June paddling at NOC

Near the end of June Zack and I spent a few days on the main campus of the Nantahala Outdoor Center.

We arrived late on a Friday night, grabbed our check-in materials, and unloaded our stuff in our room at the Nantahala Inn.

Saturday morning we got to sleep in a bit before a morning rafting trip down the Nantahala River.  I'm not used to dam release rivers, so the notion of only 8 floatable miles was new to me.  There were six guests and our guide Rich in the raft.  After some quick instruction and practice we eased into the current of the frigid (48 to 52 degree water) Nantahala.  A few hours later, and the Nantahala Falls drop, we were back at the main campus after an enjoyable and uneventful trip.  I was grateful to Rich for the information he shared.

After a relaxing lunch of BBQ we headed over to the zip-line adventure park.  Zack was hesitant at first, but after making it across both levels of obstacles he was ready for the zip-line.  After one trip down he was quick to head up for another.  Who knows how many times he did the zip-line before doing both levels of obstacles again.

A short hike down the AT also kept us busy.

Sunday was our most relaxing day at NOC.  We had originally planned to do the duckies in the morning but after experiencing the water temps we moved the trip to the afternoon when the air temps would be higher.  Still, after experiencing the cold water on Saturday we grabbed some neoprene for sitting in the water for a few hours.

The area was absolutely beautiful.  The fog on the river could make it a challenge to see your entire party though.  We had times of sun, but it got cloudy and rained a bit each day.

I was hesitant to let Zack go on his own, but the guides seemed confident.  He had no problems as the sequence of photos from Nantahala Falls suggests.

During any down time Zack did a lot of looking at knives at the Outfitter Store while I tried to find a helmet I liked.  We ended up walking away with stickers, a frisbee, water bottle, t-shirts, and a hoodie.

Monday was the day I was most anticipating.  We were slated for a full day of kayak instruction.  When it started raining in the middle of the night I started getting concerned and when we woke to the pouring rain and went to check in I was not looking forward to being cold and wet all day.

After meeting our master guide Andrew we headed to the gear shed.  With the rain I grabbed the neoprene to keep us warm.  Thankfully it stopped raining.  After a boat fitting we were off to a nice finger of Lake Fontana.  

We practiced some strokes and did some flat water work.  Zack and I both slid down a hill and off a small ledge into the water.  Zack filled his boat with water to work on his balance and ended up doing some modified bow stalls.  I attempted to work on my roll, but just don't work on it enough to be consistent.

I should have worked on it more, but the skirt was so tight we could hardly get it on.  My thumbs ached the next few days from wrestling with the skirt.

It was my hope to then kayak the Nantahala, but Zack is still too afraid of wearing a skirt and my roll is too inconsistent.  Instead we hit the Little Tennessee for a nice afternoon trip.  After dropping us off at the put-in Andrew took the car to the take-out and ran back.  He literally ran the shuttle.

The river was up a bit from the night before so it was a bit muddy.

We put in just down stream from this suspension bridge.  Zack liked making it shake.

When Andrew returned from his run we did some brief work on entering and exiting the current and headed off.

We stopped along the way to swim a small rapid and then Zack learned to surf a kayak.  After that he was trying to do it anywhere he could.

The boat Zack paddled was meant for kids so he could manipulate it better than what he has at home.  Of course he wants one now.

I'm ready for whitewater boat too.  Just going to have to decide what to sell.

The photos don't show it, but there were actually a couple of nice small rapids for our kayak trip.  The biggest was right at the finish.

It started raining again just as we were loading up.

Overall it was a great three days at NOC.  We'll be looking to go back and perhaps take their weekend paddling course.

Lake paddling in May and June

I found myself paddling in lakes in late May and early June.

Memorial Day started with a sunrise paddle on Lake Wappapello.  This was the first time I had kayaked there, although I had done a winter paddle trip to one of the islands several years ago.

Barrett's Marina was the starting point.  From there I headed over to Eagle Point, out into the main channel and back around to Barrett's.  A really beautiful morning on the water, and some good pictures.

June saw us back at the lake in Simpson Park before heading to a WoodBadge closing luncheon.  A paddle-boarding class was just starting as we returned to the shore.

April Paddle

For April we took a 3-day trip on the Jack's Fork River from the South Prong bridge to Alley Spring.  River maps and outfitters show this as a 31-mile stretch. 

Zack and I headed out at 5am on Friday morning to meet Kelly and Carson at Harvey's Canoe Rental near Alley Spring.  I've used Harvey's for shuttles before.  After moving their gear to the truck and settling up we headed out for the Prongs to start our trip.

We put in at the South Prong access.  Within 200 yards there was a tree blocking the entire river.  The boys pulled the kayaks over the bank while Kelly and I lined the canoes under the tree.

We couldn't have asked for a much better day.  We saw one other person before lunch.  Carson took a leap from a nice cliff right before lunch.  Two couples were putting in for a quick afternoon trip at the Highway 17 bridge.  We passed a group of women just below the bridge.  We settled for the night around the 85 mile marker on the generic park service map.

