After hiking almost 25 miles in 4 days, Elisha, Beast and I were ready to get off our feet and to get into some river water. We did not have space to bring the canoes, so I had to look for an outfitter in the area and I found one of the best I have ever used. Higher Pursuits is in Columbia Tennessee is amazing and they do trips on the Duck River. We rented a canoe and a kayak and they dropped us off at the put-in around 10 am.
It took Beast a little while to get settled in a different boat and to find his balance, but once he did, he took his position at the front of the boat and led us down the river. Elisha loved the different kayak and took to it immediately.
The Duck is a smooth, fairly fast flowing river and is very pretty. The stretch we were on was also one of the cleanest I have ever paddled. We picked up a little trash, but for the most part we did not find any! We also found a lot of places to pull the boats up and play. Beast had a ball in the water and running back and forth on the island! We took it slow and enjoyed the float. On one stop, Elisha was able to walk up a side channel to some beautiful shelves running across it forming a pretty series of little water falls. On another, we were able to paddle into a small cave and sit out of the sun for a few minutes. On even another, we walked all the way up a side channel that felt like a walk back in time! It had shallow pools spread all along the way and we waded through those and of course, Beast had to run and swim.
As we paddled down river, we saw all kinds of birds, fish and turtles. We did intervene to help mother nature a little. After our experience with the baby deer, I hesitated, but in this case the worst that could happen is a small turtle might have to swim a little more. As I was paddling, I saw a head and a shell sticking out of the water. Normally, the turtle will dive and disappear, but in this case a very small box turtle was churning as hard as it could to get across the river. As I passed, it didn’t dive and just kept swimming! I passed it, but as I thought about it, I called over my shoulder to Elisha. He picked up the turtle, which sat in the front of his kayak, and paddled it across to a little beach on the side of the river where the turtle had been heading! He sat it on the beach and left it to go on its way, while we did the same thing!
We also saw a tiny water snake on one of our stops and enjoyed watching it swim and play in the shallow water. We saw heron and were surrounded by the sounds of wildlife. We only saw four other people on our whole trip which is definitely the way we like it. It was an amazing paddle.
Near the end of our trip, we passed under a huge interstate bridge at which point we called to let Higher Pursuits know we were almost done! The final takeout was at the next bridge about a mile down river. We were all good and tired by the time we pulled in, but they were waiting to pick us up. Sometimes it is so much easier to let someone else do the work instead of hauling our own boats.
Higher Pursuits did an amazing job. Even the outhouse and changing rooms were classy, with a small fan and air freshener, as well as decorations. I also found my Father’s Day present from Phyllis and the kids, an Icemule, ice/dry bag. It is amazing and so much easier and cheaper than an ice chest. I have never seen one, but it will make a great addition to our canoe/kayak gear!
Elisha and I had a lot of good father and son time together and had some deep conversations along the way. We also had some very silly fun. The boy can be hilarious when he gets wound up. All in all, an amazing adventure and another great experience! The Duck is a VERY long river in Tennessee so we have a lot of future exploring to do!
