Up the creek with no paddle!

October has got to be one of the prettiest times and postcard views around the gorge in the entire year.  As most of you know, Danny and I can't go a day without planning our day around finding a way to somehow get a couple hours of "gorge time" during the day.  So today was no different than any other.  We knew the river was up and is slowly going down which means trash will be floating down and needs to be picked up through the gorge.  Danny (being the creative worker that he is) has a great idea we will kayak down the gorge and pick up trash as we go down.  This way we kill two birds with one stone- enjoy the perfect fall skies and breeze and clean the gorge up.  So here we go- boats loaded- smiling faces- and we are off!  Trash was found in trees, along the banks and hung up on rocks, we gathered them in our boats and all we have left is the scenic route straight back to the resort.  One more small rapid and we are home free....!  Right then, I suppose I thought I was a little too talented, I somehow went down a rapid sideways and ended up getting my boat submerged in a hydrolic. (Keep in mind our paddles we are using are paddles we found from a trash clean up that have been broken in half and chopped in two- then floated down the river for days).  Slipping and falling everywhere, I get out of the boat flopping all over the rapid to save the trash from falling out of the boat.  My kayak is competely submerged and now stuck under rushing water.  Worst!  Trash is pouring out and I lost my paddle.  Luckily, Danny wiggled the boat out of the rapid.  But no paddle to be found and tons of trash to be picked up.  So, the only smart thing to do is steal Danny's paddle and start picking up trash.  Thankfully, Danny being the southern gentleman that he is, agreed, picked up a stick to use for a paddle, and we both paddled down the stream picking up more trash and learning a lesson that work comes first then play!
If anyone wants to join us on smaller unofficial gorge clean ups, let us know!  Just bring your own paddle!!