Banister River Paddle

Hello All,

Last Saturday (June 9th 2012) the UR Loons went on a very nice paddle on the Banister River.  Thank you for those who made it...those who did not make it missed a great paddle with a local star (Carl Espy) who made the trip very educational and fun.  Carl pointed out many historical landmarks along the way as well as told some great stories about the river and the town of Halifax.  Thank you Carl.  I know we all enjoyed it.

We started paddling just below the dam at the Banister Lake WMA boat ramp.  The put in was a tad bit rough to get to but with a scenic river like the Banister it is well worth it.  We paddled for 6.5 miles down to US 360.  The water was flowing slowly which made for a 4.5 hour paddle with a 45 minute stop to eat and discuss the Uranium mind that has been proposed for up river of this site.  Only benfit we came up for the Uranium mine is the fact we would not need flash lights for a night paddle cause the water and the shore line would glow.  All joking asside this is a horrible idea and we should all be against this for a number of reqasons. 

Please visit

http://keeptheban.org/

www.readthereports.org

On the paddle we saw a couple hawks, several deer,turtles, and gar.  One gar decided to jump in my boat and scare me to the point of yelling like a teenage girl seeing Justin Beiber.  Scott got a kick out of me yelling, which he should have.

Hope many of you will join us on our next paddle at Stauton River State Park on July 14. This event will be unlike our other paddles.  We will all meet at the park and have a lunch that you will bring yourself.  We will provide fire and ice for beverages.  I will post more information about this paddle in the next 2 weeks.

The photos below were taken by Carl Espy and Scott Murray.

Thanks for reading!