Sunday, June 15, 2008
Life, Health + Fitness

Shoot the hooch

What better way to beat the heat and get a fitness fix than to paddle down the Chattahoochee River?

By Colleen Oakley

When I first moved to Atlanta six years ago, I lived in an apartment complex that was actually on the Chattahoochee River. I would go down to the water, gaze at it, run beside it, but I never actually went in it. I had heard friends tell of how much fun it was to jump in inner tubes with a six-pack of beer and float down the lazy river, and I mentally wrote it on my “things to try” list, but just never got around to checking it off.

With the weather warming up this month, and my outdoor activity choices slowly tapering off (as I’ve mentioned in earlier columns—I hate being hot), I thought it was time to finally bite the bullet.
I called up the rafting/kayaking outfitters Shoot the Hooch and set up a Saturday morning kayak trip for me and my fiancé, Fred. There are so many options for the trips you can take on the river, but we chose a quick three-mile jaunt. You meet at the Shoot the Hooch building on Azalea Drive on the river in Roswell, and they shuttle you up to a drop-off point three miles upriver called Island Ford.

The drive through the Chattahoochee National Forest was beautiful. Our driver explained that when Atlanta was in its early stages of development, a few people bought up the land that now makes up the forest in order to preserve it and protect it from builders. All I could think was, “I’m so glad they did.” It’s kind of amazing—you’re smack in the middle of Atlanta, surrounded by wildlife. I felt like we were in the North Georgia mountains somewhere, but we were only 20 minutes from our house in Brookhaven.

When we got to the drop-off point, the driver and his assistant took two kayaks off the back of the trailer connected to our van, made sure our life jackets were secure and set us off with paddles into the river at Island Ford.

Fred and I were alone on this beautiful river, lined with towering trees and the sun was high in a cloudless blue sky. It was near perfect. We began paddling downstream, racing each other at intervals (we can be pretty competitive), and resting to enjoy the scenery at others. We passed a few fly fishermen, some feeding ducks and accidentally scared a family of sunning turtles on a log. About an hour into our trip, Fred said to me, “Do your shoulders hurt from all this paddling?”
I smiled. “No, not at all. Why? Do yours?”

“Of course not,” he grinned. “I just wanted to make sure you were OK.”

Truth be told, if you paddle consistently without taking breaks, your shoulders do get a bit sore, but I would never have admitted that to him. Kayaking on the ’hooch is really the workout that you make it— you can go hard and full-steam ahead for a real upper-body burn or you can take it easy, floating lazily down the river. A lot of groups make a party of it and bring beer (no glass bottles, though) and food, stopping to graze on the banks of the river.

Whether you’re in it for the workout or just for fun, it’s genuinely the perfect way to spend a summer day in this hot city. And I can finally check it off my to-do list. SP
Colleen Oakley is a freelance writer in Atlanta and the former editor of Women’s Health & Fitness magazine. Got a fitness challenge for her? E-mail her at colleen@sundaypaper.com.