From Yadkin Riverkeeper Dean Naujoks:

The last opportunity to join Tour de Yadkin is this Saturday, April 31. We will camp at beautiful Morrow Mountain State Park. Please arrive at 9:00 AM on Saturday where we'll gather at the park's boat access area then shuttle to 109. We'll paddle 11 miles of the Uwharrie River down to Morrow Mountain, where the Yadkin River and the Uwharrie meet to form the Great Pee Dee River. This is a beautiful wilderness stretch of river that flows through Uwharrie National Forest. If you can’t join us for the paddle, join us at the historic Badin Inn at 5:30 PM for a local wine tasting and the Tour de Yadkin wrap up. We will show a video documenting the entire tour.

This past week has been incredible. We had a fun Easter Egg Hunt at Tamarac Marina on Saturday. Camping on the lake with my family and having breakfast overlooking the water at the Marina was wonderful. We had a big crowd for a late afternoon Easter Sunday paddle on Tuckertown Reservoir. Halfway through our paddle we pulled over on the lake (overlooking Bald Mountain) for a traditional Easter Sunday dinner—spiral ham and a full compliment of side dishes kindly provided by Tamarac Marina. Everyone had a wonderful time and my daughter actually cried when it was finally time to go home. But she gets to camp again this weekend with friends and family at Morrow Mountain. Tonight we will be camping and having a four course dinner at the water’s edge with friends from Stanly County on a totally secluded, hidden jewel—Falls Recover. So the fun isn’t over yet.

If you have not had an opportunity to check out Yadkin Riverkeeper’s Facebook page we have worked hard everyday to post pictures, YouTube video links, and daily updates from the tour. You really should check it out. We’ve tried to capture the beauty of the river as well as the community participation in the Tour.

For those of you who have been following, you know the Tour has certainly kicked my butt (in a good way of course.) Paddling the river has only been half the work. The constant loading and unloading of canoes and kayaks, portaging, breaking down and setting up camp, chopping firewood, extensive driving, the non-stop pace of the Tour (like the flow of the river itself,) and living out of my truck for 25 straight days has certainly helped me sleep well at night. It has been a physically and mentally demanding but rewarding experience nonetheless. I wish all the wonderful people I have met—people who truly care about the long term health and well being of the river—could meet one another. The best we could do to connect everyone was to capture and document the tour as we have done. The participation has been inspiring, yet we still need more water patriots dedicated to protecting the Yadkin.

So come on out this weekend. Don’t be one of those people who tell me several months from now that you really wish you had jumped on the Tour. If you have your own boat or need to rent one or arrange a shuttle, please contact God’s County Outfitters today. And whether you paddle with us or not, come join us at the Badin Inn Saturday evening.

Finally, please consider sponsoring a mile if you have not done so already, as we are still short of our fundraising goal. Thank you to everyone who has donated or participated in Tour de Yadkin in any way. It means a lot to me personally and it also helps Yadkin Riverkeeper continue its important work for river protection. After all, clean water and clean air is the greatest legacy we can leave to our children!

Hope to see you on the river!

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