Diverting Ducky's

While in Hot Spring NC, we decided to kayak down the lower French Broad River. So we stopped by Huck Finn Rafting Outfitters (who were great by the way) and rented a couple of ducky's for an unguided trip. We took a quick shuttle to the river, unloaded our boats, marched into the river, plopped on the ducky's, and off we went. Our destination was Murray's Branch Park. It was only 5 miles away, so we figured the trip would be quick and easy. Well.... with the drought this year, the river was pretty low. In fact, it was REAL low in some spots. So low that we got stuck on a lot of rocks and in a few places we actually had to get out of the ducky's and walked it over to a deeper section. Not only was the river low, but the wind was blowing hard and was working against us. In some spots, even though I was paddling my heart out, I didn't even move! Needless to say I got a great upper body work out. So what should of been a nice, easy, 2 1/2 hour trip took us 4 hours to do. But in our defense, we took it real slow, snapped lots of photos, goofed around a bit, and just enjoyed being outdoors. The lower French Broad River is fairly calm and only has a couple of class I and class II rapids, nothing to crazy, but enough to make it a little fun. The last section was probably my favorite. A bit rowdy, with a couple of crazy rapids. All in all, it was a beautiful day. Oh, and in true Boo form, he fell in the river. I swear, I can take that boy rafting down the NEW RIVER or OCOEE with class III and IV rapids and he will barely get wet, but get him on a class I or II river like the Nantahala or French Broad, and he will fall in each time. hahhaah!! Poor thing.... luckily we had a change of clothes and a nice camp fire to keep him warm. Til next time. GET OUTDOORS!!