Chattahoochee River - Fall Colors Kayak Tour (Fulton County, Georgia)

It's been a busy week, but to relax a little bit today, I decided to join REI on a lazy paddle down the Chattahoochee River. Though we've lived in the Atlanta metro area for four years now, I've never actually paddled on the Chattahoochee and this seemed like a great opportunity to add it to the list. 

Meeting up with the guide and other participants around noon at the Chattahoochee Nature Center, we did a quick run down of the kayaks and the plan for the day. Once all of that was out of the way, we loaded into the kayaks and launched into the river via a unique ramp contraption. It seemed unnecessarily complicated, but we were able to accomplish our goal with it and soon we were floating on the river. The water is uncharacteristically clear today. Normally, this river is quite muddy. 

We started by paddling upstream a bit to get a feel for the current and wind, but satisfied that it wouldn't be a problem, we turned our boats and head downstream. A number of rowing teams joined us on the water and quickly passed us with their coordinated rows. That's fine, I'm here to relax not work. 

The autumn colors are nearly gone, but a few still remain to add a nice palate to the backdrop along the river banks. The water here is very shallow and on one occasion, I actually beach myself, but through a combination of pushing of my paddle and rocking back and forth, I'm able to 'scooch' over the sandbar and get to slightly deeper waters. 

We continue downstream toward a large bluff with multi-million dollar homes built atop it. While the homes are beautiful and the views are probably very nice, I think I would choose somewhere else to build if I were going to spend that much money.

After an hour and a half or so, we turn the boats and head back to our launch point. Without realize it, I get far ahead of the group and take advantage of the time to just kick back and relax in my floating lounger. Soon, the others catch up and we pull the boats out of the water in a much more normal fashion. We paddled about 3.2 miles in total, but it was worth it just to get outside and relax a little bit.