A show about the mighty Altamaha River on Georgia Outdoors: We kayaked, boated, and rode on the Capt. Gabby Mothership. 

083111 SEA w/ Rob Rexrode on the cover of the Brunswick News

Georgia Traveler

Altamaha Canoe Trail (Lumber City)

Click here to visit the site and watch the video! 

Known as the Little Amazon, the Altamaha River winds through middle Georgia all the way to the coast. Along with the owner of Southeast Adventure, Michael Gowen, Georgia Traveler explores this majestic wonder. With only a kayak and a sense of humor Phil tackles the Altamaha and all of its splendor. To set up your own trip or find out more information visit Southeast Adventure at their website at www.southeastadventure.com

Post on arthritis.burgher.org, February 27, 2011

http://arthritis.burgher.org/2011/02/27/facebook-profile-themes/

facebook profile themes

Posted on February 27, 2011 by qeaxor

facebook backgrounds
With an abundance of marshes and the Atlantic Ocean, opportunities abound to go kayaking in the Golden Isles of Georgia. While I have seen lone kayakers start off at the St. Simons Island Pier and brave the often choppy St. Simons Sound to paddle along with pleasure boats, fishing boats, and ocean going cargo ships, the best bet for visiting kayakers – both experienced and inexperienced – is to join one of the many tour operators who take tourists and serious kayakers alike on tours of the marshes and ocean of Georgia’s Golden Isles.

Jekyll Island Kayak Tours

Located on Jekyll Island, Georgia is the Tidelands Nature Center. Sponsored by the 4-H Club and the University of Georgia, Tidelands provides 3-hour kayak tours of the tidal creeks around Jekyll Island. After some basic instruction, kayakers can paddle along and see all kinds of birds, dolphin, and even manatee if you are lucky. There’s also likely to be the occasional alligator sighting, too.

Cost: Single kayak – $50; Tandem – $75; Bring your own kayak and join the tour – $30. Tours available year round. Reservations required.

Tidelands Nature Center
100 S. Riverview Dr.
Jekyll Island, GA 31527
(912) 635-5032
www.tidelands4h.org/index.html
tideland@uga.edu
Tidelands Nature Center Facebook Page

St. Simons Island Kayak Tours

With locations on St. Simons Island, and in Brunswick, Georgia, Southeast Adventure Outfitters has the market cornered on the most kayak tour offerings in the area. Choose from the St. Simons Kayak Tour which ventures along the shoreline of St. Simons Island, or be brave and cross the St. Simons Sound to Jekyll Island and land at the boneyard beach. You can also visit remote and beautiful Little St. Simons Island.

Or start from Southeast Adventure Outfitters Brunswick location and take a slower, more relaxing ride in the “Marshes of Glynn” made famous by poet Sidney Lanier. Other tours include rides along the Altamaha River, the Saltilla River and along Cathead Creek.

For the very adventurous, there are overnight and multi-day trips available to other local, but more wild and slightly more remote, barrier islands. Kayakers who also like to camp may select a trip to Cumberland Island to see the wild horses; to Sapelo and Blackbeard Island; or along the Altamaha or Saltilla Rivers.

Southeast Adventure Outfitters will design a personalized kayak tour package for groups as small as 4 persons. Custom trips – such as learning to fish from a kayak – are also available.

Visit the calendar page at the Southeast Adventure Outfitters Website to choose a date and kayak tour. You can also rent single and double kayaks for the day (starting at $35) to explore the marsh on your own.

Southeast Adventure Outfitters
Main Location: St. Simons Island
313 Mallory Street
St. Simons Island, Georgia 31522
(912) 638-6732

Brunswick Location
1200 Glynn Avenue/Hwy 17
Brunswick, Georgia
(912) 265-5292

www.seaoutfitters.com
Kayak@SouthEastAdventure.com

Sources:
Personal experience.
Tidelands Nature Center
Southeast Adventure Outfitters

National Geographic Adventure May 2006

Next Weekend: Two-Day Triumph Rafting Cali's best white water, biking among bison, and eight other ways to make a weekend less ordinary.  Text by Jim Gorman   Photograph by Tom Bol

