New River Kayaking adventures

Father's day weekend we grabbed our kayaks and headed out to the New River in Radford.  There are many places to access the river at Bisset park.  WE only took one vehicle, but my husband took his bike. So we scouted out a good ending location a few miles down the river, and he chained his bike up there. So that when we finished kayaking, he could ride back and get the truck. 

The New River is part of the Ohio River watershed, is about 360 miles long. The river flows through the U.S. states of North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia before joining with the Gauley River to form the Kanawha River at the town of Gauley Bridge, WV.  Despite its name, the New River is one of the five oldest rivers in the world geologically.  Often thought to be the second oldest in the world, with the Nile being the oldest. Unlike most other major rivers the New River flows north.

We recently purchased 3 kayaks. 2 singles and a double. My boy and i paddled in the singles and my husband and daughter used the double. Much of the New river that we floated down was extremely shallow. So shallow that we could reach right over and pick up the shells and rocks on the river bottom.

There are parts that are quite deep, so we all had our life vests on. The rivers flows slowly, so it was a nice relaxing float. i believe we went about 3 miles, and it took us close to 2.5 hours. 

Hard to see in the photo, but this tree was filled with huge water birds. Possibly, Cormorants. We also saw a turtle, little fish and either muskrats or river otters swimming. They were brown and furry and ducked under the water when we went passed, so i have no idea what they were just some sort of river critters. 

When we got to our end spot on the river, we stayed in the kayaks while kenan went back to get the truck.  i took over the double, because it's a little harder to steer and let my girl try out the single.  It was really shallow in this area, maybe 6"-8" deep.  There was an island in the center of the river here, with nesting killdeer.  We enjoyed watching them run along the edge of the island and yell at us for being so close. 

  

We usually hike on the weekends, so kayaking is a new adventure.  We have so many places around us to kayak.  Besides the New River, there is the Little River in Floyd and Big Reed Island, which is not too far down the road. We are excited to explore these areas this summer and spend as much time outside as possible. You can expect to see more kayaking posts in the future! #getoutside

Weekend Hike- Chestnut Falls

This past weekend we decided to enjoy the nice weather by hiking on part of the New River Trail.  The closest trail access, it's about an hour away in Galax.  The Trail begins in Galax, and follows the New River all the way up to Pulaski.  We have hiked different areas along the trail, but have never walked the whole thing. We typically drive up to the Shot Tower park and walk to Foster Falls, which is a really nice hike.  We wanted to hike somewhere different though, and decided to start at Cliff view Campground/Dannelly Park and walk up to Chestnut Falls.

Before our hike we had a picnic at Donnelly park. The kids ran around the fitness trail, and then we headed across the bridge to the New River Trail.

This part of the trail doesn't follow the New River. This is Chestnut Creek, farther up the trail it will connect with the New River. It was a beautiful trail to follow. There were lots of folks on bicycles and on horseback along the trail. 

The falls at Chestnut Creek are small, but beautiful. Unfortunately, this seems to be a hangout area, as there was just a ton of trash and litter here. So sad to see in such a beautiful area.  We were able to walk around the edge of the creek, right up to the falls. 

It was the perfect day for hiking and the leaves are just beginning to change. We are trying to get out and explore as much as we can before the long days of winter set in.

We are still living in the RV.  There has been a lot of progress on the house, but it will still be a few weeks before we are in. i'm really trying to embrace the season.  Getting out and walking the new river trail is a good way to appreciate it's beauty.

Shot Tower and Foster falls.

This past weekend our weather was beautiful. Kenan took Saturday off and went for a drive to admire the changing leaves. We were planning to go hiking at Beaver creek, but instead decided to continue on to the New River trail.

Nice view of Buffalo mountain on our way to the New River Trail. Buffalo mountain is only a few miles from house, and we enjoy hiking up it a couple times each.

We started our hike at the Shot Tower. This shot tower was built more than 150 years ago. It was used to make ammunition for the firearms of the early settlers. Lead was melted in a kettle atop the 75-foot tower and poured through a sieve, falling through the tower and down an additional 75-foot shaft beneath the tower into a kettle of water. The long fall was thought necessary to mold and shape the round shots and the kettle of water at the bottom helped to cushion their fall. We've never been inside the shot tower, but i think they occasionally open it for tours.

Then we headed across the old trestle bridge and wandered along the New river trail towards Foster Falls. We hiked this a few years ago, and really enjoyed it.

The village of Foster Falls was named for an early settler and farmer at the location. It was a product of the iron industry that flourished in the New River Valley of southwestern Virginia in the 19th and early 20th centuries. There are many original buildings from the village still standing. Although, i failed to take any pictures of them this time.

They also now have a livery that rents bikes, canoes, kayaks and tubes. There is a campground right on the river, and a horse stable with horse back rides.

The iron furnace at Foster Falls was constructed in 1881. The furnace ceased operations in 1914.

The trail is beautiful and the hike from the shot tower to Foster falls is less than 3 miles round trip, i believe. It follows the New river, and offers up some beautiful scenery. Despite its name, the New River is considered to be one of the oldest rivers in the world, between 250 million and 360 million years old. It is second in age only to the Nile River, making it the oldest river in N. America.


As usual, all attempts at a nice family picture looks like this. :) i hope your weekend was filled with lots of smiles and laughter.

Weekend Adventures; New River Trail

This past weekend we went hiking on the New River Trail. The New River Trail is about 26 miles from us. We have hiked parts of it before, and this time decided to explore a new area.

We started in Hiwassee at the Trestle Bridge and hiked to Draper, which is about 4 mile hike one way. The Hiwassee Trestle is part of the New River Trail that follows the former railroad line used by the Norfolk & Western. The bridge was built in 1931 by Virginia Bridge and Iron Co. of Roanoke. The trestle is 951 ft (290 m) long.

This is a view of the New River/Claytor Lake from the trestle. Claytor Lake was formed when Appalachian Power Company built a dam on the New River, in 1939. This is the largest of the power company's 12 hydroelectric plants. The New River is one of the oldest rivers in the US, and possibly the world. It is also the only major river that flows South to North.

The trestle bridge was really quite massive and rather impressive.

All along the trail we saw the dried remains of Wineberries which are now out of season. Wineberries are an invasive plant originally from Asia. They are very similar to wild raspberry. They can be distinguished by the fuzzy hairs along the stems, and star-shaped sepals.


We didn't see a lot of wild flowers this time of year, but we did see a few. Sweet pea flowers. i love the way these smell.

Pale touch-me-nots along the trail.

Spicebush Swallowtail on some type of thistle.


The trail followed the New River all the way to Draper. The trail was up above the water, and had many nice views of Claytor lake, but never actually had access to it, which was a bit disappointing. The kids were hoping to stop along the trail and play in the water.

We used to do family hikes almost every weekend. This summer we have stayed much closer to home, hiking on our own property, playing in the creek and just hanging around the yard. This summer has really been too hot to do a whole lot of hiking. Now that the temps are starting to cool down slighty (80's instead of 90's) i am hoping that we'll get out and do a bit more exploring. This area is brimming with nature and birding trails, and Natural history.
Although in all honesty, i have quite enjoyed our laid back lazy summer.