There are no boat launches on the Etowah except in Rome, so we had to go down a steep little path to get to the creek that led to the river. I couldn't believe how beautiful it was! One of the best things about the trip was Alan Crawford, the person in charge of Adventure for the Coosa River Basin Initiative, is a paraplegic. Some of the men from the Initiative made an aluminum frame with wheel chair wheels and webbing across it for the kayak. The rolled Al down a very steep bank and got him in the water. On the water, Al was not disabled in any way. We had a great day with Al and appreciated all his efforts.
This is the launch site at Osborne Park in Euharlee. It was fairly steep.We paddled about half a mile on the creek and then the river opened up before us. There were several fishing weirs on the trip. These were places where the Cherokee placed rocks in the river to herd fish into a narrow space and then they caught them with nets. There are rocky shoals all along the river and most places it was only a foot to waist deep. We floated several miles and took a group break on an island. Nicole pointed out some animal tracks in the mud. "Deer tracks," I said. I asked her if she was surprised that I knew that and she replied that no she wasn't. I know everything. For once she wasn't ill with me or anything almost all day! We got back in our boats in swift water and I lost my paddle. A lady said, "Here I come!" She and I got to the paddle at the same time. Nicole laughed at me. Her laughter was like silver over the water.
Nicole took this picture of me when we got to our first rest stop. An island in the middle of the river.
This is the group of nearly 70 "River Rats" who had a great day on Saturday, June 13th, 2009
This is me just paddling along about to go under Hardin Bridge. My back was really killing me, this little boat doesn't have an adjustable seat, and I thought I would just try so sit on the back of the boat.Just before Hardin Bridge Road, I decided my back just couldn't stay in one position any more! I tried to push up to sit on the back of my sit-on-top. Big mistake...that boat whipped me over the side faster than you could say, "Jack Sprat!" I came up spitting and hissing. My life jacket was too big and it was about to kill me! I thought I was going to drown from the life jacket! It came above my ears, pushed my glasses all cockeyed, and knocked my hat up on one side, down on the other. Nicole was having a fit. She laughed so hard she could hardly catch her breath. The other thing that amazed me about this spill was that it didn't even turn my can of Sprite over! It was sitting there in the boat right with my shoes. They had not moved one little bit. The water was just the perfect temperature after I got my breath back and I would have floated until I could reach the bottom but Nicole was freaking out! She doesn't like to be in water that she can't see her feet. Well, I didn't care that I couldn't see my feet, it was great. I guess I floated a hundred feet or so when there was a rock just under the water that I could stand on to get back on my boat. There were no witnesses to my embarrassing spill, the people behind Nicole and me were around one bend in the river and the people in front were too. But, I have the pictures to prove it. Nicole says that when I die she's going to blow it up and put it up for everyone to see. I told her if she died before I did, I have naked baby pictures of her!
Well, I tried to sit on the back of the boat and this is the result...an unexpected swim. My lifejacket was too big and it knocked my glasses and hat all catywampas. I thought I would drown from the jacket! I picked the one place in this whole stretch of the river that the water was over my head to turn over.
This is me just chillin' and being cool after my "swim." Whew!We came to a rock place with shoals all across the river for lunch. It was a beautiful place and people were body surfing over the rocks out in the middle of the river. Our canoes were wedged over some logs and there was a huge spider underneath it. When it was under the log, it was black, when it crawled on top, it turned a light gray. I didn't know that some spiders were chromatophores! It had a leg spread bigger than a silver dollar. Another spider with shorter legs and a big round abdomen kept crawling up on the front of Nicole's boat. She has arachnophobia. She wasn't even in her boat. She was standing on shore eating her sandwich. I flicked it off and dang! that spider came right back up the side of that boat. I flicked it again, this time it got caught by the current and it was bye bye spider. It's good to be the Mama that's not afraid of things to save my daughter from even if it's just a spider. When we got back in the boats I got stuck against the rocks at the Class 1 rapids. I finally pushed the back of my boat away from the rocks and pointed straight ahead and shot across them. Another party was crossing across the river from us. The spilled and all their stuff came out of their canoe. Several people in canoes turned over. Our little sit-on-tops were very stable as long as you don't try to climb behind the cockpit in the deepest water on that stretch of the river.
Many of the creeks around Rome have trash in them. When you walk you see plastic shopping bags up in the trees from people just throwing them down, and then the wind and rain sweeps them in the creeks. When it floods from heavy rains they float on top of the water and wind up in the trees. I didn't see one bag in the trees on the river. It was remarkably clean. Mark Lamade, the CRBI board president, found a plastic gas can complete with the spout. He tied it to his kayak and pulled it behind him home. He said that he always came back with more than he started out with. I saw one red plastic disposable cup in the river but somebody picked it up before I got to it. We also carried a plastic bag, tissues, and a trowel in case nature called on the trip. It did. I do believe a 2 piece swimsuit is in my future. I didn't think about getting a wet suit down and back up while I was in the woods. Nicole was much faster than I was, she didn't have to get completely undressed! We packed all out our accoutrements. The only thing we left behind was footprints. 
This is Nicole just after we went through the last rapids. She didn't follow me, choosing her own path and it swamped her boat.
Nicole's legs in her swamped boat. She didn't like this too much.
Nicole bailed her boat out with her shoe! When in doubt just improvise. We were less than a mile away from the landing site so she was alright.
You might be surprised how quiet it was on the trip down the river. Once we left the park in Euharlee until we got to the takeout on 411 there was not one sound of a car engine. There were only the birds calling to each other.There was one pack of dogs at someone's river house. They came to edge of the river to greet us. One was a mastiff and three were pugs. They looked like miniature clones of the mastiff. We got a kick out of them. We saw a few people on the banks or in skiffs with trolling motors fishing. Other than that the only people we saw were in our group on the river and we were a fairly quiet bunch. It was the most peaceful place I've been ever in Northeast Georgia. The very last rapids we went over, Nicole spilled her half full Dr. Pepper in her lap. We laughed and laughed.I knew when the end of the paddle was near because I could hear cars again. It made feel just a bit melancholy, but also glad to be back in my normal habitat.
All in all, this was one of the best days I've had in a long, long time. I can't wait to buy my first Tarpon sit-on-top with an adjustable seat and a lifejacket that fits! The river was beautiful. The company was excellent, and new friends were made. Saturday, June 13, 2009 is a day that will live long in my memory and a great day for just living life!
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