We hiked our way to Waynesboro, VA where there was a free church hostel that offered us a place to stay and shower. We had chatted about the possibility of aquablazing (canoeing down the Shenandoah River) and decided if the circumstances were right, we would. Sure enough, we met some people who were also interested and so we started researching. In the town, we found a yard that had about 7 canoes just stacked on top of each other but.... it just so happened to be the creepiest looking house in the whole town. On the front porch was a stuffed animal with a hook in it's stomach hanging from the ceiling not to mention the front door was rotting and had cobwebs all across it and the Christmas Tree was still decorated. We recruited one of the fellow hikers we met and he bravely knocked on the door and when there was no answer we left a note. The next day we got a call and it was the owners daughter who told us her dad was in NC and was coming back tomorrow. So, we waited another day in town. That night we saw his car so we went and knocked on the door but again, no answer. When we went in the morning, his car was gone again so we just decided it was a lost cause. So we decided to rent canoes through Shenandoah River Adventures which worked out because we were able to get shuttled to the river and camp one night on their property.
Our little aquablazing group consisted of a guy named 10:46, Sparkles, and Kim Possible. The first day, we started around 1p and took it easy by laying in the boat as we let the river take us north. We got about 10 miles when we decided to pull off and camp on a flat, grassy area. There were no buildings around or signs saying 'No Trespassing' so we thought it should be safe. After setting up all our tents and starting to get settled, a man and his son come down in a rage. They started yelling 'Get the beeeeep of my lawn!! I'm going to call the cops if you haven't left in 15 minutes!! I have 350 pound goats that will eat all your stuff!' So.... there was not a moment that we could talk to explain our situation. We simply apologized and started packing our things again. 10 minutes later, as we are all packed up and ready to leave, the man comes back down and apologizes for losing his temper and tells us not to go back on the river in the dark. He said he tied up his goats and that we should tent there. While we were still a little concerned, not knowing if he would come down again and lose his cool we decided it was our best choice.
The next coming days were really fun, the rapids weren't too crazy which was one of our biggest concerns before doing the trip. We seemed like pros as we maneuvered around and only had to dump water out of our boat once. The hot sun felt nice and we took some swim breaks (although the water was a bit questionable as we saw cows also bathing in the water nearby). We packed up our canoes and when we got to the hotel, we realized we forgot our bag of snacks which more importantly had our phone in there. There was no way to get back to the bridge that night, so we waited until the morning. A hiker that we had met back in Waynesboro had his uncle with him who gave us a ride back to the bridge. Sadly, the snack bag had been strewn everywhere and the phone was gone as well as one of our camelbacks that holds our water. It's disappointing that someone would take a phone like that but, since we had no other options we are keeping our heads up. Thankfully, we just recently sent home most of our pictures from our trip, but we lost the more recent ones that included aquablazing.
So, overall we experienced some really awesome fun adventures and met super cool people this past week. And we will still update blogs when we get a computer in town and we will have to look for a camera since we were using the phone previously. Our mail drops are updated until the 10th and then Ladybug's parents and sister are coming on the 14th to visit so we are looking forward to that.
Our little aquablazing group consisted of a guy named 10:46, Sparkles, and Kim Possible. The first day, we started around 1p and took it easy by laying in the boat as we let the river take us north. We got about 10 miles when we decided to pull off and camp on a flat, grassy area. There were no buildings around or signs saying 'No Trespassing' so we thought it should be safe. After setting up all our tents and starting to get settled, a man and his son come down in a rage. They started yelling 'Get the beeeeep of my lawn!! I'm going to call the cops if you haven't left in 15 minutes!! I have 350 pound goats that will eat all your stuff!' So.... there was not a moment that we could talk to explain our situation. We simply apologized and started packing our things again. 10 minutes later, as we are all packed up and ready to leave, the man comes back down and apologizes for losing his temper and tells us not to go back on the river in the dark. He said he tied up his goats and that we should tent there. While we were still a little concerned, not knowing if he would come down again and lose his cool we decided it was our best choice.
The next coming days were really fun, the rapids weren't too crazy which was one of our biggest concerns before doing the trip. We seemed like pros as we maneuvered around and only had to dump water out of our boat once. The hot sun felt nice and we took some swim breaks (although the water was a bit questionable as we saw cows also bathing in the water nearby). We packed up our canoes and when we got to the hotel, we realized we forgot our bag of snacks which more importantly had our phone in there. There was no way to get back to the bridge that night, so we waited until the morning. A hiker that we had met back in Waynesboro had his uncle with him who gave us a ride back to the bridge. Sadly, the snack bag had been strewn everywhere and the phone was gone as well as one of our camelbacks that holds our water. It's disappointing that someone would take a phone like that but, since we had no other options we are keeping our heads up. Thankfully, we just recently sent home most of our pictures from our trip, but we lost the more recent ones that included aquablazing.
So, overall we experienced some really awesome fun adventures and met super cool people this past week. And we will still update blogs when we get a computer in town and we will have to look for a camera since we were using the phone previously. Our mail drops are updated until the 10th and then Ladybug's parents and sister are coming on the 14th to visit so we are looking forward to that.