Published: May 07, 2009 10:34 pm      

Carrie Stambaugh: Gliding happily along

By the time the dogwoods bloom each year I’ve normally logged more than a few hours scrambling along the rocky ridge lines and lush bottoms of the area’s forests.

In the last two years my favorite mode of exploration transportation has changed and instead of traveling into the woods by foot, my husband and I have been doing more and more of it by boat.

It all started last year when my husband and I purchased an Old Town Discovery canoe from one of his co-workers as an early wedding gift to ourselves after a trip down the Greenbriar River in late May.

The boat came with wooden paddles, lifejackets and an ingenious towing system that looks like a football goal post but rotates for easy canoe roof-top installation. In a matter of 10 minutes we can have the canoe out of the garage and onto the truck. (It normally takes me longer than that just to put enough sunblock on myself to prevent an excruciating sunburn from our excursions.)

To date we’ve taken it on more than a dozen trips to Grayson Lake, Lake Vesuvius and the Little Sandy River and are plotting trips down the Tygarts, to Yatesville and Cave Run lakes and many other smaller streams and rivers this year. (My husband keeps trying to convince me we need to paddle from Catlettsburg past Ashland on the Ohio River just to get a fish-eye view of town, but I’m not convinced yet...)

Each time we take “our boat” out we find ourselves venturing farther and farther into the nooks and crannies or obscure tributaries of the waterways we’ve been on countless times before in larger crafts. Everything looks and sounds differently as we glide along slowly and in near silence.

We’ve snapped pictures of more than a few blue herons catching a meal or eagles soaring overhead. We’ve spotted some tasty-looking fish that practically jumped into the boat and had an encounter with a feisty snapping turtle during a bathroom break.

We’ve “anchored” on shallow rock bars and idly floated in the cool waters on humid afternoons while our golden retriever, Zeke, who we’ve dubbed Safety Patrol Dog, happily paddles in circles around us or chases the occasional armada of geese.

This summer promises to include more of the same.

Since our first cruise last month, I’ve been waiting anxiously for the next sunny weekend when we can steal away for a lazy afternoon or evening of paddling. I long for the chance repeatedly cast into the shady shallows to hook my first big catch while my husband paddles and my dog sleeps in the bottom of the canoe.

The rhythm of casting and reeling, casting and reeling seems to fit so well with the ripple of the paddle moving through the water, the chirping birds overhead and the rustle of the wind in the trees.

With each hour that slips by the tension and stress from long days at work and nights filled with household chores fade into the depths.

By the time I slip my toes into the cool water to guide the canoe back onto land I always feel lighter and freed from the burdens of my daily grind.

CARRIE STAMBAUGH can be reached at cstambaugh@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2653.