I am committed to leading a kayak trip for eight teens at Spring Break, which will be the week of March 27th. This will be a five or six night sea kayak trip with juveniles who are mostly court committed to the trip. (This would be the appropriate place for you to make a joke about me needing a psychiatric commitment for volunteering to do this!) Anyway, we are in Chicago and want to paddle somewhere that has good, safe paddling with reasonably warm weather, reasonably tolerable bug density and kayak rental available. The kiddies all go in doubles, the adults (three of us) in singles. If anyone has any suggestions for a place that is twenty hours or less of driving time from Chicago, PLEASE let me know. If I'm living a fantasy that such a place exists, let me know that also. Unfortunately for us this year, both counties served by the counseling service that runs the trips have their spring breaks the same week. So there will be two trips going out at the same time, meaning only one will go to Cumberland Island in Georgia. In the past we have gone to Lake Powell [too far to drive], Matagorda Island [too barren for a week long trip with hyperactive teens], and to the Everglades [too buggy]. Thanks in advance for any suggestions. Jim Tibensky *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
> Anyway, we are in Chicago and want to paddle somewhere that has good, > safe paddling with reasonably warm weather, reasonably tolerable bug > density and kayak rental available. The kiddies all go in doubles, the > adults (three of us) in singles. > > If anyone has any suggestions for a place that is twenty hours or less > of driving time from Chicago, PLEASE let me know. If I'm living a > fantasy that such a place exists, let me know that also. There is a group of 8 P'Wisers (and others if they'd like to join in - contact me) who are tentatively getting together at Tybee in Georgia that week, or one of the next couple weeks following.... we haven't worked the details yet. It's got lots of great paddling locations for all types of skill levels, plus rentals, and so forth. Not sure about the drive time for you, but it's a tad less than Cumberland would be. Also, a bit further north, how about the North Carolina Outer Banks? That time of year, the bugs will be minimal, it's got lots of places to go for all types of skill levels, camping and/or hotels, isolation or resort area, a big chunk of it is the Hatteras National Seashore, and the weather will be pretty darned good compared to Chicago.... but still a little cool by South Eastern standards. I'd guess the daily highs would be in the upper 60's to lower 70's about that time of year. Water temps in the Sounds will likely be around the mid 60's to possibly as high as mid 70's depending on what type of winter we had. You could paddle all week and never be in water more than chest high, if that's what you wanted (if your rookies capsize, they could just stand up). Deeper water is available too, though. It won't be tourist season yet, and if you go to the National Seashore, you'd have large expanses of virtual isolation. You may or may not be able to camp at non designated campgrounds.... I'm not certain but it would be easy to check into. Anyway, just an option. Good luck. Rick *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
[Moderator's Note: Content unaltered. Excessive quoting (including headers/footers/sig lines/extraneous text from previous posts, etc.) have been removed. Please edit quoted material in addition to removing header/trailers when replying to posts.] Jim, You may want to try one of the FL rivers...Specifically the Suwannee. There is the possibility of high water in the spring but the river is pretty tame. -----Original Message----- I am committed to leading a kayak trip for eight teens at Spring Break, which will be the week of March 27th. This will be a five or six night sea kayak trip with juveniles who are mostly court committed to the trip. (This would be the appropriate place for you to make a joke about me needing a psychiatric commitment for volunteering to do this!) Anyway, we are in Chicago and want to paddle somewhere that has good, safe paddling with reasonably warm weather, reasonably tolerable bug If anyone has any suggestions for a place that is twenty hours or less of driving time from Chicago, PLEASE let me know. fantasy that such a place exists, let me know that also. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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