In June of 2002, Myron finally talked us into buying one of his many canoes. For its first voyage, we choose what is quite possibly the rockiest river around. We paddled the Yadkin River through Pilot Mountain State Park. Unfortunately this took us through a section known as "The Shoals". Somehow the bottom of our new boat survived the journey. In March of 2004 we paddled on the French Broad River for the first time. This trip took us through the Biltmore Estate near Asheville. In October, we surveyed flood damage from the September hurricanes as we paddled the Catawba River. In April of 2005, Kevin and I paddled a lower section of the Catawba, through a wildlife refuge along Mountain Island Lake. In January of 2007, Christy, Dave, Forest, Megan, and Nathan joined me for another trip in the same area. In November of 2006, Myron, Dave, and I paddled the South Yadkin River from Coolemee to High Rock Lake. A month later, Wayne joined the rest of us for a fun trip down the Ararat River through part of Pilot Mountain State Park.
Back in my college days, I paddled the New River on several occasions. In April of 2003 we returned for an overnight trip. We started at the US 221 Access and paddled to Mouth of Wilson, Virginia, camping at the Allegheny Access. In October of 2003 we returned with Dave and paddled the section of the river from near Todd to NC 163.
