First off, I would like to commend the efforts of our leaders to scramble at the last minute to find this place, because our originally scheduled canoe trip to Grimes Canoe base was canceled, due to the Buffalo River being too deep and running too swift for safe canoeing. Up until two days before our departure, it looked like we were going to Grimes. Then, on Thursday, Mr. Lloyd received a phone call from the ranger at Grimes, to inform him that the river was unsafe to travel. Not wanting to lose our July campout, Mr. Lloyd put out an email to the adult leaders, to do some quick research and find another location. It wasn’t long till they agreed on traveling to a canoe and kayak outfitter company called NACK, which is an acronym for North Alabama Canoe & Kayak. This place is just east of Huntsville, near the Flint River, which is a tributary to the Tennessee River.
We left Trinity on Saturday morning around 9 am and arrived at 11 am. The staff there was very friendly and willing to make our adventure as smooth as possible. There were 22 scouts and 9 adults that made the trip. You had a choice to either ride in a canoe or a kayak. The river was running a little high and swift, because of recent storms, and there were a lot of logs and rocks that you had to navigate carefully, otherwise, your boat would tip over, which didn’t take long for me to happen. It was a six-mile trek we covered, stopping along the way to check out various things, have lunch, play on rope swings, and generally have a full afternoon of fun on the river. At the end of our trek, the NACK staff was standing by to pick us up and take us back to their location where we rented the canoes. That evening, we camped on some property that they owned right next to the river and enjoyed a delicious adult prepared dinner, followed by a campfire. At the campfire, we talked about our day on the river, followed by a special flag retirement ceremony.
The next morning we woke up to a pleasant sunrise and ate an adult prepared breakfast. After breakfast, we broke camp, cleaned up the area, and had a church service led by our Chaplain’s Aide, Edward. Good job on the service and thank you. We left for Trinity around 10:30, and arrived back at the church around 12:30. Also, thanks to our acting SPL Ryan, for doing a great job.
As our motto says, BE Prepared, and in this case, our leaders were definitely that, in that we didn’t lose our July campout, and tried a new location that one day we might go back to and do it again.
David Kirk
Troop 97 Webmaster