Wrightsville Reservoir Canoe Trip with Michelle
Originally Posted 7/7/24
Quick Info:
- Website:Link
- Boat Launch Location:Google Maps Link
- Distance:We Went about 3 miles total
- Time:It took us about an hour and 40 minutes total, including resting at falls
Full Post:
Man what a great day! Michelle and I got up a bit early to get the canoe on the car and head out. We ran into a bit of an issue almost immediatly though. As we were pulling out of where we store the canoe, we noticed it was bouncing and moving around on top of the car a lot more than usual. I pulled over and it turned out one of the straps had come off!
If you look at that photo, it's the strap in the back that came off. That photo was after we fixed it. I don't know what happened. I had more remaining strap to tie up after I fixed it, so my guess is it just wasn't fully tight the first time and bounced free? Whatever it was, I'm glad the canoe stayed on the car and didn't go flying off. I'm honestly amazed that just the front strap and rope were able to keep the canoe on enough on their own.
Once we got to the boat launch, we unpacked our canoe and were on our way! Honestly it was a really nice day for canoeing. We had been here once before last year so we knew there was a waterfall we could get to. Today the water was a lot higher than the last time we came, making it a bit easier to navigate. Though the water was also a lot more brown. I think it's from a lot of rain we had yesterday. We saw a Bald Eagle perched on one of the tree stumps along the banks! I wanted to get a photo, but was more worried about dropping my camera than anything. We eventually reached the falls with it getting a bit difficult towards the end because the current was pushing us away from the falls. But we eventually beached.
Once we were at the falls, we ate some snacks! We had brought a cooler with us and so had some fresh fruit which was really nice! We also jumped in the water for a bit. It was really cold! It was an interesting feeling though as when we were fully submerged the water felt freezing and that we shouldn't stay in it, but as soon as we stood up in the water it felt really nice because the outside air was so warm already and humid.
If you're interested in canoeing or kayaking or whatever here, the way to the falls is you launch from the boat launch, go left, and just keep going until you get to the falls. Michelle and I have only been to, I want to say, two or three canoeing spots so far, and this one is easily our favorite! It's just long enough where we have to push ourselves a little to make it back to the boat launch. We also really feel how much of a workout it was having to lift the canoe back onto the car afterwards.