Our Kayaking and Canoeing Adventure

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Kayaking and Canoeing…. I’ve been wanting to have just such an adventure with the children all summer! We finally received our opportunity at Warrior’s Path State Park here in East Tennessee! We have a homeschool group that meets there every Thursday afternoon for a Ranger led excursion and talk about the local flora and fauna. This week one of the rangers was leading a kayaking and canoeing adventure on the lake!

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When we arrived we were greeted by our Ranger guide. She fitted us with life vests and gave us our paddles. *Note, our 3 year old was not pleased with the red life vest…she specifically asked for pink, ha!* I had been in communications with our Ranger earlier in the day and we had agreed to let our 9 year old, Gabriel, try out the kayak. If he didn’t feel comfortable with it, then we would put him in the canoe with myself and my daughter.

We were the first family, in the group of 5 families, to be seated in our floating apparatuses. My daughter, Jade, and I paddled around in circles while we waited for all of the other families to board. Our son took to the kayaking like a fish to water! He loved it and seemed completely at ease!

We began our hour long nature excursion and wow, what an awesome experience it was! Though it is technically autumn, most foliage has not yet started to change color. We did notice a bit of golden foliage up on the cliffs overlooking the water. The dogwoods were the only other trees starting to show off their crimson beauty.

Our Kayaking and Canoeing Adventure

We saw some really interesting creatures including White Tail Deer, Cormorants, Great Blue Herons, Black Vultures, Trout, Turtles, and Wood Ducks! We had such an amazing experience on the water. It was both peaceful and exciting! This was our first adventure with kayaks and canoes, but it won’t be our last. Now to add all of these cool creatures to our nature journals!

Our Kayaking and Canoeing Adventure