Ward Swann, Yadkin River State Trail Coordinator
The Yadkin Riverkeeper’s 2026 paddling season wrapped up. The season isn’t quite over for paddlers who are prepared for cold water, but coming to the end of scheduled trips on the calendar invites some reflection. It’s been a heck of a year. We’ve had 21 events that involved paddling, clean-ups or both. Only two had to be canceled. Six events were clean-ups that brought in roughly 3,000 pounds of trash. YRK has gotten people on the water in 331 instances this year and when you add the distances that each paddled in those days, we have paddled 2,706 miles. From Winston-Salem, that distance would get you to West Greenland (where Europeans first saw kayaks), or half way through Ecuador and/or the northern Galapagos islands. At some point this year we paddled every spot of the Yadkin River from Fort Defiance in Happy Valley to Morrow Mountain State Park on Lake Tillery; some sections two or three times. So yeah, we’ve done a lot of paddling this year.
Most of those trips were for a cause or had more of a purpose than just a nice day on the water with friends. We had a historical paddle to highlight America 250. We helped draw attention to the Creek Week campaigns of Forsyth and Rowan Counties. We helped lead the first Yadkin River Rumble canoe and kayak race (along with NC River Riders and Explore Elkin). We did a little bit of fund raising with our Carolina Heritage Vineyards paddle. We contributed to the Great Trails State Conference by hosting a paddle at the end of the Conference. We drew attention to the Upper Yadkin River with a Clean-up and paddle there. We were able to take kids on the water three times. And then there was the Long Paddle, this event was a great way to remind people how beautiful the Yadkin is. We were able to draw an impressive crew to paddle with us and highlighted the whole Yadkin River State Trail plus an extra 20 miles above (thanks to the assistance of Upper Yadkin Outfitters and Get Outdoors). The Long Paddle has been written about and videos are available. I’ll encourage you to discover the Yadkin River through our eyes.
Now in October I begin to look ahead, reflect on lessons learned. My 2027 calendar begins to fill with those lessons for next year. Of course we will keep doing old favorites like a clean-up on the Friday before Trail Days and the Carolina Heritage Paddle. We will also continue with some new favorites like Camping trips and moonlight paddles. There will not be a Long Paddle in 2027; at least not one sponsored by YRK. But through the Long Paddle I learned that there are a few folks out there who get excited about paddling more than 5 miles in a day. For you folks, we will have one or two paddles planned that are 10 plus miles. I am excited to continue a historic paddle trip in a different spot if I can work out the date with the historian. The Rumble will come back for all you race fans. And I want to add a new paddle for folks who like Stand Up Paddleboards. And recently I’ve been kicking around a 22 - 26 hour endurance race from the Kerr Scott Dam to High Rock. Nothing’s been planned on the race… just daydreaming.
Keep in mind, we do all of this with five full time staff and a team of CRAZY DEDICATED VOLUNTEERS. There will be opportunities to financially support those efforts in the coming months. And there is always an opportunity to join our Volunteer Team.
Come join us.
