So a few weeks ago I ran the upper green river in Saluda NC. Its a fantastic class 3+ river only about 45 minutes from the house. Anyways, had a good time paddles some big rapids and put a big dent in the front of the canoe I borrowed from the Christ School on a rapid called Wanda's hole. Needless to say I pretty frustrated. Anyways, as with most things it worked out threw the generosity of fellow outdoor enthusiasts in the area. That's where this story starts. I asked around to see if anyone knew someone that was good at fixing canoes and the name Harrison came up from two separate friends. So I contacted him and met him at his house on a rainy Tuesday. As we worked and BS'd if came up that he has a family and loves to go on family canoe trips and invited Clark and I out sometime. We this weekend was that sometime!
Clark and met four families at the new put-in on the Tuckesegee and got ready to rally. Clark immediately loved it and really wanted to run the new rapid where the damn was (it is a little 3 ft waterfall). After a lot of thought I ended up being a responsible dad walking him around it and he got to watch daddy paddle threw the rapid and loved it. From there on Clark and I paddled the whole river without incident. Clark was loving it, assuming the whitewater position at all of the rapids and squealing with delight every time we hit a wave train or little ripple. On the flats he would help paddle, pretend to be asleep or snack! All in all a great day on the river. Clark was amazing and excited that he got to paddle his first class 2 river at age 3 (Daddy didn't go on his first until he was 25)!
There are some talks from this group about doing an overnight whitewater excursion somewhere soon. Clark definitely wants to go! In fact, he got up this morning and asked if we could go canoeing again!
the re-route of kitsuma
