We decided to load up the truck with lunch, dog, and tubes and head up to the Big South Fork River for a redneck day. We stopped at a little full-service gas station in Oneida (not an uncommon thing there!) where the owner let us use his compressed air for free to blow up our tubes and the little raft we brought for Sparky (wish I had a picture, tubes were stacked high and Sparky shared the front seat with Darla!). We drove several miles over narrow gravel roads to an old railroad bridge called the O&W bridge and ate a picnic lunch under it beside the river. After unloading the tubes and some bottles of water, we hopped back in the truck and drove to Leatherwood Ford bridge (about 3 miles downriver), parked and hiked back up to our tubes. The hike is beautiful. It follows the river and winds through large boulders across small creeks and through beautiful trees.
When we reached the bridge we grabbed the tubes, jumped in and floated down. The water was lower than the last time we did it so it took about 3 hours to get back to Leatherwood Ford. The day was perfect! It was about 79 degrees and sunny. Rocky cliffs tower above the river and eagles soar high overhead. The river is calm most of the way except for a few small rapids and a few very slow spots, it’s like a lazy river ride at a water park—only it’s real, has no chlorine or crowd, and only nature sounds are all around. We brought a little inflatable raft for Sparky, but he was much happier just swimming back and forth to everyone’s tube, making sure they were ok. I took the raft, turned it over and laid on it like a big air mattress! By the time we got to Leatherwood Ford, everyone was ready to get out.
A good way to spend a day off!
1 comment:
That sounds like a lot of fun! (I'm very behind on my blog reading from not having a computer for a month.) :-)
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