In case you missed it, The Long Paddle ended last week. While on their journey, Nicole Eastman and Ward Swann kept journals of their travels. Click on the links below to see their pics and entries by day or scroll through all of them from the bottom of this page.

Day 1: Happy Valley

Day 2: Kerr Scott Lake

Day 3: Tailwaters to Ronda

Day 4: Elkin to Shores

Day 5: Shores to Easy Bend Farms

Day 6: Easy Bend Farms to Huntsville Access

Day 7: Tanglewood to Highway 64

Day 8: Highway 64 to Boone's Cave

Day 9: Boone's Cave to York Hill

Day 10: High Rock Lake

Day 11: Tuckertown

Day 12: Badin Lake

Day 13: Falls Lake and Morrow Mountain

Day 14: Reflections

The recently reconstituted Happy Valley Jamboree will be held Labor Day weekend, September 4-6, at the Jones Farm located at 3590 NC Highway 268, Lenoir, NC. Yadkin Riverkeeper will be sponsoring a River cleanup beginning at 1 PM on Friday, September 4 (exact location TBD depending on water levels) and a recreational paddle on Saturday, September 5, starting at 10 AM from the Jones Farm to Elk Creek on the Upper Yadkin River.

Community members and environmental organizations are advocating for the protection of the Yadkin River and public health from Duke Energy’s two proposed methane gas power plants and a first-of-its-kind liquid natural gas (LNG) storage facility. The site of Duke’s proposed industrial complex is located on the Perkins Game Land in Davie County and across the river in Davidson County a few miles downstream of the Yadkin River State Trail (YRST) HWY 64 river access.

Newly appointed Yadkin Riverkeeper, Nicole Eastman, and Yadkin River State Trail coordinator, Ward Swann, will embark on a 192-mile, 14-day “Long Paddle” on August 1. The paddle will float almost the entire length of the Yadkin River starting on the upper Yadkin in Happy Valley to the River’s end at its confluence with the Uwharrie River at Lake Tillery and Morrow Mountain State Park where it becomes the Pee Dee River.

I was amazed by the number of people reaching out to me after I was announced as the next Yadkin Riverkeeper. They sent congratulations and offered their support as I started this new role. From Yadkin Riverkeeper members I have gotten to know over the last two years through Yadkin River State Trail paddles, events, and our volunteer monitoring programs to colleagues who I’ve been lucky enough to work alongside to achieve common goals, folks I’ve crossed paths with a time or two, and people I’ve never met but care about the protection of our watershed. It meant so much to be accepted by this passionate community of advocates, concerned citizens, environmental professionals, and paddle enthusiasts. These connections and warm notes remind me that YRK is part of a large community of people who are connected to the Yadkin River watershed and want to see positive change.