Blue Spring is a popular stop for folks. 

The boys gathered up wood and got a nice campfire going.

The meal for the night was tacos.  We stayed in my big tent together.  I fell asleep shortly after 8pm. 

Saturday morning we were out of camp around 9am.

Loaded down.

Kelly had some issues on Saturday.  Somehow he hit a rock that got him enough off balance to tip.  After grabbing some initial gear floating down, Zack and I raced downstream to catch the rest.  A few hours later he was wet again.

Saturday night we camped across the river from the Bay Creek primitive camping area.  It was the first night under the stars for both Carson and Zack.

Sunday was up and out early to head for the truck.

This was the first time I'd been on the stretch from the Prongs to Highway 17.  It is an enjoyable float, but losing a few inches of water would result in a lot of dragging.


Can't beat days like this.

 

 

April 8

April 8 is a special day for me.  Some years ago our friends and family gathered to celebrate Debbie and I getting married.  In 2014 we received an interesting anniversary gift.

As the school privatization movement seeks to gain steam in Missouri the money that flows with it has led to a Legislature that is increasingly critical of Missouri's public schools.  Representatives and Senators seem to no longer care about the views of teachers and administrators.  Some have become downright hostile toward educators.

While the Missouri House of Representatives was passing legislation to study education standards (anti Common Core) and the House Education Committee was debating transfer legislation not supported by public schools, we learned once again that all politics is local.

On April 8 we found out here here and here that Missouri communities support their local public schools.  The list of successful bond issues and tax levies goes beyond the linked articles to cover all parts of Missouri.  And we're not talking about issues barely passing.  Many passed by huge margins.

It is clear that communities support their local schools, but sad that many of those serving in the Missouri Legislature no longer do. 

The education community rallied together in support of sustaining the veto of HB253 last summer.  It's time we stand again to show members of the Missouri Legislature that Missouri's public schools have the support of their communities.

On Friday lets unleash the power of #Lovemyschoolday

March on the water

The 3rd weekend in March is the annual Missouri Whitewater Championships held at Millstream Gardens on the St. Francis River.  Zack and I went down Friday after school and camped at Johnson Shut-Ins State Park.  It was the first time I had stayed in the new campground and I believe we'll be going back.

We got up early on Saturday to do some walking through the shut-ins, but had to wait at the gate for a ranger to open up. 

 

 

After a walk around the shut-ins it was off to Ironton for some chocolate milk and onto Millstream Gardens to watch the races.

 

 

 

Watching the races is fun, but watching other people paddle just makes me want to paddle.  So two weeks later Bob and I spent a late after noon with a relaxing paddle on Creve Coeur Lake while Debbie and Zack rode on the bike trail.





February Paddle

The plan was to hit the water Sunday morning, but with sickness in the house on Saturday evening I cancelled.  But on Sunday morning there was no more sickness.

Zack and I loaded up 2 kayaks somewhat quickly and headed to Creve Coeur Lake for a relaxing paddle...at least I thought it would be.

We were surprised at the volume of ice still on the lake after 5 days above freezing - several above 50 degrees.  Regardless, there was open water along the shore and we saw a path through the ice to an area that would be out of the wind.  The windchill was around 24.

We took off through the open water path with Zack in the lead.  Nearing the far end of the path and open water he hit ice.  It was about 2 inches thick.  We backed up and I took the lead to bust through.

I rode up on the ice and rocked to bust up about 3 feet.  That was just enough to let the wind shift the other end of the path and start closing it off.  The next bust caused the path to narrow.  At that point I slid up onto the ice as much as possible, put my paddle on the deck, and used my hands to scoot the kayak across the ice to open water - busting ice as I went.

Zack saw what I was doing and did the same, but he was on the other end of the path.  I circled around near the shore and bused through a little bit to get him with me.  We didn't go far though and ice was right to the bank.

We turned around and stayed along the open shore after that.

This is not the first time we've paddled in ice, but there was more of it this time.
 

Take Back the Narrative

While at the 2014 National Conference on Education I heard a recurring theme of the need to push back against efforts to privatize education.  The message was not a surprising one.  For some time public education has been the whipping boy of everything wrong in society and seems to have intensified recently.

Can we fight back and what will it take?  I believe we can, but it will take a concerted effort by all of us who support public education. 

If we examine the reform movement we now see what appears to be a coordinated social media effort to recycle the same stories over and over.  Take a look at their Twitter accounts.  These folks follow each other and retweet "think tank" releases and news stories.  If something is happening in one state it will make its way across the nation via Twitter.

That isn't normally the case with great news in public education. 

Surveys on the support of public education routinely show strong support for local schools.  That support drops when asked about the nation's schools.  That is a perception we can, and must, change.  It's time we started showing support for other schools across the country.  The media isn't going to do it.  Only we can.

Let's commit to passing along the great things going on in schools across the country and take back the narrative about public education.