Kayaking The Saluda

We went kayaking down the Saluda river last weekend. Cliff and I had already checked out the river a couple of weekends before.  It's shallow for the most part and has some rocky shoals, which makes little tiny rapids. We call them rapids, but really they were just glorified ripples. This would be a great place to bring Lidia and Sawyer for a long kayak trip. Although we would only paddle about 7 miles, that's a long kayak trip for the kids. The trip would take us close to 3 hours to complete. 

We got up Saturday morning and put the kayaks in the lake, right in front of the house. In order to get across the dam, we paddled to a mandatory portage area, took the kayaks out of the water and carried them up a hill........

 ....then down a hill.

 Sawyer decided this was the best way to get down.

And then, down a road that came out on the other side of the dam. 

 We were able to get right to the water's edge with no problems. 

 And then, we set sail.

At first we thought this was a train trestle, but after passing beneath it we decided it couldn't be. It's too narrow. Maybe it's just for foot traffic.

First rapids of the day. Lidia and Sawyer were nervous at first, but paddled through it like pros. After that, they were excited and looking for more.

 Here's another. There were about 4 or 5 areas in the river like this. 

To put things into perspective....that log above Cliff and Sawyer came to rest there during that awful flood we had last fall.

  When Sawyer got tired, Cliff towed him.

It was a great day on the river. Although the trip was a little long, we were moving with the flow of the river and the weather was beautiful. Lidia and Sawyer did great. I want to do this trip again in the fall, when the leaves change colors.

 Talk to y'all soon,

Laurie