The Mississippi River is settling down into the low water levels that are typical in late summer and fall. This weekend it's below 5 feet on the Memphis gauge, and unless there's some appreciable rainfall in the Midwest I expect it'll be dropping below zero in the next few weeks.
It's also hot here, not exactly a surprise in the month of August. But the humidity has been down a bit, making the heat more bearable. Even though we've had Fahrenheit highs in the high 90s, it hasn't been particularly unpleasant outside.
Since returning from the Columbia River Gorge I've been keeping an eye out for surf opportunities here on the Memphis riverfront while the weather is still warm and getting soaking wet isn't a big deal. When I got down there yesterday morning there was no barge traffic in sight and, feeling sore in my lats and abdominals from the new strength routine I'd started Friday, I figured I would just do a steady 80-minute paddle. But then, shortly after I got out onto the Mississippi, an upstream-bound rig appeared down near Presidents Island. I was in the mood to surf and I paddled down to meet it. While the waves weren't smooth and consistent like in the Columbia Gorge, I did find a few to ride, and I captured it on video:
Of course, even on the best waves surfing is a lot of work, and by the time I was done surfing yesterday I found myself hot and exhausted and facing a long paddle upriver to get back to the harbor. I took a deep breath and paced myself the best I could. I took several breaks to cool off in the water as the sun beat down. I never doubted I would make it back, but it was a slow, not very pleasant journey. Once I was finally back on the dock I relished some swigs of cold water from my insulated water bottle and a nice bath under the hose.
I figured I'd spend today recovering from yesterday's exertion, but when I reached the mouth of the harbor there were two barge rigs--one going upriver, one down--passing by. I couldn't resist the urge to surf a little more. Of course, this time the mouth of the harbor was right there and I could head in as soon as I started getting tired.
The waves today were a little bit better than yesterday's and I was sorry I didn't have the Go Pro camera with me. I've mentioned before that I'm not really an avid user of my Go Pro, and that's partly because I'm just not a big tech nut, but there's a deeper reason as well: one of the biggest misconceptions I'm constantly fighting here in the Memphis community is that I must be some kind of daredevil to go paddle out on the Mississippi River, and I think the presence of a camera on my boat strengthens that impression because it looks like I'm trying to glorify my exploits in a "hold my beer and watch this" sort of way. I'm an athlete, not a daredevil, and I care about safety as much as anybody you'll ever meet on the river. I believe that a skilled paddler is generally a safe paddler, and I've spent decades trying to raise my skill level as high as I can.
So... I'm glad I got a bit of surfing footage yesterday because I'd been wanting to capture some to share with the readers of this blog. But I'm not going to keep taking my camera out there hoping to find the ultimate set of waves.
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