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.
4,859 responses to “A Sheltered Cove”
National Insurance Increase
Rhino’s method of minting instead of wrapping is genius.
Finally, a clear explanation of impermanent loss—much needed!
This guide made me bullish on Bitcoin DeFi again.
Porn site
I think this is among the most important info for me. And i am glad reading your article. But wanna remark on some general things, The web site style is wonderful, the articles is really great : D. Good job, cheers
Buy Drugs
Scam
Thanks for the helpful write-up. It is also my opinion that mesothelioma has an incredibly long latency time, which means that indication of the disease won’t emerge till 30 to 50 years after the first exposure to mesothelioma. Pleural mesothelioma, which is the most common type and affects the area round the lungs, will cause shortness of breath, upper body pains, as well as a persistent coughing, which may lead to coughing up body.
Porn site
No more jumping through hoops to access other ecosystems.
I like the helpful info you provide for your articles. I will bookmark your blog and test again here frequently. I’m reasonably sure I?ll be informed a lot of new stuff proper right here! Best of luck for the following!
My partner and I absolutely love your blog and find most of your post’s to be exactly I’m looking for. Would you offer guest writers to write content for yourself? I wouldn’t mind publishing a post or elaborating on most of the subjects you write related to here. Again, awesome website!
Along with everything which seems to be developing within this area, many of your perspectives happen to be rather refreshing. However, I appologize, because I can not subscribe to your whole idea, all be it stimulating none the less. It seems to us that your remarks are generally not totally rationalized and in simple fact you are your self not really wholly certain of your assertion. In any case I did enjoy reading through it.
Sex
After I originally commented I clicked the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and now each time a remark is added I get four emails with the identical comment. Is there any means you may take away me from that service? Thanks!
It’s difficult to find educated people for this topic, but you seem like you know what you’re talking about! Thanks
Amazing! This blog looks exactly like my old one! It’s on a entirely different subject but it has pretty much the same layout and design. Superb choice of colors!
Howdy, I do believe your website could possibly be having web browser compatibility problems. Whenever I take a look at your site in Safari, it looks fine however, when opening in IE, it has some overlapping issues. I simply wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other than that, fantastic website.
In these days of austerity in addition to relative panic about getting debt, many individuals balk about the idea of using a credit card to make acquisition of merchandise or maybe pay for a trip, preferring, instead to rely on the actual tried and trusted way of making settlement – cash. However, if you have the cash available to make the purchase 100 , then, paradoxically, that’s the best time just to be able to use the credit cards for several good reasons.
Thank you for sharing superb informations. Your web site is so cool. I’m impressed by the details that you have on this web site. It reveals how nicely you perceive this subject. Bookmarked this web page, will come back for more articles. You, my pal, ROCK! I found just the info I already searched everywhere and just could not come across. What an ideal web site.
No more headaches moving tokens between networks!
Love how this breaks down early adoption strategies.
This should be required reading before becoming an LP!
bookmarked!!, I like your blog.
Portal Bridge is like the highway system of crypto.
Spot on with this write-up, I truly believe that this site needs a lot more attention. I’ll probably be back again to read through more, thanks for the info!
The very next time I read a blog, I hope that it does not disappoint me as much as this one. After all, I know it was my choice to read, however I truly thought you would probably have something interesting to talk about. All I hear is a bunch of complaining about something that you could fix if you weren’t too busy looking for attention.
Your style is very unique compared to other people I’ve read stuff from. Thank you for posting when you’ve got the opportunity, Guess I’ll just book mark this blog.
Way cool! Some extremely valid points! I appreciate you penning this write-up plus the rest of the website is really good.
Thanks for breaking down IL in such a simple way.
What i don’t realize is actually how you are not really much more well-liked than you may be now. You are very intelligent. You realize therefore significantly relating to this subject, made me personally consider it from a lot of varied angles. Its like women and men aren’t fascinated unless it?s one thing to accomplish with Lady gaga! Your own stuffs great. Always maintain it up!
Oh my goodness! Incredible article dude! Thanks, However I am going through difficulties with your RSS. I don’t understand why I can’t join it. Is there anybody else having identical RSS problems? Anyone that knows the solution can you kindly respond? Thanx!!
This site is really a walk-by for all the info you needed about this and didn?t know who to ask. Glimpse here, and also you?ll undoubtedly discover it.
Great ? I should definitely pronounce, impressed with your web site. I had no trouble navigating through all the tabs as well as related information ended up being truly easy to do to access. I recently found what I hoped for before you know it in the least. Quite unusual. Is likely to appreciate it for those who add forums or something, website theme . a tones way for your customer to communicate. Nice task..
Viagra
Thank you for the auspicious writeup. It in fact was a amusement account it. Look advanced to far added agreeable from you! However, how can we communicate?
Great information. Lucky me I found your blog by accident (stumbleupon). I’ve saved as a favorite for later.
Buy Drugs
Porn site
Viagra
Pornstar
We are a group of volunteers and opening a new scheme in our community. Your site provided us with valuable info to work on. You’ve done an impressive job and our whole community will be thankful to you.
Pornstar
Porn
Viagra
Pretty! This has been an extremely wonderful post. Thanks for providing this info.
As I web site possessor I believe the content matter here is rattling magnificent , appreciate it for your hard work. You should keep it up forever! Best of luck.
I’m curious to find out what blog platform you’re working with? I’m having some small security problems with my latest website and I would like to find something more safeguarded. Do you have any recommendations?
Scam