By Colleen North

So said Jay Langley, our head guide for OWL’s four-day canoe and kayak trip on Virginia's Shenandoah River. But more about that later.

About a year ago Ginger Twardy and Jay discussed the possibility of a Shenandoah canoe and kayak trip with OWL. In August 2002 the plan came together. With guidance from OWL Deb Stephano and Hunterdon County Parks program director Tom Rosol, the date was set for the last weekend in April.

At a preparatory meeting with Jay and his river guide wife, Catherine, we discussed the itinerary for the trip, and were given a comprehensive checklist to help us pack for camping and paddling in spring weather. "Weather is always unpredictable, and it’s been known to snow in April," said Jay—and between our prep meeting and the day we left it did snow!

Thursday, April 24

It was a cold and blustery this morning as 14 OWLs and six guides met at the Hunterdon County Arboretum at 5am. After loading our gear and kayaks we were off, and three pit stops later we were on the South Fork of the Shenandoah River.

Before putting in, Jay taught us river safety signals that we would need to communicate as we paddled.Only a week before, the river had been so high from rain and run-off that Jay wasn’t sure we would be able to do this stretch. To be safe, he and Catherine had checked out the area the month prior to our arrival and had a contingency plan.

It was drizzling as we put in at Bixler’s Bridge, and our first lesson was finding the eddy—the calm water between two currents where you can sit motionless in your boat facing upstream. Three hours later we had paddled 7 miles to a point where our guides would pick us up for the short ride to base camp.

Ginger on the Shenandoah River

While we paddled, Tom and Catherine had set up the camp kitchen and removed our gear from the vehicles. No time to reflect on our first river run, we found our gear and set about pitching tents. It was a colorful sight to see them going up, and an adventure to pitch them in the rain! Over a hearty rice and beans stew, we talked about the wildlife that shared the river with us that day—ospreys, bald eagles, great blue herons, cormorants and turtles. The beauty of the Shenandoah Valley in spring was awesome. Masses of Virginia blue bells lined the shore and eastern red buds injected deep pink across the landscape. After dinner Debby Stephano announced it was Ginger’s birthday — so our OWL trip leader would also be our River Queen. Most of us had been up since 3am, traveled at least 300 miles and paddled 7 miles to pitch a tent in the rain, so by 9:30pm we were ready for bed.

Scrambled eggs and fruit got us started this morning. Today would be our furthest paddle - 11 miles of river – including three sets of rapids, which awaited us after lunch.

Guides Jay, Bill, Rob and Gene provided more instruction on reading the river. We practiced getting into and out of eddies whenever an opportunity arose. Adding to the basics of the day before, we learned Speed-Angle-Lean or "SAL" as a way to remember how to launch out of an eddy. We learned to paddle into a down river "V" and go around an upriver "V". Sharon Lubeck and newcomer Evelyn Schilling were a canoe team each day of the trip, and delighted in showing off their ever improving paddling skills. Lunch was sandwiches, cookies, fruit and iced tea served right near some poison ivy.

As we paddled toward Compton’s Falls, we laughed and bailed water and gaped at the magnificent shear rock cliffs that surrounded this part of the River. April Lippett shared that she relished the opportunity to see various farm animals, like the cows, bulls, horses and goats we saw grazing along the river.

"What’s that sound?" asked Susan Martka, and then we all heard the now familiar roar of rushing water over rock. We had learned that the deeper the water, the calmer the surface. Compton’s Falls must have had lots of rock just below the surface, because the loud roar gave way to the biggest whitecaps we’d seen so far.

"Follow the leader" was working up to now, so again we watched the course our lead boat took and forged ahead. "Adrenaline rush" is putting it mildly. As each boat emerged from the rapids it paddled into the eddy to watch the rest from the calm spot. The smile on Carol DeClesis’s face said, "Success is ours!" By now we were already wet, and the bailing was routine—but it was all worth the thrill of the sport to achieve success through these rapids (Jay said, a Class II). Photos from the trip will show fourteen OWLs smiling!

Our second rainy night in camp, we gathered under a tarp put up by our guides. Nancy Chaplin asked for a critique of our skills that day. This is when Jay admitted that he wasn’t sure how this part of the trip would go, but our guides were impressed with our abilities. "OWLs don’t whine" according to Jay. Not only were we a fun group, but we were up to the challenge of the river!

That night at dinner, we relived the thrill of Compton’s Falls. Steaks were on the menu with S’mores for dessert. Although it was raining, we hardly noticed. Sue Buccellato started a getting-to-know-you game. Betty Abrams said our campsite was starting to feel like home. We talked about the beauty that domestic cows, goats and horses added to the riverbank but how, unfortunately, this practice makes the fish inedible, as seen on signs posted along the river.

Saturday, April 26

Blueberry pancakes for breakfast, and another day of rain meant we would have to vote on whether to take on the river at all. The night before, Ceil Karvellas’s brother, Mike, arrived at camp to share information about rivers and floods from a book he had recently published. He would join our group on the river along with six of us who were willing to take a chance on Mother Nature (T-storms were forecast), including Tricia Hancocks on her first OWL outing. This would be our last opportunity to paddle before heading back to New Jersey tomorrow.

I had kayaked Thursday and Friday and decided to learn some canoeing from Gene Robbins. Peggy Folgore teamed up with Jay in the lead canoe, and we put in again at Bixler’s Bridge to retrace our first day. Gene and I were bringing up the rear when we saw another group of red canoes coming onto the river ahead.