Celebrate July 4th on the River!

July 4, 2009 at 10:00 AM

Celebrate July 4 close to home with DRBA! Our Independence Day float will cover six scenic miles of the Mayo and Dan rivers in Rockingham County, NC with coordinators T and Lindley Butler.

Meeting at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, July 4, beside the NC 135 Bridge over the Mayo River, we'll set the shuttle and float 1.5 miles of the Mayo to its confluence with the Dan. After another 4.5 miles on the Dan River, the take-out will be at the mouth of Jacob's Creek. Both put-in and take-out are with landowners' permission on private property.

Although this portion of the Mayo River flows through Mayodan and Madison, the river's high forested banks hide the towns and provide a pleasant feeling of timeless wilderness. The entire six-mile trip is rated Class 1 in difficulty.

Sites of interest on the lower Mayo include Mayo Ford, which dates from Colonial times, and a stone pier from the 1892 Mayo River Bridge. Upon reaching the confluence with the Dan River, participants will encounter six historic structures from the batteau navigation system that made this river usable by flat-bottomed batteaux in the nineteenth century.

Robertson's Fish Trap Sluice includes a widened fish weir originally built to collect fish making their great spawning runs upriver from the coast. Slink Shoal Sluice and Wing Dams, called the navigation system's "crown jewel," includes the longest sluice, or channel, and the only surviving log-crib wing dams on the river.

Bring boat and paddles, life jacket, lunch and water, and dress in layers of artificial (quick-drying) fabric. Boaters will be asked to sign an "Assignment of Risk / Waiver of Claim" form.
Boats may be rented from Three Rivers Outfitters, 336-627-6215 or www.3-R-O.com, which will provide shuttle as well.

DIRECTIONS: Meet at 10:00 a. m. at the Wall Lumber Company parking lot, 104 East Roosevelt Street, on the west side of the NC 135 Bridge in Mayodan, NC. The NC 135 Bridge is about two miles west of US 220 Bypass.

FURTHER INFORMATION: T Butler, 336-349-5727 or members@danriver.org.