Sunday my kids (8,11), wife, dog and I headed to lower green for a float. Kids have played in the pool with the kayaks alot and demonstrated adequate skills. Took the boats I have -- a LL Crossriver, Nomad 8.5 and Mamma and I in the Old Town canoe with the dog. The kids paddled very well and never flipped. Neither liked paddling the nomad because it is harder to manage and would wear them out physically and mentally so we traded off in the cross river. Wife and I got dumped once but I managed to keep the dog in the boat. Wife hit her head on a rock (parents had opted for no helmets) She had no real injury, not even goose-egg, but we will be wearing protection from now on.
Now for the real drama. Let me start by saying I haven't seen this section in prolly 8-10 years. After we went under the last bridge I was looking for the takeout. We saw a "commercial tubing" takeout complete with the tubing logo signs and whatnot. I KNEW that this couldn't be the public takeout as the tubing companies don't use it, they have their own property (or so I remembered falsely). Anyway, we floated for about 1-2 more miles before realizing we had really screwed up. SO, we tied the kayaks behind the canoe and loaded the kids up. Attaining was doable for a while, but I ended up walking the river bed pulling the fam after a while. We finally heard a car nearby and I bushwacked to the road. Then I jogged a mile or so to the truck, then back to the woods to haul out our gear. Of course the tubers WERE taking out at the public site. Good news is everyone rose to the occasion and ended up saying the whole day was fun. I just hope our washing up in the river will keep us from getting poison ivy. I should know in a day or two!!!!