The Seven Dwarfs paddle Staircase, sans the Woman in White.
Sneezy, Bashful, Sleepy, Happy, Grumpy, Doc, led by Dopey (the beardless bald one), traversed the last leg of the mighty Shenandoah on an overcast, occasionally rainy, Thursday. The level was 3.83
Grumpy and Bashful negotiated with Harper’s Ferry Adventure Center to park three wagons at the takeout with hay for the horses. The other wagons headed to the put-in at Millville or remained in the main parking lot with their own pile of hay.
Dopey decided today was a good day to take the jungle route, aka, the southern swing around Bulls Falls and Tail, as chute three was blocked with wood. The route was beautifully adorned with water fowl and fresh, spring-laden foliage. Impressive wood piles adorned river bends and islands. A very pleasant, peaceful change of venue.
The shortened seven continued their adventure on the Northwest passage along the Westphalian shore, a minuscule serpentine passage more interesting than the main flat body of the ‘doah.
Upon exiting the snakey side trip, Grumpy delighted the other diminutive half dozen by alerting them to a Baltimore Oriole that flew above his downturned visage to Westphalia, and the back again above Bashful and Sleepy to Valhalla. Such a rare sighting to some!
After traversing back to the Valhalla banks, the small seven played in the now tumultuous water. Dopey briefly looked to the river bottom for pies. Doc zoomed and Bashful surfed his viking craft. Grumpy kept his paddling to the perfect minimum, and Sleepy led the way down. Sneezy, on his first ‘doah trip in a kayak, motored around carefully upright.
Dopey and Doc both managed to catch the ‘Doc’ eddy. Grumpy did a perfect attain move just above the bridge. Happy side surfed on the last feature below bikini beach and also briefly examined the river bottom for mushrooms. Sleepy slid expertly around features, a low slung, crafty paddler.
Lunch was had at Bikini beach, which is in serious need of a makeover after the last storm.
The rollercoaster playground was a confused mishmash of boils, waves and currents. Whitehorse was semi-washed out, but still playfully willing to smack a hapless paddler into the drink.
That pretty much sums up the day. The slight seven just enjoyed the river and each other, and rejoined their wagons and horses for their rides home. A bonus feature was meeting up with Chad the Giant and his wife at the takeout. He’d paddled with several of the munchkins the week before upon his silver surfer.
Another great day on the river.
Dopey
The seven are aka Mark B, Larry L, Gary S, Bruce C, Jonathan A, Sergey G, and yours truly. Have fun matching names to Disney characters