Dan River Adventure

I have known Cathy since I was pregnant with Jessie--over 25 years. She is a world traveler and far more intrepid than my timid self. But we do enjoy kayaking together and for my 60th birthday, she booked a sweet little cabin for us near Lake Tillery where we hiked and paddled and contemplated the next decade.

Now it was my turn to treat her to a special trip and on August 26 weekend, I did.

Twice now I have paddled sections of the Dan River with my son, Ben. The scenery is spectacular. The first time we went, Jacob from the Haw River Canoe and Kayak company, a dear friend, offered to go with us. I have this thing about wanting to do a new stretch of river for the first time with someone more experienced and Jacob's offer could not have made me happier. Jacob is seriously whitewater so I figured he'd be bored to tears and took his offer as a gracious favor for this old lady. Instead, as we traversed an almost continuous slew of Class 1 rapids, he noted that we were seeing Class 4 scenery on a Class 1 river and was duly impressed. The river passes by enormous cliffs. Apparently, it is these huge cliffs that typically break off the create the challenging Class 4 rapids. In this case, we got the great cliffs without the treacherous rapids.

I had so much fun on that trip, Ben and I went back this spring and did another section of the Dan that was familiar to him through his work at the Betsy Jeff Penn Environmental Education Center. I guess Cathy heard me talk so much about the Dan that when I offered to take her away for a weekend in LibraryAnn, she chose a trip to paddle the Dan.

I don't have a waterproof camera yet. The image on the right is courtesy of the Danbury General Store--a shout out to the owner who rescued us on our second Dan River trip when Ben locked his keys in my truck back at the put in and couldn't drive us home from the take out. Please buy your chips and drinks from her--she never let us pay her.  The image of the cliffs below is from the NC River Paddler Blog (I promise to get a GoPro soon...) and gives just a glimpse of the sights to be seen.

So despite the wicked heat, Cathy and I had a grand time. The trip we took was courtesy of the Dan River Company which has a private put in upstream of the most scenic stretch. The water level was perfect, the riffles were enough of a challenge to be interesting without being scary. And the air was cool on the river.

We were on the river about three hours. We took ourselves to historic Bib's BBQ in Winston-Salem for a late lunch then walked the art district until heat and rain sent us home.

Our home base was the Dan River Campground, 45 minutes away in Stoneville, NC. Apparently they have their own river adventures to offer. I was intent on showing Cathy the section of river I had enjoyed so much but couldn't find a closer place to camp (Hanging Rock State Park campground is lovely but was fully booked for this weekend). The Dan River Campground in Stoneville was very nice and I think it would be fun to go back and try their section of the river the next time. Always looking for a good excuse...