My friend Buddy took this picture of me on the Sabine River in 2009. I hadn’t seen it in years, but I found it yesterday when going through files on my old computer. Here’s the story behind the photo—one of the weirder episodes from my first book, Running the River: Secrets of the Sabine.
About a mile from the boat ramp, we came upon a waterfall gurgling over a rocky ledge, into a sheltered green pool beside the river. The cavelike walls of the cove were painted green with moss. Sunlight reflected off the water and danced like currents of electricity through the shadows. I had never seen anything so pretty on the Sabine.
“We might have to go swimming later,” Buddy said, and I agreed.
Not far beyond the cove we came to a strange scene: an unmanned boat floating in the middle of the water. It sounded like the engine was running. When we came closer, we saw a long, white hose extending from the boat into the river. At one spot a few feet away, we noticed air steadily bubbling to the surface. Just then a man’s head bobbed up from the brown water, wearing a scuba mask, goggles, and a breathing apparatus.
“Looking for mussels?” I asked.
The man affirmed my question by lifting his bag of shells out of the water. But my camera and questions aroused his suspicion. “Are y’all from the FBI?”
We said no, and when we boated past, the diver sank beneath the water. We eased a little farther downriver, through frequent rapids where the flow quickened and the boat scraped over rocks and gravel, and we passed the many abandoned concrete and wooden oilfield structures that I had marveled at during my earlier trip with Jacob. I watched the shoreline for signs of hogs, but my attention soon began to wander, and I started to imagine the view of the riverbanks from two hundred years ago, when the first settlers arrived.
Today, East Texas is scrub country. What land has not been paved or plowed is choked with thorn vines and brush. But at one time, the forest canopy was so thick it blocked the sunlight from the undergrowth, and the smaller plants that did manage to survive in the dark forests were cleared by occasional fires, leaving trees so large and well established that early travelers called this place the Pine Barrens.
“They say the pine trees used to be so tall in East Texas, you could ride a horse for miles, fall asleep in the saddle, and never hit a tree limb,” I said to Buddy as we drifted downriver. “There used to be huge trees here on the river, too. Just think how much prettier all this would be if we hadn’t cut everything down.”
Buddy glanced up from the trolling motor and studied the brush on the bank. “You can’t think about it that way,” he said. “It’s still pretty. East Texas is still pretty. Just be thankful you get to see it the way it is, because someday all of this will be gone, too.” He had a point, but I hoped he was wrong. Growing up, I had never given a second thought to this wild river running through my hometown. Now that I had spent some time on the Sabine, I didn’t want to lose what remained.
Buddy and I never saw the hogs, so we turned back. The flow that had seemed so calm when we floated downstream was now a force we hadn’t reckoned with, and we spent most of the journey trudging through the water and fighting the current as we dragged the boat upstream. At times the water came only to my hips, sometimes up to my chest, but then I would step off a precipice and fall into a deeper channel. I learned to use my foot to feel for the firmness of the riverbed before committing my weight to a step forward. Before long, I forgot about my fear of being swept away by the river. As long as I stayed alert and moved slowly, I didn’t have to worry so much about drowning after all.
When we returned to the waterfall and the pretty little cove, we parked on some boulders at the entrance and jumped in. The water was cold and deep here and stunningly clear: I could see the bottom some eight feet below. Above us, the clearwater creek had worn the ground away to the eroded rock, cascading through a series of precipices, before tumbling into the cove. Buddy swam over to the waterfall and let it pound his back and shoulders. “It feels just like a back massage,” he said with glee. “You gotta try this.”
I did. It felt great. “Man, I could even bring a woman here,” I said.
This was the discovery of a lifetime, the kind of place that Buddy could enjoy with his wife and kids for years to come. We swam for a long while, then waded out of the cove and into the river. The water was much warmer here, around waist deep, brown, and muddy. Our toes sank into the silt.
When we returned to the cove a few minutes later, something had changed. “Wasn’t the waterfall a lot bigger when we first got here?” I asked. Instead of gushing over the ledge, the water had narrowed to a trickle. Then, as we watched with increasing horror, it began to grow again. Within minutes, the waterfall was surging at full strength. It was like someone had flushed an enormous toilet. Oh no, that was it! We were swimming in sewage—the discharge from the wastewater plant in Gladewater. No wonder the cove was so cool and clear. No wonder we kept smelling that faint odor of chlorine. I spit what I could out of my mouth.
We climbed out of the cove and then ascended a steep, grassy bank to see where the creek led. We came to an even bigger waterfall and then a series of smaller ones. We walked as far as we could through a leafy forest to a barbed-wire fence, then returned to the river and stood for a moment on the big gray rocks beside the beautiful cove.
“I don’t even care,” Buddy said. “It might be sewage, but they treated it first.”
We jumped back in. At one point, Buddy even swam under the waterfall, where he indulged in another back massage.
Excerpted from Running the River: Secrets of the Sabine by Wes Ferguson and Jacob Botter and published by Texas A&M University Press.
