Voice of the Rivers 2011: Day 12- Tyler

Voice of the Rivers (VOR) is an expedition-based program focused on the interdisciplinary study of a river from its source to its end. Student team members paddle the river and earn six hours of college credit while taking two academic courses and interacting with a variety of leaders and program managers that support the river, media organizations and conservation groups. This summer Brevard College is once again sponsoring the Voice of the Rivers program. From May 15th-June 2nd thirteen Brevard College students and two faculty members will follow the Rappahannock River from the Blue Ridge Mountains near Front Royal, Virginia to the Chesapeake Bay at Deltaville, Virginia. The VOR Team will travel approximately 184 miles by foot, canoe and sea-kayak with primitive camping each night. VOR students—whose majors include Art, Religious Studies, Environmental Science, Exercise Science, Psychology, Business and Organizational Leadership and Wilderness Leadership and Experiential Education—will post daily journal entries, photos and videos of their travels and experiences online using Facebook, blogs and the Brevard College Web site. Expedition faculty leaders are Dr. John Buford and Dr. Resa Chandler.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Day 12- Tyler

Well, I don’t have a whole a lot to say about today other than we tore the river up! The majority of the day was spent paddling about 22 miles of the Rapp in some pretty hot heat. As a result, we kept eachother in check about our water intake. We started at the park near downtown Fredericksburg and ended a Haymont with a stop at Four Winds Camping and Trailer Park. We switched out our canoes for kayaks and headed down river against the tide for most of the day. There was an abundance of wildlife on the river like eagles and an awesome osprey that dove into the water to snatch up a fish. Today we were able to see a deer crossing the river near Haymont. At this location, the river is about 75 to 100 yards across. Everybody at the end of the paddle was pretty burnt and beat. We sit here now back in the cornfield that we were located in about this time last week soaking up what’s left of the day and plan our paddle for tomorrow which has about the same milage.