It was a long summer and we missed the opportunity to get up to the Green River. That is, until I ran into the J-Train! We made the latest trip yet to the lower Green. I have to admit I was a bit worried about the temperatures but with the right equipment it was extremely comfortable. The air temperature was in the lower 60's when we started just after 12 noon. It may have made it to 64 or so by the time we made the take-out. The new paddling pants I purchased for the trip may have been what saved me from the cold mountain waters. With those and my paddling jacket I was very comfortable if not a tad warm from time to time.
This was the first trip to the Green for J-Train and I think we pulled it off close to perfect. We didn't see anyone else paddling this section of the river. We passed about 5 fly fishermen but that is really the only other action going on this particular Sunday afternoon.
Enjoy the footage I captured along with a few pretty cool stills.
Well, Helpdesk and Gusto made the trip to Lake James for a couple of hot July days. The temp on the water was not so bad however, the evenings were quite warm. We camped at Lake James state park and the site was a bit of a hike from the parking lot. Given that distance we ended up taking the boats to a nearby boat ramp to launch and then paddled to our camp site. Gusto got a shuttle ride back over to pick up the car later in the day. We did, however, carry the boats out on the last day. We just took our time and carried them back to the parking lot. I expect it was maybe a quarter of a mile but it wasn’t a flat walk at all. Anyway, the paddling was good we ended up paddling almost 11 miles on Friday and were going to paddle on Saturday but decided to head back a little early. The camp site was nice and we had a small beach area that was perfect for sitting out and catching what little cool breeze was available on Thursday and Friday evenings. It’s worth a trip back in the spring or fall but wouldn’t suggest a July trip again. This spot just isn’t far enough into the mountains. Here are some details and a short video.
Gusto, Hiking Geer, and Helpdesk braved the threat of storms to paddle the South Fork New River. We started this trip by leaving our shuttle vehicle at the New River State Park (221 Access) where we would later set up camp. We moved all the kayaks to Gusto’s SUV and headed south to the Wagoner Access. This first leg was 10.2 miles and was helpdesks favorite part of the two day trip. The second leg was just under 9 miles from 221 access camp site to the Kings Creek takeout.
Click the map for a full version.
Day 1 Stats:
Interesting how we averaged almost the same speed both days ~3.5 mph. Not sure what I was doing to get up to 9mph on day one. Sometimes the GPS will pick up short quick movements and logs them. Or we can go with the fact I paddle fast at times. I like the fast paddle theory.
Day 2 Stats:
Here is a short (Very short preview of the video) I still have to edit about 30 minutes of footage into something manageable. This is the first time I have shot 1080p and 60 frames per second so I have about 10 Gigs of video data to work with. I think I need a new computer!
If you look closely you can see the bottom of the river. It is about 20 inches deep in this section (just a guess). Here is the full trip condensed down to about 5 minutes.
Found a great way to handle the extra video footage. This is about 20 minutes of video time-lapsed into less than 2 minutes. Great way to show more of the New River in less time. I would say I was paddling this fast but you know better than that. Check out Gusto at the 1 minute mark as he tries to pass me. Naw, that ain't gonna happen. You got to paddle harder than that Gusto.
To get the full GPS data visit our EveryTrail site here