EXTRA-FIRM MATTRESS: A slickrock campsite near Death Hollow, in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

ROCKY MOUNTAINS

Explore a Lost Canyon, Utah

Of the hundreds of canyons in Grand Staircase-

Escalante National Monument, two see a majority ofthe visitors: Paria River and Coyote Gulch. But RickGreen of Excursions of Escalante hopes to changethat. On a three-day canyoneering trip into DeathHollow ($200; www.excursions-escalante.com),guests slither, swim, and rappel into tight slot canyonsthat haven't recorded a footprint in the seven yearsGreen has been guiding in the area. Along the way,visitors explore caves filled with arrowheads and

pictographs and retire to a lofty base camp, where the

setting sun illuminates a sea of white-and-pink

sandstone. 

Give Up the Ghost, New Mexico

In the ghost town of Kingston, the Black Range Lodge ($59;www.blackrangelodge.com) is the liveliest thing going. Come spring a parade of urban escapees pulls off State Route 152 and through the wagon-wheel gateway, drawn by two chief attractions: the lodge's setting beside the Gila National Forest and owner Catherine Wanek's green chili salsa, which goes nicely on any breakfast dish prepared with eggs from her "free-thinking" chickens. A short but steep drive to Emory Pass delivers hikers and mountain bikers to the Black Range Crest Trail. Bikers roll south eight miles (13 kilometers) to Sawyers Peak (9,668 feet or 2,947 kilometers). Hikers can follow the trail north five miles through a wilderness of ponderosa, Douglas fir, and aspen to grassy 10,011-foot (3,051-meter) Hillsboro Peak for views of the Mimbres Valley.

EAST

Paddle a Pirate Lair, Georgia

A boneyard fits right in on the former island-home of pirate Edward "Blackbeard" Teach. Today, however, the skeletal remains aren't human, but wave-blasted remnants of live oaks. During a two-day tour of Georgia's sea isles withSouthEast Adventure Outfitters ($225; www.southeastadventure.com), clients paddle to Blackbeard Island from a base on Sapelo Island then hike two and a half miles (4 kilometers) to the log-strewed beach. Back on Sapelo, visitors stay with the local Gullah people, sharing stories and a meal of fried-fish casserole.

Breeze Through History, Maryland

Pedaling the towpath beside the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal is not unlike Zen meditation. With no interruptions from cars or rocks, the sensual pleasures of still water and cadenced pedal strokes take hold. The 124-mile (200-kilometer) section from Cumberland to Harpers Ferry offers mountain views, a mix of colonial and Civil War history, and a 3,118-foot (950-meter) journey through the Paw Paw Tunnel (headlamps mandatory). Rent fat-tire bikes and arrange for a shuttle with River Riders ($90; www.riverriders.com). Spend the night in Hancock at the 250-year-old Cohill Manor B&B ($75; +1 301 678 7573).

Catch the Snow Show, New Hampshire 

The last chairlift in the East shut down weeks ago, but ski season is only now heating up at Tuckerman Ravine, on the southeast flank of 6,288-foot (1,917-meter) Mount Washington. From Lunch Rocks, cheer on the daredevils attempting the remarkably steep Headwall, then join Chauvin Guides on a day-long ski tour of Gulf of Slides and Oakes Gulf ($125; www.chauvinguides.com). Stay mountainside at rustic Joe Dodge Lodge ($57; including breakfast and dinner; www.outdoors.org), the unofficial base facility for skiing "the Tuck."

CENTRAL

Bike With Bison, South Dakota

If the technical mountain biking on the 111-mile (179-kilometer) Centennial Traildoesn't stop you, an ornery bison just might. "There's a good chance you'll whip around a corner and run right into a buffalo," says Tim Rangitsch, who works atAcme Bicycles, in nearby Rapid City. Best advice in that case: Give the big bruisers wide berth, especially during spring calving season, when moms are hypersensitive. Stage your explorations of the Centennial from a lakeside cabin at Legion Lake Resort ($95; www.custerresorts.com), in Custer State Park. From there, ride the Big Tree Robbers Roost Draw loop, which climbs to the second tallest ponderosa pine in the nation before dropping into the sheer-sided canyon along French Creek. 

