So you can imagine my joy when Saturday arrived and my husband suggested we check out Huguenot Flatwater (without Kozy this time, just so we could do more exploring).
The Huguenot Flatwater area/parking lot was extremely easy to get to. You come over the Huguenot bridge and take the first road (there are signs to Huguenot Flatwater and Pony Pasture) and voila...you're there.
While it was a BEAUTIFUL day to be on the water, the water in this area was lower than we would have liked which made our paddle slightly difficult in comparison to other places we've experienced.
Algae (at least I think it was algae) took up a lot of the waters surface for the first bit of our trip. Sometimes the algae made way for rocks, which was difficult for me (at first) to navigate, but after about 20 minutes or so I felt confidant enough to stand up on my board amid the rocks, algae and submerged tree trunks in the water.
As we paddled up river (toward Boshers Dam) the winds and current worked against us which made for a FANTASTIC workout!
My husband and I actually took the middle fins off of our ShuBu's several times throughout this trip because of low areas of water or extremely rocky areas.
Eventually, we made it to Willey Bridge which is just before Boshers Dam.
The water got extremely low at this point so I parked my ShuBu against some rocks and took in some sun while Jody continued up to Boshers Dam to check it out.
After another 15 minutes or so of Jody exploring Boshers Dam, it was time for us to turn around and catch our first downwinder back to Huguenot Bridge.
The ride back was extremely easy-going. I got to enjoy more of the scenery because I wasn't in a constant battle with the wind and current.
The paddle up to Boshers Dam was about a mile. It seemed to take us awhile because we had to stop several times to take our middle fins off of our boards to avoid hitting rocks along the way. The downwinder back down to the launch area was very quick.
I'm not sure I'd recommend this paddle when the water is this low. We had a great time but we also had boards that are very versatile on the river. I definitely would not have been comfortable taking an epoxy board on this excursion.
All in all, another GREAT paddling experience in Virginia!
More information about the area: http://www.jamesriverpark.org/general-location.htm
1 comment:
Very nice.
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