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The New River
Tennessee to
Ohio by Kayak
2003
On a sunny
day in early June two kids (Ryan and Rachel Williamson) hiked to
the head waters of the New River at Snake Mountain, on the North
Carolina-Tennessee border. For the next three and a half
weeks they paddled 1970-80's kayaks down the New River. They
encountered jumping beavers, large and small birds with strange names, drunken
sailors, chemical effluent, flooding waters, poison ivy, mold, dirty
hippies, even dirtier Appalachian Trail hikers, coal barges and Army Corps
locks. After three weeks of near constant rain they reached the
polluted Ohio River on the West Virginia-Ohio border. Surprisingly a
few of their photographs survived the harsh conditions and inept skills of
the users.
Here are
some of those photographs taken by Rachel and Ryan Williamson.
Click on images
to see a larger view |
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| Headwaters of the
North Fork New River on Snake Mountain. |
Road walking the
first 15 miles with an umbrella to keep off the sun. |
Taking a nap by the
river on the road walk. |
Retrieving the
Kayaks from the garage of a friendly stranger who let us stash them while
hiking the upper stream. Notice the rose on the red boat which you will see
in many of the pictures. |
Ryan Eating Cherries
that Rachel found on a riverside tree. |
Re-organizing Gear. |
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| Crossing under one
of the numerous low-water bridges in North Carolina |
A four generation
family reunion on the NC-VA border. They invited us on shore and fed us
well! |
Hanging out at a
riverside restaurant and campground. These had to be the nicest folks we
met. |
Rachel temporarily
fixing her boat which developed numerous cracks. We called it the "Yellow
Submarine" |
An interesting bug
shell. |
We kept our cameras
in dry boxes on the fronts of our boats for easy access. |
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| The headwaters of
Claytor Lake in VA |
Attempting
alterative sources of energy. |
A thunderstorm
caught up on us in the middle of Claytor Lake |
We gathered numerous
fishing lines, hooks and lures. |
After five minutes
of dragging a line by had we had lunch. |
Sunset on the river
and we still have not found a camping spot. |
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| It rained all but
three days of our trip. Near Radcliff, VA |
There were a lot of
riverside camps. These folks took the liberty to paint the river rocks too. |
Appalachian Trail
Thru-Hikers resting at a Hostel in Pearisburg, VA |
An 80 year old man
showing photographs of the area before the Bluestone Dam was built. |
A friend dropping
over some falls near Hinton, WV. The water level is now 45,000CFS |
Drying out nearly
everything after Rachel's skirt burst and accidentally took water while
upside down. |
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| A raft guides tattoo
of the New River |
Playing cards in the
evening. Notice the flooding river in the back ground |
On the Kanawha River
above Charleston. Water level is now 75,000 CFS |
Sunset on the
river. Looking for a camping spot. |
The first full day
without rain. HOT |
Going through the
first lock. |
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| Evening party on a
floating marina in Charleston, WV. These folks live all year in their house
boats at this spot. We spent the evening with them and slept on the deck. |
More locks |
Where all the coal
goes. |
Passing a chemical
barge |
Finally at the Ohio
river! Our trip is done. We thought it would take 6 weeks but with the
high water we finished in almost half that time. |
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