Getting to be an old curmudgeon


I seldom paddle on the gigantic lake close to where I live anymore, although I did quite a lot in years past.
The number of off shore racing boats, smaller high powered boats, pontoon boats, motorized jon boats, and jet skis has grown dramatically over the past 10 years.
Now I feel like I’m risking my personal safety by attempting to paddle on the lake in a canoe.
The vast majority of the people using the aforementioned craft are drunk, or have been drinking or doping. they’re going too fast, and many of them attempt to pass by you as close as possible (on purpose & at high speed) with the goal of capsizing you. They have never accomplished that, but multiple attempts by multiple boats or jet skies gets to be a huge hassle & puts your personal safety at risk. More that a few of their attempts almost resulted in them hitting my boat. I gave up paddling on the lake closest to me; way too much hassle, and way too risky. Too many fools, drunks & dopers out there. One canoe I purchased was from a lake home owner after he had been capsized on purpose and on numerous occasions by power boaters. He had mistakenly attempted to fish from the canoe, an Old Town Discovery 17 footer.

Same thing on rivers I used to paddle frequently. You now have to deal with masses of small jon boat with big motors; seemingly designed for one purpose (get from point A to point B real fast) with bikini babe on a towel on the boat deck. They zoom upstream drinking, they zoom downstream drinking, and then they congregate & virtually cover up all the nice gravel bars and drink some more. Boom boxes set on 10. About an hour before sundown they disappear. The people who used to use jon boats with small motor to fish have basically given up. Many of the people who used to canoe & camp on the rivers have given up. Too many fools, drunks & dopers (river dorks) who are fleeing the larger cities and renting canoes have clogged the rivers on weekends. Rafts, and inflatable style boats? have been added to the mix in the last 5 years. The boat/rafts renters intentions appear to be to get wet, get loud & get drunk or stoned. Hint:You can do that at home in a kiddie pool, and save yourself the cost of vehicle gas, campground fees, and boat rental. Some travel in packs; clogging up every bend in the river, and create an obstacle course for others who can actually paddle… The river dorks have no paddling skills; are constantly ramming other boats, capsizing, running into/under strainers, boulders, the river banks, and getting jammed up where only minor obstacles exist. Their are typically several groups of males who are totally blitzed(drunk &/or stoned) by mid afternoon, and each of those groups has or two or three members who are looking for a fight with someone/anyone. Some instances of the dorks intentionally hands on capsizing of others in canoes; people that they don’t know. Public urination with no attempt to avoid others from seeing them; sometimes done in groups. I’ve seen some instances of rock fights, or the throwing of rocks or sticks by people on shore at people on the river; people they don’t know. I have noticed a dramatic decrease in the number of family groups paddling the rivers in canoes. Taking your teenaged daughter &/or wife into that environment is not even something I would consider. They are likely to hear multiple obscene suggestions, and comments.
Mardi Gras bead were actually banned on some rivers, due to the number of drunks offering beads to those who would “show us your t—!” What are you, the husband/father supposed to do? Smile & ignore the comments to your wife or daughter? Object to the comments & get your assed kicked by 3 or 4 drunks? Or maybe just stay home on the weekends or give up canoeing altogether.Much of the latter is occuring.

River rangers; way too few to monitor so many people, on so many miles of river.
On occasion they actually gather park rangers, city police, county sheriff deputys, highway patrol and conservation agents in a task force in attempts to control the river dorks drunkeness, doping, and aggressiveness.
The weekend passes; the drunks & dopers go back to the rock they crawled out from under; leaving the bottom of the rivers paved with empty beer cans. Usually Bud Light by the way…
The new way to paddle; paddle in the off season(note difference in summer & fall at same put in photos), or stay home on the weekend, avoid holiday weekends like the plague and only paddle on weekdays.
You’re not retired? You can only go on the weekend? Get ready to deal with the river dorks, drunks and dopers.
Thank God I can paddle on week days; I’ve had it with the river dorks, drunks and dopers who are out there on the summer weekends. I don’t need the noise, the crowds or the hassles that they create.
Not long ago a good friend and I picked up 2 large trash bags full of litter, beer cans, wine & wine cooler bottles off of just one gravel bar. That was my last effort to pick up trash on any river. When you see one couple load a case of beer into their cooler before they cast off; you can be pretty sure their major concern is NOT paddling…

The very liberal thinking wife of one of my long time friends used to tell me, “Bob, we have to learn to share the rivers and the lakes”.
They don’t paddle the rivers or lakes anymore on weekends.
The last time I spoke to her I said, “So much for sharing the river & lakes with river dorks, out of control drunks & dopers eh?”
It’s only going to get worse…

BOB

P.S. ATVs, and horseback trail riders going off the designated trails, driving ATVs in the river, and tearing up & trashing the forests alongside the Ozarks Scenic Riverways are other issues I won’t even go into. Their preference also appears to be Bud Light.

Bud Light…says it all.

We have had insanely high horsepower ski boats here in past years. 850 hp is not needed for a lake three miles long.
The current trend does suggest the curmudgeons are taking over. The high hp boats are disappearing… only one seaplane ( seaplane dodging is SO much fun) and the docks now have jet skis and pontoon boats for the aging population.
The 4 stroke personal watercraft arent bad… not noisy and virtually no wake…The key is the operator… Every one of the six PWC that our neighbors own ( in a sixteen home neighborhood) is operated at four mph by a senior wanting to take a personal cruise… What saves us is that most camps and homes are occupied by long term residents and not vacationers renting ( they seem to care not a dam about fireworks or noise or any consideration

I guess we have polite people here in NC.
Our favorite lake is a large one with 75 miles of shoreline.and we launch at the busiest launch site. There are three ramps and almost all the time there are fisherman, jet skis, pleasure boaters and paddlers and I can’t recall ever having a problem. Everyone is friendly and if any one is a newbie having a problem others will help them out.
Many times when we are loading up, another boater will offer to help which we always decline, but end up in a pleasant conversation.
There are “No fishing signs” but many times there will be people fishing, and they always get out of the way with out being asked to.
There are three other launch places, and it has always been the same there.

