Canoe Trip on the South Fork Shenandoah

On October 24, 2010 I went on a canoe trip on the South Fork Shenandoah River with the Outdoor Adventure Social Club. I accidentally shot most of my pictures in a specialized camera mode (nighttime mode, I think) that threw off the colors and made everything look gloomy and blueish; attempts to correct the colors in a photo editor did not yield good results. So, with apologies for the gloomy cast to the colors, here are some of my photos from the trip.

Lunch stop on a cobbly beach.

My paddling partner for the day was Kate, who had little or no paddling experience. “The newbies go with Kristin,” our leader Pete remarked.

On the left are Sue and Peter, a married couple (both engineers) who attend most OASC canoe trips together, although they don’t always paddle in the same boat. Peter is an expert whitewater kayaker who has paddled competitively in the US and Europe. In the center is Richard, paddling his own kayak—Pete lately has been adding a “bring your own boat” option to the OASC trip descriptions. On the right are Jodi and Andy, who are not a couple but always paddle together if they’re on the same canoeing trip. They both came on their first club canoeing trips with no paddling experience, but have taken to it like ducks to water. I was especially impressed by how well Andy picked up steering with hardly any instruction; he “got it” immediately and by the middle of his first paddling trip was steering better than many other club members who I know have more experience.

Pete and Carrie. It’s always great to see Carrie on a paddling trip because (besides being a great person in general) she is an enthusiastic baker and usually brings some kind of delicious treat to share. On this trip, she passed around a box of snickerdoodles at lunch. They were the best snickerdoodles I have ever had, hands down.

A familiar bend in the river. I must have done this “float” (route) at least three or four times so far.

Paddling past a Shenandoah Valley farm.

Jodi and Andy again.

At some point on every OASC canoe trip, we raft the canoes together and drift and lounge for a while. Jodi in the foreground; Peter the expert kayaker in the middle.

Carrie.

Jodi. She is a longtime gymnast and a novice rock climber as well as a paddling enthusiast now (and works in the curatorial department at Monticello). For much of the year she has been struggling with a wrist injury that she tentatively attributes to overextending her thumb while teaching gymnastics to kids at a studio in Charlottesville.

Pete.

Kate, clowning around for the camera. She is a kindergarten teacher and has the appropriate levels of energy and good humor!

Vinnie (in yellow). He’s one of my favorite OASC friends, a really nice guy. He is a dentist (or orthodontist?) with a strong philanthropic bent; he has traveled all over the world providing free dental care for people who need it but can’t afford it.