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.
4,934 responses to “A Sheltered Cove”
???????
There’s certainly a great deal to learn about this topic. I really like all the points you’ve made.
Good day! This is kind of off topic but I need some advice from an established blog. Is it very hard to set up your own blog? I’m not very techincal but I can figure things out pretty fast. I’m thinking about setting up my own but I’m not sure where to start. Do you have any points or suggestions? Many thanks
You could definitely see your enthusiasm in the work you write. The world hopes for more passionate writers like you who aren’t afraid to say how they believe. Always go after your heart.
I’m really enjoying the design and layout of your blog. It’s a very easy on the eyes which makes it much more pleasant for me to come here and visit more often. Did you hire out a designer to create your theme? Superb work!
Her ‘leader’ on this journey was Budd Sterling, the son of James Sterling, one of new Jersey’s earliest Methodist preachers and organisers.
Plus, there are so many cute kinds accessible, making them a no-brainer journey wardrobe staple.
Over many of the publish-Conflict period, suburban sprawl was largely a white, middle-class phenomenon, although in latest decades more and more minorities have moved to the burbs, too.
The “Darwin fish” takes religious iconography, splices it with science textbook illustrations and makes a press release on the basic divide between creationism and evolution.
So in he went, and his mother after him, however he had scarce opened the door earlier than she swooned away, for there she saw an excellent stout man, no less than twenty toes excessive, sitting on the bench.
A veteran of Manhattan’s Brill Building pop factory, he churned out songs that had been recorded by artists including Elvis Presley (“Your Time Hasn’t Come Yet, Baby”), Charles Aznavour (“The Old fashioned Way”), Aretha Franklin (“Operation Heartbreak”) and later Donna Summer time (“I’m a Fire”).
Everything is very open with a precise explanation of the issues. It was definitely informative. Your website is extremely helpful. Thank you for sharing.
Now you may earn money out of your present traffic without the problem of coping with all the tedious particulars related to ecommerce.
There is a requirement to hold a license to drive on a public street, obtaining which requires a competency check, and we have now an assortment of different rules about paying consideration, not being drunk and so on.
To learn the way a lot a specific piece may be price, seek the opinion of a certified appraiser or knowledgeable antique vendor.
Once again Phil Hinck, Race Director Extraordinaire, rallied in 2003 to start a brand new event, the Ocean County Observer 5K Run.
United Nations. Currently, the U.N.
So for the last yr, I have been enthusiastic about becoming a member of him.
Our commonplace fee charge is 10 of the gross sale worth of all referred orders.
Sewage licenses, fire and water licenses, and licenses to affirm that the workforce is over the age of 18 are further essential licenses.
Shortly earlier than kids are gathered, use a cotton swab dipped in lemon juice and, on completely different scraps of paper, write the phrases, “Consider it,” “Never!,” or “It is so.” Allow each baby to ask a yes or no question about his or her future, then have every select one of the items of paper.
Wow, superb blog layout! How lengthy have you been blogging for? you made running a blog look easy. The entire glance of your web site is fantastic, let alone the content material!
The amount of energy needed to produce that amount of illuminance will depend on the gap to the light source.
So for the last 12 months, I have been serious about becoming a member of him.
Research and improvement are the driving forces behind Protica’s first publicly obtainable product line, Profect.
You’ll be able to work throughout your studies.
It is really a great and helpful piece of info. I?m glad that you shared this helpful info with us. Please keep us up to date like this. Thank you for sharing.
For those new travelers who haven’t traveled extensively, I’m going to information you into what I feel could be good journey shoes.
Instead, we’ll go over the fundamentals of the sport using the classic set known to gamers as the Purple Box set.
The sheep numbers grew, the household prospered, however the previous few years have been disastrous.
When I initially commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added”
checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get four e-mails
with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove me from that service?
Cheers!
If you end up preparing for an abroad trip, you want your strolling footwear to be relaxed and comfy ideally for a full day of touring however chic sufficient to wear to dinner.
This site was… how do I say it? Relevant!! Finally I’ve found something which helped me. Thank you!
The machine additionally gives an improved total aesthetic based on its predecessors, so the identical reliability and simplicity may be seen with the 24G2U.
I’ve been absent for a while, but now I remember why I used to love this site. Thank you, I will try and check back more often. How frequently you update your web site?
I found your blog site on google and check a number of of your early posts. Continue to keep up the very good operate. I simply further up your RSS feed to my MSN Information Reader. Searching for forward to studying extra from you afterward!?
I do like the way you have framed this concern plus it does supply me some fodder for thought. However, coming from everything that I have personally seen, I basically hope as the actual remarks stack on that people stay on point and in no way start upon a tirade involving the news of the day. Anyway, thank you for this fantastic piece and although I do not agree with this in totality, I value your standpoint.
Hey there just wanted to give you a brief heads up and let you know a few of the pictures aren’t loading correctly. I’m not sure why but I think its a linking issue. I’ve tried it in two different web browsers and both show the same results.
Hello there, I found your blog via Google while looking for a related topic, your website came up, it looks great. I have bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.
Great post right here. One thing I’d like to say is always that most professional career fields consider the Bachelor Degree just as the entry level requirement for an online diploma. When Associate Degrees are a great way to start, completing ones Bachelors reveals many good opportunities to various professions, there are numerous internet Bachelor Diploma Programs available from institutions like The University of Phoenix, Intercontinental University Online and Kaplan. Another issue is that many brick and mortar institutions offer Online variations of their college diplomas but often for a substantially higher charge than the organizations that specialize in online higher education degree plans.
An interesting discussion is definitely worth comment. I do think that you should publish more on this issue, it may not be a taboo matter but generally folks don’t talk about these topics. To the next! Cheers.
I have observed that online education is getting common because attaining your college degree online has turned into a popular method for many people. Many people have definitely not had a possible opportunity to attend a regular college or university however seek the raised earning possibilities and a better job that a Bachelors Degree gives. Still others might have a degree in one training but wish to pursue a thing they already have an interest in.
Hi there! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a group of volunteers and starting a new project in a community in the same niche. Your blog provided us useful information to work on. You have done a outstanding job!
I was pretty pleased to discover this web site. I need to to thank you for your time due to this wonderful read!! I definitely really liked every little bit of it and i also have you saved as a favorite to see new stuff in your blog.
Whether or not you go to look at or take part there’s a very good chance you’ll be out all night time.
The Vascular illness is brought on due to the blockage of artery to the leg.
Wow, marvelous blog layout! How long have you been blogging for? you made blogging look easy. The overall look of your website is excellent, let alone the content!
of course like your web site but you have to test the spelling on several of your posts. Several of them are rife with spelling issues and I find it very troublesome to tell the reality nevertheless I will certainly come back again.
Everything is very open with a really clear clarification of the challenges. It was definitely informative. Your site is useful. Many thanks for sharing.
I just couldn’t depart your web site prior to suggesting that I really enjoyed the standard info a person provide for your visitors? Is going to be back often to check up on new posts