I spent yesterday at Clear Springs doing some course scouting and putting out some checkpoints. I started the day paddling the Middle Fork of the Homochitto River and it was a struggle. The Middle Fork is normally pretty shallow requiring frequent pull sections, but I thought with the amount of rain they had up there the previous 48 hours that it would be a lot more conducive to paddling. Well it was certainly deeper in most areas, but the current was also a lot stronger. The result was a brutal mere 1 mile paddle (half mile downstream/half mile back upstream) in about a hour and a half! So I'm now re-thinking the paddle section of CACAR whick means it will be flatwater paddling (~9 miles) instead of river paddling.
After paddling/pulling, I spent about 4 hours biking/trekking though the National Forest around Clear Springs. A few observations to note for CACAR...
- The heat and the terrain make for a dangerous combination making dehydration a real possibility if you're not careful.
- I highly recommend using gaiters for the trekking sections (or high socks at the very least)
- the roads/trails are drastically different when wet
