Tanglewood to Reedy Creek Run this Saturday- 11 miles

Current low water levels actually makes the Yadkin a great paddle. This is quite the opposite of most rivers(Dan and Uwharrie).

Our plans for Saturday depend on water flow and weather at the time. Always check the hrlpaddlers.com site for any last minute changes. Plans now are to complete a two segment Yadkin River Run. The first stretch will take us from Tanglewood Park to Idols Dam . Those who don't wish to continue beyond, can do a turn and burn back up river to the 158 Access, resting at our Portage Take Out. This will give you a few minutes to rest before heading heading back up stream to the launch site.

The rest of the group will endure a brief portage. If you have a kayak trolley this would be a good time to bring it. The rest of us will paddle the 6.4 miles down the Yadkin to Reedy Creek, passing the fields of the Childress Vineyards on the way. We will take out at our private cornfield launch in the Reedy Creek Area, shuttling over to Tarheel Q on 64 for cars.

There are a quite a few shuttle scenarios going on, depending on where you live. If you are coming from Lexington, Salisbury or Charlotte, you may wish to meet up at Tarheel Q on Hwy 64 around 8 am. Tarheel Q is close to our take out point, a corn field near Reedy Creek. Terry has offered to shuttle as many kayaks and people to the Tanglewood Access as he can. We will need some others to act as shuttles for others to Tanglewood, so we can leave cars at Tarheel Q. We will work out the final detail arrangements at Tarheel Q that morning.

Now for those who live in Winston or Clemmons Area, you will want to be at the 158 access no later than 9 am for the launch. Those who only want to do a turn and burn to the railroad trestle before Idols Dam will have no problems figuring out their shuttle(they bring their car to the launch site, paddle back up stream, and return home in their car).

Should you wish to be in the 11 mile club, the "go the distance group", an earlier time (7:30 -8am) to the 158 might be in order. This is where communications between those going is critical. Hopefully the group coming from our Reedy Creek Take Out Area(Tarheel Q)will have enough passenger room, for others on the return trip to Tanglewood to pick up cars after the run.

Please email me with your intentions, so we can figure out shuttle details.(hrlpaddlers@gmail.com) I need to know if you are willing to act as a shuttle, to help facilitate our point A to B trip and back to point A again.

Shuttling is a lot harder and more complicated than paddling, no matter how many ways you try to figure it out, Fran can attest to that. This should be a fun paddle, especially the stretch from Idols Dam down to Reedy Creek. We should encounter 7-9 rapids, mostly class 1 and if we are lucky at least one class two.

We will have to be careful after we portage around Idols Dam. The currents below the Dam can create dangerous hydraulics, so we will want to launch well away from Dam, when continuing our journey to Reedy Creek.

* For those who would like to assimilate the shuttling with paper cut outs. Point A is our launch at Tanglewood. Point B is Reedy Creek 11 miles down stream. Other places to factor in the shuttle are Tarheel Q on 64 to the to the cornfield in Reedy Creek to pick up paddlers. Have fun trying it. I got a feeling Fran will leave the headache with Neal and Terry.

The shuttle is the time killer, the run should only take 4 hours, depending on how much we play along the way. Bring Plenty of water and sandwiches. Fuel estimates for a kayaker are about 2 miles per sandwich.

Call Neal or Terry with any questions

Neal- 336- 971-1706

Terry- 336- 479-6137