Kayaking - Sunday

Sunday, the girl scouts got up and got moving. We were a little sore from paddling the day before, but they were ready for the trip on Wadboo Creek. Wadboo is a totally different kind of water from Charleston. Wadboo is blackwater, creek merging into river one way, and more swampy the other. We started with the river"ish" way first. The girls were apprehensive because I was honest and told them we would probably see some alligators, and within about 15 minutes we saw a few - mostly small ones, but one really good sized one. After that, the girls were really staring down every single log or mudbank to see if it was a gator. The guide was a retired forester (same guy we had last year) and he would tell the girls, "Nope, that's a logigator."


T-Rex (in back) enjoyed going without an adult, and a lot of the girls wanted to go "by themselves." Besides the alligators, we saw turtles sunning themselves, and Ospreys sitting on their giants nests.




We had signed up for a three hour trip, but about half way through we stopped back at the boat landing to get a snack, and some of the girls decided that they had done enough. My co-leader, and another friend took those girls back to the lake, and I took T-Rex and the other ones who wanted to stay on with the guide. Honestly....we weren't thinking too clearly. Leaving the river part, and traveling up more into the swampy area, we were riding the current. Which was great, and easy, especially with sore muscles. Unfortunately riding a current takes you farther faster, so when we turned around to go back, we were fighting the current, with exhausted muscles. The girls hung in there really well though. T-Rex and her partner did a great job paddling around trees that were submerged, or blocking paths, and they did it all by themselves. There was a lot of problem solving involved in some of the places they found themselves, but as our guide said, "The only way you learn to paddle is to do it."

This was T-Rex and her partner following the guide through the swampier part of Wadboo. Overall an enjoyable weekend - I need to get a couple tandem kayaks, and start checking out other paddles around here. I really enjoy this, and T-Rex did an amazing job paddling. I love hanging out with these scouts - they are tremendously sweet, and really up for anything.