Date: Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:38:22 -0400
From: Debbie Tunnell
Subject: HRA Paddle trip Saturday Aug 23
Join the Haw River Assembly sponsored paddle on the Haw River from Swepsonville to Saxapahaw August 23, 2008. There is always enough water on this stretch of river no matter what the river level. The Haw River Canoe & Kayak Company (http://www.hawrivercanoe.com) will provide the guide. To register, call 336-260-6465.
This 2.5 hour paddle will begin at 1:00 p.m. near the Town of Swepsonville. Before getting on the water, instruction will be offered for those with little or no previous paddling experience. At the conclusion of the paddle, everyone should have time to visit the Town of Saxapahaw and Rivermill, its renovated old textile mill.
This paddling trip on the Haw River begins at a historic dam, wing wall and turbine building just downstream of the Town of Swepsonville, NC. There are no rapids to negotiate; however, what the river lacks in adrenaline-producing excitement is more than made up for in scenery and wildlife. In addition to great blue herons, Canada geese, cormorants, muskrats, beavers and turtles, ospreys, red-tail hawks and belted kingfishers are often seen. It is not unusual to also see bald eagles fishing in the downstream reaches of river. The river’s wide floodplain makes for characteristic floodplain forests of sycamore, birch, sugarberry, box elder, willow and ash trees while high rocky bluffs in some areas are characterized by beech, oak, pine and hickory trees along with cane and mountain laurel under the forest canopy. The lower one-mile stretch of the river is on the backwater created by a dam at the historic mill town of Saxapahaw. The take-out is at a private camp just upstream of another dam.
Come enjoy the river and it’s beauty by paddling this section of the Haw next month. To register, call 336-260-6465.
[ad#336×280]