Hike Like a Sooner, Oklahoma 

Backpackers can be excused for thinking of Greenleaf State Park as a private enclave. At their disposal they have a smartly designed 17-mile (27-kilometer) loop trail, unlimited swimming options in clear Greenleaf Lake, ample hills with gratifying views, and near perfect waterside camping. Better still, the Greenleaf Trail runs through the quiet Cookson Hills section of the park (+1 918 487 5196), which sits on the bank opposite the park's RV hookups and recreation facilities. Be advised: Mountain bikers share the trail, but a rocky tread and a lack of publicity keep their numbers down.

PACIFIC COAST

Go Coastal, California 

State Route 1 loses its stranglehold on the Pacific coastline in northern Mendocino County, home to Sinkyone Wilderness State Park and the beginning of the 54-mile (87-kilometer) Lost Coast. To access Orchard Camp and other prime drive-in sites, approach from the north via a dirt road out of Whitethorn. The nearby Lost Coast Trail, Sinkyone's main drag, travels 22 miles (35 kilometers)atop a bluff and along black-sand beaches where elephant seals bask.

Ride Sierra Surge, California 

River rats recognize the 22-mile (35-kilometer) Forks of the Kern, located at the south end of the Sierra Nevada, as the best white-water run in California. Some even contend it's tops in the whole country. But the Kern is also so remote that rafters must hike three miles to reach a put-in and mules are enlisted to ferry supplies. Kern River Outfitters runs three-day trips ($798;www.kernrafting.com). Previous paddling experience is recommended. 

Cruise the Green Room, Oregon 

Every trip has a clinching moment. On Oregon Ridge & River Excursions' three-day, 77-mile (124-kilometer) mountain biking tour through the southern Cascades ($150; www.umpquarivers.com), the Dread and Terror trail is it. Riders cling to the narrow path as it climbs an exposed ledge several hundred feet above the emerald North Umpqua River. While bikers white-knuckle it, guides leapfrog ahead to pitch tents and prepare a barbecued salmon dinner.

