Canoeing the James River: August 25-26, 2012

My son's Boy Scout Troop took a canoe trip on the James River, using boats rented from Twin River Outfitters in Buchanan, Virginia.  Buchanan is just off of Interstate 81 a couple of exits south of Natural Bridge.

The outfitter drove us upstream to start our trip in Springwood.  We floated downstream through Buchanan, and camped in Arcadia at a place called Breeden's Bottom Campground.  Although the campground's website claims that they facility offers "Porta Johns" and "handwashing sinks," we didn't see any of those facilities.

I purchased my first fishing license in at least 25 years for the trip, and was really glad I did.  Most of the boys were fishing, so there wasn't a lot of paddling going on.  And I got great instruction from one of the other scouters on how to handle a catch.  It was a fun weekend, even though the weather was a little wet.

On Saturday, we canoed 11.5 miles over 6 hours, 40 minutes.  On Sunday, I obtained incomplete GPS data, but I estimate we canoed about 5 miles.

Floating past Buchanan, Virginia.

The Scoutmaster and another adult keep a close eye on the swimmers.

This fuzzy photo is of a Saddleback Caterpiller.
One of the scouts found out the hard way that these things
pack a nasty sting when you brush up against them.
Stay away!

The outfitter collected our boats and drove us back to Buchanan.