Gary Wright wrote in message ...
In article ,
"Anthony Garcia" wrote:

"Mike McCrea" wrote in message
om...
Aye carumba, a 50-person float
[snip incomplete trip report]

Why would you ever post a trip report without stating which waterway the
trip was on?

Good point. I'd be willing to bet that in all of the other trip
reports I've posted here (probably 40 or 50 trip reports...maybe more)
I've remembered to indicate the river and not just the put in and take
out.

So, Potomac River, Brunswick to Mouth of Monocacy.


A quick Google search on landmarks mentioned indicates the Potomac. To
see a map in PDF format, go he
http://www.riverriders.com/CHOHmap.pdf

I have to wonder about the motivation for such a trip - I don't get it.
Personally, I go to the river to get away from all those people; finding
a 50 person float underway on one of my favorite float streams would
pretty much ruin my day.

Well, I typically lead 30 or so trips a year, ranging from small
groups of friends (3 or 4 boats) to larger long-weekend of rivers
trips to this particular outing, which is listed on 3 canoe club's
cruise schedules as the "Anything That Floats Trip".

My motivation for this trip is to lead one big everyone-welcome trip a
year. It's a good trip for novice paddlers (opportunity to meet lots
of other local boaters and see lots of boats and gear). It's a good
opportunity for me to put into practice the trip leading skills I've
acquired over the past 20 years or so of leading trips, and to gently
move some of the more experienced companions into trip leading by
giving them responsibility for leading sub-groups of paddlers.

I doubt that our 50-boat flotilla ruined anyone's day - the Potomac
thereabouts is a half mile wide, with lots of islands and route
choices, and the 36 boats on this trip were divvied up into four
smaller groups.

I accept that man is a social animal, and interacting with 49 of your
closest friends is a valid and desirable activity - but is the river the
best place to do it? Maybe it's different on a larger river near a major
urban center, but I just don't see how anyone can experience the special
and unique character of a particular river on a particular day with the
noise and distraction of a small village swarming all over it.

I dunno. Seems to me that the river - at least a wide, slow river like
this one - is the ideal place to get together with a large group of
paddlers. I guess we could have had a picnic somewhere, or held a
meeting at the local community center, but these were all paddlers, so
being on the water seemed natural. There was surprisingly little
"noise" and having the "swarm" divided up into smaller groups for most
of the day (meeting up at two locations for lunch and swim breaks)
mean that everyone did have the opportunity to appreciate the
character of the river without feeling crowded.

Snip more complaints and assumptions about what we didn't see, didn't
hear, didn't dream and noise we didn't make.

Everyone there seemed to enjoy the day and the company. I guess I got
lucky that none of the 49 people who participated spent the day
****ing and moaning. People like that can ruin a trip for everyone.