographer Jennings Gee, RiverJohn, DrKayak and DancesWithSandyBottom.


RiverJohn at the campsite --ready to roll.

Ft. Clinch sits on the northern tip of Fernandina Beach island on the mouth of the St. Marys River.

Stage3 ends and Stage4 begins here.

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