Jim Weaver’s First Kayak Adventure – The Good, Bad and Ugly
First off let me say this, I love kayaking now. Second, it's a little harder than I thought it was.
Last week, I was with Troop 3 at Camp Pioneer and we as Scout Leaders always get a chance to learn something new while we're at camp as well as the boys. So this time I took a class called Paddle Craft Safety. One of the things I've noticed is just because you learn something does not make you an expert at it. Doc was a great teacher and yes, I definitely learned some new skills last week, but I am no expert at canoeing or kayaking, yet. That only comes with experience. To gain some of that experience, several of us took a kayak trip down the Mountain Fork River below Lake Broken Bow Friday.
We put in just below the dam in sit-on-top kayaks. Now mind you I had just been in a kayak for the first time in my life just two days before this, and they were sit-inside kayaks. Being a little on the heavy side, my weight above water was a tough fight at times, although by the end of the trip I was getting the hang of it.
Unfortunately though, there are some areas early in the trip down river that I had a little trouble with, trouble meaning me falling out of the boat. That first tump was a real eye-opener because that river water is c-c-c-cold. It really took my breath away and kind of reminded me of the ice bucket challenge a couple of years ago. After doing that about four times throughout the trip as we got nearer the end I was getting a grasp on how to stay up-right in those kayaks.
The video has some pictures and a few short videos within it with a few annotations along the way. Thanks again to Doc for the great instruction and to Steve, Gus and Tyler for putting up with me. It was great fun and I can't wait to do it again, soon.