Up The Creek With A Paddle

I recently had my first experience with paddling a canoe. This was while we were up in Dahlonega a couple of weekends ago. My husband Scott, our friend Shelly and myself had already rode our bikes 37 miles in the mountains. After lunch the three of us met Shelly's friend Nanette at the Appalachian Outfitters. We rented two, two person canoes. The rental fee included the use a smelly life jacket. The life jackets were almost unnecessary. The water was really low in spots. Before you set out the "guide" gives a talk about some important information. There were points on the river that I wished that we had listened a little closer to what he was saying.


Since I didn't have a clue to what I was doing I sat in the front of the canoe with my husband in the back. Scott grew up near a creek and they had a canoe. I can only imagine what he and 2 of his brothers got up to. So he knows how to paddle and keep us going in the right direction. Not that this kept us out of trouble the whole time. At one point we were trying to decide if the guide told us to stay to the left or the right of a certain area. As we are discussing this Scott and I end up in a downed tree! I really try not to cuss, but the only thing I could say at the point of contact with that tree was, "SHIT!!" We managed to get out of that predicament with little trouble. The water on the Chestatee River was mostly calm. There were some level 1 and 2 rapids. As I said earlier the water was low in spots. This of course caused some comical situations for us and Shelly and Nanette. At a couple of points we were stuck on the rocks. Instead of getting out of the canoe we would stay seated and "scooch" trying to push forward. This worked a couple of times. There was one time I did have to get out of the canoe and help get it unstuck. I managed to do that part semi gracefully, but had to ruin my gracefulness by missing my seat as I sat back down. This gave everyone, including me, a good laugh.

I was having a really good time. I had finally calmed down. At one point in a calm area I decided I needed a break from paddling. So I'm enjoying the water and looking around for wild life. As I'm sitting there doing nothing I proclaimed, "I love canoeing!" This cracked Shelly up because who wouldn't love to canoe if you weren't doing any work?

I'm ready to go out on the water again. Maybe next time we can take the longer tour on the Etowah River. I hear there are level 3 and 4 rapids there. That smelly life jacket will come in handy then I'm sure.