10,331 responses to “A Sheltered Cove”
Out of my notice, shopping for technology online may be easily expensive, nevertheless there are some tips and tricks that you can use to acquire the best bargains. There are constantly ways to uncover discount discounts that could make one to come across the best electronic products products at the cheapest prices. Thanks for your blog post.
I have not checked in here for a while as I thought it was getting boring, but the last several posts are great quality so I guess I will add you back to my daily bloglist. You deserve it my friend 🙂
Can I just say what a reduction to seek out someone who truly is aware of what theyre speaking about on the internet. You positively know the best way to convey a difficulty to mild and make it important. More people must read this and understand this facet of the story. I cant believe youre no more in style because you undoubtedly have the gift.
Thanks for your article. I would love to say that a health insurance dealer also utilizes the benefit of the particular coordinators of a group insurance policies. The health agent is given a list of benefits looked for by someone or a group coordinator. What any broker does indeed is seek out individuals or perhaps coordinators which usually best go with those wants. Then he provides his recommendations and if each party agree, the actual broker formulates an agreement between the 2 parties.
O conteúdo existente nesta página é realmente notável para a experiência das pessoas,
I’m really loving the theme/design of your site. Do you ever run into any browser compatibility issues? A number of my blog visitors have complained about my site not operating correctly in Explorer but looks great in Chrome. Do you have any advice to help fix this problem?
I enjoy reading through an article that will make people think. Also, many thanks for permitting me to comment.
I like what you guys are up too. Such intelligent work and reporting! Carry on the superb works guys I have incorporated you guys to my blogroll. I think it will improve the value of my website 🙂
Thanks for your interesting article. Other thing is that mesothelioma is generally caused by the breathing of dust from asbestos, which is a cancer causing material. It really is commonly found among employees in the construction industry with long contact with asbestos. It is caused by residing in asbestos protected buildings for an extended time of time, Inherited genes plays an important role, and some individuals are more vulnerable to the risk as compared with others.
What words … super, brilliant thought
certainly like your web site but you need to check the spelling on several of your posts. Many of them are rife with spelling problems and I find it very troublesome to tell the truth nevertheless I?ll definitely come back again.
hello there and thank you for your information ? I have definitely picked up something new from proper here. I did on the other hand experience a few technical points the usage of this website, as I skilled to reload the site many times previous to I may just get it to load correctly. I had been pondering in case your web hosting is OK? No longer that I am complaining, but slow loading cases instances will very frequently impact your placement in google and could damage your quality ranking if ads and ***********|advertising|advertising|advertising and *********** with Adwords. Anyway I am including this RSS to my e-mail and can glance out for a lot extra of your respective exciting content. Ensure that you update this again very soon..
I’ve noticed that fixing credit activity must be conducted with tactics. If not, it’s possible you’ll find yourself destroying your ranking. In order to reach your goals in fixing your credit history you have to verify that from this second you pay your entire monthly expenses promptly before their booked date. Really it is significant for the reason that by not accomplishing that area, all other measures that you will decide to try to improve your credit position will not be successful. Thanks for giving your suggestions.
cakhiasport.com t?ng quà/voucher cho thành viên m?i r?t h?p d?n
I have learned some essential things through your blog post. One other point I would like to state is that there are plenty of games available on the market designed specially for preschool age youngsters. They contain pattern acknowledgement, colors, creatures, and forms. These usually focus on familiarization as an alternative to memorization. This helps to keep little children occupied without experiencing like they are studying. Thanks
It’s hard to come by well-informed people for this topic, but you sound like you know what you’re talking about! Thanks
Good post. I learn something totally new and challenging on sites I stumbleupon every day. It will always be interesting to read through content from other writers and practice something from their websites.
Great post. I am dealing with many of these issues as well..
I’m impressed, I have to admit. Rarely do I come across a blog that’s both educative and entertaining, and let me tell you, you’ve hit the nail on the head. The issue is something too few men and women are speaking intelligently about. Now i’m very happy I stumbled across this during my search for something relating to this.
The next time I read a blog, I hope that it doesn’t fail me just as much as this one. I mean, Yes, it was my choice to read, nonetheless I really thought you would have something useful to talk about. All I hear is a bunch of complaining about something you could fix if you were not too busy looking for attention.
I seriously love your website.. Excellent colors & theme. Did you develop this web site yourself? Please reply back as I’m trying to create my very own website and would love to find out where you got this from or exactly what the theme is named. Thank you!
Your style is very unique in comparison to other folks I have read stuff from. I appreciate you for posting when you have the opportunity, Guess I will just bookmark this site.
I wanted to thank you for this fantastic read!! I certainly loved every bit of it. I have got you bookmarked to look at new things you post…
After looking at a handful of the articles on your site, I honestly appreciate your technique of writing a blog. I book marked it to my bookmark website list and will be checking back in the near future. Please visit my website too and tell me your opinion.