With all that said, we would never go there on a weekend or holiday. I can only guess that there is a big line waiting to launch.

I was cleaning up fallen trees and docs after hurricane Irma. It required me to bring tree parts to the hand launch area next to the no fishing signs. In variably I’d have to honk the horn at fishermen blocking the ramp . They couldn’t hear me or see the boat and tree since they were listening to their music.

I think the cities have just turned inconsiderate. … or stupid.

Hey TomL, it’s not just the exercise the kids miss with the little cars; the car mentality is a problem; the idea that we’re supposed to use cars exclusively. That kind of thinking produces adults that show up at the lake and admire it from inside the car… with the windows rolled up and the AC on.

Agree. I’m just generally dismayed by how few people do anything under self power on or in the lake.

I have driven to the lake just to sit and look , when I couldn’t paddle. But not with the AC on.

On the title: Aren’t we all ???

@Rex said:
Hey TomL, it’s not just the exercise the kids miss with the little cars; the car mentality is a problem; the idea that we’re supposed to use cars exclusively. That kind of thinking produces adults that show up at the lake and admire it from inside the car… with the windows rolled up and the AC on.

Winner!

It is the attitude that any nonmotorized form of transportation or activity must br shunned at all costs.

Hey String, Some years back I was loading up my vehicle after a paddle on a big lake and I noticed an unusual thing. A very old woman was sitting in a wheelchair just staring out at the water. There was a woman standing next to her… like at attention… also looking out at the water. I got the impression this was a very wealthy woman and her private nurse. I thought that was pretty cool… that the old woman wanted to be there and that she had someone to take her there.

BOB’s post perfectly describes how the boozers treat three rivers in the Huron-Manistee National Forest. The Forest Service wanted to ban all alcohol use on the rivers. The boozers rebelled, apparently some with hate speech and threats:
https://www.record-eagle.com/news/local_news/river-booze-ban-brainstormed/article_b113988c-ff65-5c33-9c39-bdfafccff23f.html

Unfortunately some of the liveries opposed the booze ban as well.

“We came here to paddle, meet new friends, enjoy the outdoors, the beautiful scenery, and the wildlife”.

NO you didn’t ; that’s a crock of bull---- !
You came to get blitzed, and act like the drunk, and obnoxious fools you are.

Rex, love of the water or the outdoors doesn’t diminish with age. I can’t hike any more, but I love sitting and watching the mountains.

@willowleaf said:
Sounds l
@Rex said:
Hey TomL, it’s not just the exercise the kids miss with the little cars; the car mentality is a problem; the idea that we’re supposed to use cars exclusively. That kind of thinking produces adults that show up at the lake and admire it from inside the car… with the windows rolled up and the AC on.
You may well be right. It does make me wonder what level of mobility they will expect by the time they’re 20 if they have this much mobility at 3.

In any case all of these situations require anti-curmudgeon strategies. Paddle during the week…if you aren’t retired take a sick day or ditch school. Expand your search to find secluded put-ins. Paddle in areas like the pic below where non-paddlers won’t follow you. I have a good paddle planned tomorrow in central Michigan and another Wed/Thur in southern Wisconsin.

@jester42 said:
“We came here to paddle, meet new friends, enjoy the outdoors, the beautiful scenery, and the wildlife”.

NO you didn’t ; that’s a crock of bull---- !
You came to get blitzed, and act like the drunk, and obnoxious fools you are.

That pic is why so many rivers and streams have been renamed “Yellow Water”!

We’re fortunate to have natural creeks and rivers with abundant mud, weed and plant growth, snakes, and assorted biting insects. Party animals are rare.
There are weekends on the lakes when gathering spots look like that but they are easily avoided.

Minutes ago I was cooking lunch on the grill at our camp at Lake Eufalla. Next to and a few empty sites up three kids , boys, pushed the paddle boat out and paddled around for a while. Two got in the water and swam next to the boat racing the big kid in the boat. Swimmers won.

The bigger kid got called in for lunch. The other two got in their kayaks and paddled.

Whoops there’s another kid on a bike.

That all reminds me of boats on lifts that people say “NEVER” go out. If you aren’t watching all the time you don’t really know.

My inlaws have a house on a large lake in western Massachusetts. It’s infested with buzzing swarms all summer. On the other hand, our kettle pond has a strict 15HP limit, and there’s exactly one pontoon boat that occasionally meanders around, never as much as creating a wake. In the evening the water can be glass smooth, just glorious! The pond has 2.5 miles of shore (roughly) and I can spend hours paddling without any buzzing.

Actually, that’s not true…there’s a small grass airstrip a couple of miles away that hosts a sightseeing biplane and it occasionally flies over. Once in a while we also get some noise from Joint Base Cape Cod (Army, Air National Guard and Coast Guard.). I don’t mind that noise…they’re out there protecting us!

…and there goes a ski boat with teenager on a pair of skis behind.

Lake Hartwell at mid week is almost deserted. Lots of islands to paddle to and around.
A friend and I were paddling early in the morning when it sounded like a large boat was coming our way. The noise was coming from behind an island and kept increasing. We couldn’t locate the source but the volume was getting unreal.
It was a C130 military cargo plane flying just above the tree tops.
Our flight syndrome was about to kick in but there is nowhere to hide when you are overwhelmed.