National Geographic Adventure November 2005

Fall Weekend Getaways: Heat SeekersA dozen frost-free destinations and not a turkey in the bunch   Text by Jim Gorman HOT TUB, COOL VIEW: Soothe climbing-weary tendons in the Valley View Hot Springs near Penitente Canyon, Colorado. ROCKIES  Climb to the Sunny Side, Colorado  Sun-drenched Penitente Canyon near Alamosa offers year-round climbing on bolted routes stretching 50 feet (15 meters). Grab generous handholds on How the West Was Won or dab finger pockets in the slab on May-B Nueve. Rocky Mountain Outdoor Center leads all-day guided climbs ($99; www.rmoc.com). Stay in Alamosa's Cottonwood Inn ($55; www.cottonwoodinn.com), and soak in the buff at nearby Valley View Hot Springs' Top Spring, surrounded by the snowy peaks of the Sangre de Cristos.    Spy High-Fliers in the Chiricahuas, Arizona Cave Creek is the Rodeo Drive of birding: Star sightings come with the territory. Spot the prized elegant trogan, elusive Aztec thrush, and some 300 other winged wonders. Gossip with serious birders while staying at Cave Creek Ranch ($125; www.cavecreekranch.com), and leg it out on a nine-mile (14-kilometer) round-trip hike to 7,975-foot (2,431-meter) Silver Peak for views of the Chiricahua Mountains. For more great hikes, including 3.3-mile (5-kilometer) Echo Canyon Trail, pay a visit to nearby Chiricahua National Monument.   Cycle the Gila Circuit, New MexicoMatchless autumn weather and a peerless hard-top cycling route bolster Silver City's claim as one of the best small towns in America. The paved, 83-mile (134- kilometer) Gila Inner Loop, which runs through the pine-scented Pinos Altos Mountains, is about as close to wilderness as a "roadie" can get. Pack the panniers and stay the night near the halfway point in the Lake Roberts General Store's simple but cozy log cabin ($61; www.lakeroberts.com). For ride details, contact Gila Hike and Bike in Silver City (+1 505 388 3222).   PACIFIC COAST Let Loose in Mojave, California It's not easy to lose track of a 1.5-million-acre (6,070-square-kilometer) park, butMojave National Preserve (www.nps.gov/moja) is an overlooked gem in California's vast park system. The preserve has the features of Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Parks—dunes, Joshua trees, and sparse desert beauty—minus any hint of crowding. A four-wheel-drive vehicle opens up possibilities for exploring the Mojave Road, an old Indian route. Or, hike to the top of Cima Dome, a granite batholith tufted with J-trees. At sunrise or sunset, duckwalk to the top of Kelso Dunes—700-foot (213-meter) monsters that yield 50-mile (80-kilometer) views in all directions.    Romp Around Morro Bay, CaliforniaThe Pacific Ocean is a constant companion for mountain bikers at Montaña de Oro State Park near San Luis Obispo (www.parks.ca.gov). It's there at every turn, whether smashing into sea cliffs below the Bluff Trail or sparkling in a magnificent north-south sweep along high-rising Ridge Trail. Camp at Morro Bay State Park ($25), which has hot showers. Taco Temple (+1 805 772 4965), also in Morro Bay, makes a mean fish taco, while Mother's (www.motherstavern.com) in San Luis serves up local brews and live jazz.    Hike to Hell, Oregon and Idaho Snow might dust the Seven Devils this time of year, but it's a different season 8,000 feet (2,438 meters) below on the banks of the Snake River. Warm, sunny days and welcome quiet—noisy jet boats abate in September—make autumn a great time to hike the Snake River Trail. Get a lift upstream to Pittsburg Landing with Beamers Hells Canyon Tours ($115; www.hellscanyontours.com), then hike six miles (ten kilometers) to McGaffee Cabin, a relic from the canyon's ranching days. The return hike to Dug Bar offers easy strolling past  mountainous Class III rapids, sandbars primed for camping, and a historic ranch and museum.   CENTRAL Take a Mud Bath, Indiana No matter the weather topside, the interior of Marengo Cave is a balmy 52ºF (11ºC). Balmy, that is, until you're soaked and coated in mud from slithering through tight passages and fording a thigh-high underground stream. Make a day of it by linking together the Waterfall Crawl and Underground Adventuretours ($47 per person, group of six required; www.wyandottecaves.com). Clean up at a historic but updated cabin alongside Patoka Lake ($115;www.patokalake.com). On Sunday, mountain bike the 24-mile (39-kilometer) German Ridge Trail in nearby Hoosier National Forest.    Beach it in Cajun Country, Louisiana  Hurricane Katrina died out just short of the Sabine River, leaving one of the South's most relaxing paddling runs intact. The river itself, which separates Louisiana from Texas, flows clear and steady from a dam upstream, so hard paddling is out of the question. And on the 29-mile (47-kilometer) section from Burr Ferry to Anacoco Bayou, big, bright white sandbars offer perfect spots for a campsite or an afternoon nap. Tack-A-Paw Expeditions in Leesville, Louisiana, rents canoes and runs shuttles ($100 for a two-day rental and shuttle; 800 256 9337).     Head for the Hills, TexasThe eight-mile-long (13-kilometer) gravel road leading to Colorado Bend State Park (www.tpwd.state.tx.us) is your first hint that this is not another crowded Hill Country park. Its remote location, cradled in a sweeping crook of the Colorado River, will help keep it that way. Take a ranger-led tour to the park's centerpiece, 60-foot (18-meter) Gorman Falls, or hike the one-mile Spicewood Springs Trail. At sundown, try the brisket at Cooper's Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que in nearby Llano and pitch your tent at one of the park's four primitive campsites ($15).     EASTJump in a Spring, Alabama When it comes to backpacking, great rewards don't always require great effort. Exhibit A: The pool table–flat Conecuh Trail along the Alabama-Florida border. On this 22.5-mile (36-kilometer) loop (really two loops linked by a connector trail), bugs are kept at bay by carnivorous pitcher plants and red cockaded woodpeckers. And water is everywhere: Bogs, cypress swamp, trickling streams, natural ponds, and deep, crystalline springs dot an emerald forest of longleaf pine and fragrant cedar. For maps, contact Conecuh National Forest(+1 334 222 2555).    Castaway on a Desert Isle, GeorgiaTape the Georgia-Auburn game, because November is a surefire score at Cumberland Island National Seashore. "The water temperature is still warm, nights are cool, and the mosquitoes are gone. It's the best," says Mike Gowen, whose SouthEast Adventure Outfitters leads three-day, two-night paddling tours to the protected island ($350; www.southeastadventure.com). After a day cruising tidal flats to a campsite at the island's north end, hike 12 miles (19 kilometers) through forests of live oak to a stretch of white-sand beach with nary a time-share in sight.    Crash Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts  Now that Spike Lee, Harvey Weinstein, and other swells have shipped out, Martha's Vineyard yields to visitors with simpler tastes. Mountain bike the sandy roads and singletrack in Manuel F. Correllus State Forest, the 5,000-acre (20- square-kilometer) tract of pitch pine and scrub oak at the island's core. Then hop the little ferry to Chappaquiddick Island and beachcomb seven miles (11 kilometers) of coast between Wasque Point and Cape Pogue. At the far west end of the island, the Menemsha Hills Reservation Trail leads to Prospect Hill and views of the Elizabeth Islands. Lambert's Cove Inn ($195, including breakfast;www.lambertscoveinn.com) offers cushy accommodations in a parklike setting. Photograph by Richard Durnan

