By Eric Fleming.
On a perfect day at 10 am on Sept 3rd, 21 paddlers met at the Dietz Rd ramp to paddle down the West Chick to Camp Jordan. Although BG Smith and I had scouted the creek and did some clean up two weeks prior to the paddle, by Sept 3rd,the water level had dropped about three inches, making for a bumpy ride at times. Fortunately, no one had to get out of their boat, but we scraped on some logs and shoals. However, it was still a fun, meandering trip around multiple obstacles that called for some good river reading skills and a couple of fun runs on Class 1 rapids. About half-way through the paddle, we stopped for a break on a great big rock slab, making for an easy take out with no mud or brush and a beautiful horse farm as a backdrop. Some of our more adventurous paddlers wandered up to see the horses, which were quite beautiful.
After a nice relaxing break, we loading up and put back in the water for the final leg of a great paddle. Then, we headed over to the nearby Cracker Barrel to load up our bellies and share some more good times with the group.
As always, we had great group and a fun day on the water. Thanks to the paddlers that helped us run a shuttle from the put-in to the take-out, making the five mile paddle an easy one way trip.