A2W: On the Cowpasture

Grant and I have been talking about canoes and canoeing for several months now. Every time we take a bike ride along the James we end up discussing how cool and/or fun it would be to own our own watercraft. So it was a treat to be invited over the weekend to Landon's bachelor camping/canoeing party. Friday night Landon and three others (Ben, Mac and Joe) spent the night on the Cowpasture river in Bath county. Saturday morning Grant and I packed up our gear in Richmond around 6am and drove out to meet them for a day of canoeing.

We arrived at 9am to find some of the campers still sleeping. Once everyone was up, breakfast was made and we talked about the plans for the day. The first round on the river had us on the water by 10:30am in three canoes. Joe and Mac seemed to be the only ones with a lot of experience among us, so it was a zig-zagging adventure of balancing, tipping and soaked gear the first trip down. Our slow learning process was rewarded with a stop at a rope swing though, that was as fun as it was nerve racking.

After lunch back at Joe's uncle's place we set out to ride the same stretch of river yet again. Joe had to hit the road though, so we consolidated into two canoes. Grant and I in one and Landon, Mac and Ben in the other. This time we had the hang of it all, there was less tipping, our paddling seemed more efficient and our lines more true. Well at least in Grant and my canoe it was. We hit two different rope swings this time and ended up back at camp around 6pm. Once the site was packed up we bid Joe's uncle farewell and were on the road to dinner and ice cream in Staunton. From there it was back to Richmond for a well deserved shower and sleep. The rest is in the pictures...

Joe hauling the canoes