Outside Magazine May 29, 2007

THE NEW AMERICAN ROAD TRIP

At some point after puberty and before mortgage payments, that summer ritual our parents used to make us do became something we couldn't do without. And the rules have changed. Cars are faster, highways are better, and there's cool stuff—really cool stuff that doesn't involve buffets or Dollywood—just about everywhere. Stop sitting on those vacation days and get out there. Our five two-week loops will get you rolling.

SOUTHEAST

Eat like a southerner, camp in the trees, and meet the gators on their turf

FROM ATLANTA:In the city, catch fish from the Chattahoochee, the country's southernmost brown trout river (riverthroughatlanta.com).

MACON Grits, collards, and sweet-potato pie; load up on Mama Louise's soul food at H&H Restaurant (mamalouise.com).

BAXLEY Blackwater and expansive cypress swamps make the Altamaha River a spooky classic of a deep-South canoe trip (southeastadventure.com).

FOLKSTON Though not as spooky as the eyes glowing back at you on a night paddle of the Okefenokee (okefenokee.com).

JACKSONVILLE Clean sets roll into the Poles surf break, at Katheryn Abbey Hanna Park, after northeasterly storms from the Atlantic (aquaeast.com).

ST. MARYS A twice-daily ferry runs to Cumberland Island, with its grown-over plantation ruins (nps.gov/cuis). Farther up the coast, Jekyll Island's pristine driftwood beaches lie tangled in live oaks and windrows (jekyllisland.com).

ST. SIMONS The classic seafood shack: the Crab Trap (saintsimons.com/crabtrap).

HILTON HEAD Late-night turtle watchers await the emergence of loggerhead hatchlings (coastaldiscovery.org).

CANADYS A paddle-to treehouse adds a novel approach to canopy living (canoes.com).

OUTER BANKS Tailing red drum are the bonefish of Pamlico Sound. Sight-cast to them with a fly, or surfcast for bluefish and pompano (outerbanksflyfishing.com).

KITTY HAWK Fly a glider like the Wright brothers (kittyhawk.com).

CHAPEL HILL Remember college, no matter where it was (carolinabrewery.com).

ASHEVILLE The Green River Narrows is the most notorious Class V kayak run in the Southeast, but just upstream it's mellow Class II (greenriveradventures.com). After boating or riding Laurel Mountain (pro-bikes.com), locals get their swill on at Jack of the Wood (jackofthewood.com).

HOT SPRINGS River-board the French Broad (extremenc.com).

CLAYTON If Burt Reynolds and his ill-fated Deliverance posse had gone with Wildwater Ltd., they might have made it down the Chattooga River's Section IV (wildwaterrafting.com).

TALLULAH FALLS And if they'd known how to climb, they might have made it out of Tallulah Gorge (granitearches.com).