Georgia River Network announces summer camp for adults, families
When June rolls around, do you long for the fun of the summer camp days of your youth?
When you drop your child at summer camp, does the kid inside you want to stay with them? If you answered yes to either question, Georgia River Network has teed up an event especially for you and your family.
From June 25, through July 1, the river advocacy organization will host Paddle Georgia 2023, a sevenday, 84-mile canoe/kayak camping adventure on the Savannah River.
Now in its 18th year, the event, which has been likened to “summer camp for adults and families” by participants, is considered the largest week-long canoe/kayak camping adventure in the country with more than 250 people participating annually.
“At its core, Paddle Georgia is about fun,” said Joe Cook, who has coordinated the event since 2005. “It’s about families and friends gathering for a common adventure and having a great time on Georgia’s rivers. It’s water battles, sandbar lounging, and lots of laughing.”
This year’s journey charts a course on the Savannah in Screven and Effingham counties. Through a mix of big-river paddling on the wide and winding Savannah and explorations of intimate blackwater streams like Brier, Ebenezer and Abercorn creeks, participants will encounter hundredsof-years-old cypress trees, fossilfilled river bluffs and wild, wildlifefilled oxbow lakes. A trip suitable for novices, it will introduce paddlers to the diversity, beauty and history of Georgia’s “first river.”
Registration for the event is now open. Paddlers can participate for two, three or four days or join for all seven days. Adult registration fees range from $155 for two days to $455 for the seven-day option. Special discounts of 40 to 80 percent are available to families with two or more children. Additional details and registration information can be found at www.garivers.org/ paddle-georgia.
The trip includes off-river camping at Black Creek Scout Reservation near Sylvania and at New Ebenezer Retreat Center near Rincon with some private indoor accommodations available; catered breakfasts, lunches and dinners; full shuttle services to-and-from the river each day; nightly educational and entertainment programs for all; daily special activities for youth and even a river cleanup.
“It’s much more than just a paddle trip,” Cook said. “At Georgia River Network, we want people to connect with Georgia’s rivers and understand how we depend upon them. For that reason, we incorporate lots of educational programs into the journey, ranging from Georgia Adopt-AStream water monitoring training to tours of facilities that make use of or impact the river.”
Organizers are especially excited about amenities available at Black Creek Scout Reservation. Both youth and adults will have the opportunity to ride the camp’s massive zipline into a lake and challenge themselves on a climbing wall and high ropes course. At New Ebenezer participants will visit the state’s oldest church building, constructed in 1769 by Salzburger emigrants, who fled religious persecution in Europe and established the settlement of New Ebenezer along the banks of the Savannah and Ebenezer Creek.
Paddle Georgia serves as a fundraiser for GRN and local watershed protection groups. Since the inaugural Paddle Georgia in 2005, GRN has introduced more than 6,000 paddlers to Georgia’s rivers and raised more than $700,000 for river protection projects. In addition to supporting GRN’s river advocacy efforts, proceeds from this year’s event will support Savannah Riverkeeper.
In addition to hosting this weeklong event, this year GRN will offer 19 other on-water events ranging from day trips and kayaking skills/water safety classes to weekend paddling adventures. The organization is also hosting Paddle-A-Thon, a paddling and peer-to-peer fundraising competition with more than $8000 in prizes up for grabs in competitive categories ranging from most money raised for GRN to most miles paddled. Now underway, the Paddle-A-Thon runs through Sept. 6. More information is available at mightycause.com/ event/Paddleathon online.