Daybreak on the Perdido

The moon made its waning appearance overnight.

Though waning, it was still bright enough to clearly illuminate the reflective white sandbar that we made our twenty-four home.

The words, as they often do, returned to hauntingly ring in my head.

“For brick and mortar breed filth and crime,

With a pulse of evil that throbs and beats;

And men are withered before their prime

By the curse paved in with lanes and streets.

And lungs are poisoned and shoulders bowed,

In the smothering reek of mill and mine;

And death stalks in on the struggling crowd –

But he shuns the shadow of the oak and pine.”

-        George W. Sears (Nessmuk), Woodcraft and Camping

Out here where everything reminds me of how insignificant I am in the great scheme of manmade things and agendas ... I can be myself with nothing to diminish who I am.

I first met the Perdido back in the late 70’s when large tracts of the land on this side of the river were owned by one of the paper companies.

That company closed down and something to the tune of 17,000 acres is now held by the State and used as a Wildlife Management Area. Blocks of it have been purchased by Forever Wild. Forever Wild land is just what the name implies. The hand of man, for perpetuity, ceases to interfere with the order of nature. The native habitat, and the wildlife supported by it, will have a chance to recover for future generations to see and enjoy. https://www.alabamaforeverwild.com/   

It is a smidge less than a three-mile drive from the paved highway to where Shirli dropped us off. The hike in from there is a short one. Maybe a quarter of a mile on an eroded and closed woods road. There was one spot in the eroded road where we had to work our way around a deep hole of water then walk through near ankle deep water.

It is wild woods … beautiful woods … along the tannin stained Perdido with its average water temperature that ranges between 53 and 56 degrees. 

A sandbar on the Perdido is about as remote as one can get in this county without trespassing on private property.

The remoteness of a sandbar on the Perdido tends to create the illusion that one is far deeper in the wilderness than they actually are. The illusion will likely unsettle pavement and concrete pounders. It is, however, a pleasant illusion for a woods wanderer with a lust for wandering the woods.

There were a few signs that others use the sandbar but not nearly what I expected to see. We saw only one other person during our stay … a lone kayaker making his way down the river. https://www.alabamacanoetrails.com/perdido  

The chilly water of the Perdido creates an interesting micro-environment.

This micro-environment isn’t particularly noticeable during the day. It makes itself known at night. It cools down significantly at night along the banks of the Perdido. The micro-environment, where the river cooled air meets the warmer surrounding air, generates an unavoidable heavy saturating dew. Plan for that. Take along an extra layer of warmth in the cooler season. A warm blanket during the summer is advisable.

A lot has changed since the day when Nessmuk wandered the Northwoods.

The spaces for wandering the woods freely have greatly diminished. 

Yet, despite the losses, there are still pockets where we can escape the grips of modern times. There are still spaces where we can wander, relax, recover, and experience at least the illusion of something that existed long before our time.

I took along my camera and a GoPro to capture the trip. There is a link below to the Perdido River Overnight video on my David Kralik Outdoors YouTube channel.

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Enjoy the adventure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw8FE63gTr0