Mother Nature blessed me today with sunshine & a great paddle with friends. It started out with my CCCC bike ride, then lunch at Peegeo's, where the cyclists, paddlers & some other friends joined in for the celebration. Afterwards, we headed to The Forks, running shuttles to both Scheck's Landing & Brown Bridge Dam, before getting on the Boardman River. Other than a downed tree near the put-in (Mike R sawed & I pulled thru opening), we had a perfect paddle, gorgeous weather & great conversation, admiring the tamaracks, and 2 blue herons, before some of the group got out at Scheck's.
From there, 5 of us headed downstream to Brown Bridge Pond & the new rapids, which I had checked out early this morning from the overlook. After we made it through the very shallow, wide upper rapids, we got out to scout the lower, which had formed 2 deeper, faster chutes since our recon paddle. As we were standing on the sand planning the best line, a mother & a young son started through in a tandem canoe, but the son didn't know how to paddle. The next son tipped in his kayak, but made it through wet. Then, the last son bumped his kayak, but made it too. If we had not been in the process of scouting & coached them, the outcome for this family would have been different. Next, it was our turn, Sara leading, followed by Mike, Jocelyn, Roseanne & Don. As each of us paddled down the chute & around the stumps, we got cheered by the rest of our group from the overlook above, Dean & Diane, Barb, Bob Fitch & Tracie. And, when we reached the dam, they were there to help us carry boats back to the access. What a way to celebrate, teamwork & comraderie on the river!
For more photos, see separate Photo Page.