You’re so cool! I don’t think I’ve read through a single thing like this before. So great to discover somebody with a few genuine thoughts on this issue. Seriously.. thanks for starting this up. This website is one thing that’s needed on the web, someone with a little originality.
I blog quite often and I truly appreciate your content. The article has truly peaked my interest. I am going to take a note of your website and keep checking for new information about once per week. I opted in for your RSS feed too.
Your style is so unique in comparison to other folks I have read stuff from. Many thanks for posting when you’ve got the opportunity, Guess I’ll just bookmark this site.
cakhiatv1.live t?ng ?u ?ãi ho?c mã gi?m giá cho ng??i m?i ??ng ký
This is a good tip particularly to those new to the blogosphere. Simple but very accurate information… Appreciate your sharing this one. A must read article.
Your style is so unique in comparison to other people I have read stuff from. Thanks for posting when you’ve got the opportunity, Guess I’ll just book mark this web site.
xoilactv.soccer giao di?n mobile d? dùng, xem tho?i mái trên ?i?n tho?i
After looking into a handful of the blog articles on your site, I really like your technique of blogging. I book marked it to my bookmark site list and will be checking back in the near future. Please check out my web site as well and tell me your opinion.
Hey there! I simply wish to offer you a huge thumbs up for your great information you have got right here on this post. I am coming back to your site for more soon.
I have seen a great deal of useful elements on your web-site about personal computers. However, I have the view that netbooks are still less than powerful adequately to be a good choice if you normally do jobs that require a lot of power, like video editing and enhancing. But for world wide web surfing, statement processing, and a lot other typical computer work they are just fine, provided you cannot mind the little screen size. Thank you for sharing your notions.
whoah this weblog is fantastic i like reading your posts. Keep up the great work! You understand, a lot of individuals are hunting around for this info, you could aid them greatly.
Hey, you used to write great, but the last several posts have been kinda boring? I miss your great writings. Past few posts are just a little out of track! come on!
An impressive share! I’ve just forwarded this onto a coworker who was doing a little homework on this. And he actually bought me breakfast simply because I discovered it for him… lol. So allow me to reword this…. Thank YOU for the meal!! But yeah, thanx for spending time to talk about this matter here on your internet site.
Out of my notice, shopping for electronic products online may be easily expensive, but there are some guidelines that you can use to acquire the best deals. There are continually ways to obtain discount offers that could help to make one to come across the best electronics products at the lowest prices. Interesting blog post.
Fantastic beat ! I would like to apprentice while you amend your website, how could i subscribe for a blog website? The account helped me a acceptable deal. I had been a little bit acquainted of this your broadcast provided bright clear idea
A formidable share, I simply given this onto a colleague who was doing a little bit evaluation on this. And he actually bought me breakfast because I found it for him.. smile. So let me reword that: Thnx for the deal with! However yeah Thnkx for spending the time to debate this, I really feel strongly about it and love reading extra on this topic. If attainable, as you turn out to be expertise, would you mind updating your weblog with more details? It is extremely useful for me. Huge thumb up for this blog put up!
Audio began playing any time I opened up this internet site, so annoying!
Hey, you used to write wonderful, but the last several posts have been kinda boring? I miss your super writings. Past several posts are just a little bit out of track! come on!
You actually make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find this topic to be actually something that I think I would never understand. It seems too complicated and very broad for me. I am looking forward for your next post, I will try to get the hang of it!
xoilactv.soccer h? tr? khách hàng nhi?t tình, ph?n h?i r?t nhanh
Valuable information. Lucky me I found your website by accident, and I’m shocked why this accident did not happened earlier! I bookmarked it.
Pretty! This was an extremely wonderful post. Thanks for providing these details.
Way cool! Some extremely valid points! I appreciate you writing this article and the rest of the site is extremely good.
Thanks, I have recently been looking for details about this topic for ages and yours is the best I’ve found so far.
I’ve been using ParaSwap V1 for a while now — the gas savings and better routing really
make a difference.
Can you also compare ParaSwap with Matcha in your next post?
Would love to see a side-by-side performance test.
Amazing write-up! ParaSwap’s multi-chain support is a huge plus in today’s DeFi environment.
Thanks for sharing! ParaSwap has definitely become my go-to platform for token swaps
lately.
Very informative. I was struggling with high slippage until I found ParaSwap — huge help!
Does ParaSwap offer PSP token staking directly through its interface?
Would be great to know.
Loved this post. The DeFi space is evolving fast, and aggregators like ParaSwap are
crucial.
I appreciate how ParaSwap handles MEV protection. Most users overlook how important that is.
The ParaSwap API is a game-changer for developers.
I hope you cover that in detail soon!
This article explained ParaSwap way better than the official docs.
Subscribed for more!
Can anyone confirm if PSP token has governance
features already live?
Solid content! ParaSwap’s optimization engine really
gives the best swap rates.
ParaSwap’s batch transaction feature saved me a ton on gas fees.
Highly recommended.
Would love to see a guide on integrating ParaSwap into DeFi projects for developers.
bookmarked!!, I love your website.