Paddling Through Chick Lock for Mother's Day 2018

Someone stopped me in the hallway at church today to tell me that they really enjoyed my Facebook post about our Mother's Day adventure last week, and encouraged me to never stop adventuring with my kids.

If I'm being honest, I share online because it is an easy way for me to "scrapbook" and I like that my memories will pop up with these little snippets of our lives years from now. But a part of me also hopes that we are inspiring other people to find and pursue their own passions as well.

And if you ever want to chat about our adventures, don't be shy. My kids will tell you all about it from their perspective and Daniel and I are always willing to share the good and the bad with anyone that wants to listen.

For Mother's Day the weather had turned warm and I was hoping to get our on the water in our kayaks for the first time this season.

Daniel suggested we put in on Chickamauga Lake and paddle through the lock to the Tennessee River. Our initial plan was pretty ambitious... we thought we could make it all the way to Coolidge Park downtown.

I was a little leery of locking through with the boys. The fact that the lock is right next to a large dam concerned me. Daniel (who works for Dam Safety on the Chickamauga Lock) told me it would be fine. So I went along with the plan (though we did check mileage and agreed to take out at a 4 mile point instead of 7.5 miles at Coolidge Park).

After church and a quick lunch at Einstein Bagels, we changed clothes and headed over to drop a vehicle at our take out and then back to Chickamauga Lake. We thought could put in at a private marina just north of the lock in Hixson, but learned that was not going to be possible. So we headed back across the dam to the public access on the lake (this added about half a mile to our paddle).

Jack was a trooper and had no problem making his way across to the lock. Daniel called the lock operator (who he knows from work) to let them know we were coming through and we were told to paddle up to the front of the lock to tie off to the floating mooring bit. And then we waited.

Isaac had a brief moment of panic when Daniel had to stand up in our kayak to tie us up, but he settled down to enjoy the ride.

It was a 50 foot drop as the water let us slowly down to the river level. It made me a little sea sick as the lock gate got higher and higher above our heads, but it was a neat experience.

Once we made it through the lock, we padded to the base of the next bridge (a railroad trestle bridge) where we sat in the bridge's shadow and had a snack.

After our snack we continued on to our take out point. About a mile from stopping Jack decided he wanted to be towed behind us so that he could drag his feet in the water and not have to paddle any more. About this same time, Isaac fell asleep in Daniel's lap. Thankfully Daniel had the foresight to bring a pad for Isaac and we were able to lay him face down for the remainder of our time on the water.

It was a great way to spend Mother's Day together as a family. And a much better experience than the last time we tried to take the boys paddling on a Mother's Day! With each year and each adventure, everything gets a little bit easier!

Paddling with Kids: North Chick, high water

At this time last year we were in an endless drought that cumulated in wildfires in the fall. This year has been the exact opposite with seemingly endless rain. Soggy days means everything is growing like crazy and lots of bugs (spiders) are trying to make their way inside.

Anyways, since the kids and I had been gone the previous week, Daniel took Monday off so that he would have a long weekend to spend with us. We kicked Monday off with a little kayaking at North Chickamauga (North Chick), putting in at the upstream boat ramp at Greenway Farms as we had previously done (close to the dog park).

The last time we paddled here I was actually a week away from delivering Isaac. We knew it was a relatively flat, easy paddle and it would be a good chance for Jack to practice in his new kayak.

I didn't really take into consideration that it had been raining cats and dogs all summer. While we had perfect weather on Monday, the creek was higher than usual and flowing pretty steadily. Since our last paddle here had been easy, I suggested that we head downstream instead of up.

This is against Daniel's cardinal rule of paddling: do the hard work first. Meaning paddle against the current and then float back.

I wanted to explore a different section of the creek, so I blew him off and said we would be fine.

Famous last words...

A couple of things I didn't really take into consideration: 1) the excessive rain we have had this summer; 2) we were towing Jack (he had a paddle but chose to use it sparingly); and 3) Isaac was insisting on sitting with Daniel which impaired his ability to paddle.

After we had floated for about an hour Daniel suggested we attempt to turn back and I finally agreed (he might have told me, repeatedly, that for every minute I paddled downstream we would have to paddle 10 minutes back upstream)....

Actually I think I agreed to turn around and paddle to a stump to show the boys a couple of ducks and turtles and if it proved easy we would keep going and if it wasn't easy, we would start the laborious work to get back upstream.

So we paddled to the stump and it was next to impossible. We were basically paddling and keeping still in the creek. Daniel was nice and didn't say, "I told you so." At least not in that moment.

I knew the creek stayed next to Greenway Farms the entire time before ending at Chickamauga Lake, so I suggested that we keep floating downstream and find a place to get out and then figure out a way to get our kayaks to the car.

Daniel tied us off on the bank and got out his phone to look at satellite imagery. Based on where we were, it looked like there were two bends in the creek and then a place where we could hopefully pull out that was next to the Greenway Farms garden.

I also knew the garden wasn't too far from where we parked, so we agreed to keep floating downstream. Luckily for us (we didn't realize this ahead of time!), there was a second boat ramp at the second bend in the creek that we were shooting for. The boat ramp had a gravel road access and we were able to get out and Daniel ran across the park to get our car (technically you're supposed to park behind the barn and portage your boat out, but everyone was driving down the day we were there).

I'm glad it all worked out. I was relatively sure the outcome would be fine, but I was anticipating having to carry our kayaks part of the way through Greenway Farms. As a family unit, we seem to work best with me coming up with (some of) our adventures and Daniel fleshing out the details and having a back-up plan in place. I tend to be more fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants when it comes to planning, and hope for the best. Things generally do work themselves out, it's just a harder route when you have kids.

Notes from this trip:

• Total miles between the two boat launches at Greenway Farms: 2 miles
• (Daniels says) If the water is up you don't have a motor, paddle upstream FIRST.
• Have a back-up plan, ALWAYS.
• Keep a cell phone (or map or GPS) with you in case you get into trouble and need to change plans.
• Stay calm so that your kids stay calm.