On the second weekend in June, 19 youth and teen paddlers descended on Bryson City for a paddling clinic held by the Foothills Paddling Club and Carolina Canoe Club. The students ranged in age from 7 to 18, with almost every age in-between. Skill levels ranged from, “what’s an eddy?” to “why aren’t we on the Ocoee?” The students were divided into three groups – beginner, novice, and intermediate, with 2 instructors for each group.
The only thing better than seeing my kids’ smiling faces after a fun run on a river is seeing the faces of over 30 kids and 40 moms and dads after a day on the river making new friends and sharing days outside in the fresh air and cool river water. That is what Families Paddle Too! is all about – it is to encourage the enthusiasm and joy of our next generation of whitewater paddlers.
May 19, 2012 – Upper Meadow
When I posted this trip back in April, I was hopeful that there would be water in West Virginia on the weekend of the trip. On the Monday before the trip, West Virginia got a pretty good rain, but as the week wore on, many of the West Virginia creeks started dropping out. First the Back Fork of the Elk dropped below minimum, followed by the Cranberry. I was starting to worry. But by Thursday, it looked like the Meadow would hold, so we headed to West Virginia on Friday afternoon.
Participants:
Saturday on the Ocoee – Woody O'brian, Jon Godwin, Fast Fred Ruddock, John Z
Sunday on the Nantahala – Julie and Barry Schmidt, Jeffrey Hatcher, Woody O'brian, Jon Godwin, John Z
Perfect weather, both for paddling and camping. We got two runs on the Middle Ocoee on Saturday, the first (almost) to ourselves. On Sunday, we paddled the Nantahala, again with the river (mostly) to ourselves. Great weekend. Thanks to the fun crew.
Rich Ruhlen and Joan Monnig send sincere thanks to all for making the CCC Easter Trip a success!
We had great weather with pleasant sunny days. You can’t beat rain on Thursday to fill the rivers for Friday/Saturday/Sunday paddling fun!
Trips were run on:
we just returned from 6 days of paddling and camping in the Fla Everglades. It was especially memorable as we did a loop thru the area highlighted in the great book "Shadow Country" by Peter Mattheissen, which 4 of us had read or listened to on DVD.
Surf Kayak Level 3 Clinic.
Ft Fisher, NC. 9/3/11
Participants :-
Paul Scrutton (Instructor)
Jon Godwin (Assistant)
Daniel Richardson
Sharon Price
Frank Ladd
Maria Gibson
