ZALOO THE NEW!

THE NEW RIVER IN ASHE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA

On a September Sunday, the Fat Bald White Guy, his Faithful Hiking Companion with Billy Buck, Awesome Possum, Whitdawg, Grayboy & the Big D.  We set out to canoe the New with Zaloo's Canoes!  Not exactly a hike but a real good view of the oldest river in North America as it snakes through the Blue Ridge Mountains in Ashe County, NC.  Located off NC 16 about 20 miles from North Wilkesboro, Zaloo's Canoes offers a convenient online registration and wonderful customer service. Great family trip destination!

 Zaloo offers a 5 and 10 mile trip down the South Fork of the New River.  You can choose between a kayak or a canoe.  Since we were carrying youngsters we selected three canoes.  The New River in this section is narrow and shallow with an easy flow current.  You have to paddle through a few rocky fast spots that are more a nuisance than a ride on the rapids...perfect for a lazy canoe ride through some amazing mountain scenery. https://zaloos.com/

The river meanders among both the new and old.  Not far from the Zaloo Outpost is the upscale development Jefferson Landing.  Well manicured river banks and large homes loom over the river.  Impressive and interesting, they are a reminder that the river is not what it used to be.   But just as spectacular as the new construction is, there are remnants of times long ago when this river was not a tourist destination but a home to mountain settlers.

We had visited the Wooten/Cockerham mill a few years back.  At that time the access was limited as it was today.  It is a spectacular old mill.  The sign says a mill has been on this site since 1775!

The mill features a water wheel beneath the mill.  I have never seen such a configuration in any of the grist mills I have visited in this state.  The mill is begging for someone to renovate it!  It is a example of the engineering marvels of settlers in a remote mountain wilderness and needs to be preserved. 

Nestled amidst beautiful yellow riverbank flowers is an old farmstead that features a large barn and a few outbuildings.  Oh the stories that old barn could tell!  Near the end of the trek is a very interesting gabled house.  These relics are a reminder that this river was once home to a thriving community. 

As interesting as buildings along the riverside are, it is not the reason you should canoe the New.  This river is one of the oldest rivers in the world.  Flowing north into Virginia and West Virginia, it contains some of the prettiest natural scenery in the eastern United States.  The river changes as it flows northward.  This is but a small portion of the natural canvas upon which a masterpiece is painted daily.

The morning haze had not yet lifted from this riverbend as we approached.  Around every bend there was a new spectacular scene. The lazy river just allowed us ample time to take it all in. 

My favorite scene was across the river from Jefferson Landing.  On the river bank was a large river oak whose branches hung over the river.  It was a sentinel guarding the river bend ever watchful of all who passed. 

Make this trip a bucket list item for you!  It is a trip anyone can do.  Ride a canoe, paddle a kayak...heck float in a big rubber tube.  You have to see this river and experience the majesty.

 

"The river seems a magic thing.  A magic moving living part of the earth itself" - Laura Gilpin. 

Ranking this is easy....a solid 10....easy access...great scenery...perfect effort to view ratio.  Heck the Fat Bald White Guy is now a River Dawg!

Billy Buck and Big D loved it!

So did Whitdawg and Grayboy!

But Awesome Possum is now officially a River Princess!

Props to my Faithful Hiking Companion for being the photographer today...it was a great way to spend a September morning...how blessed am I!

 

"Ask a river where it comes from? You will get no answer. Ask a river where it is going, you will get no answer for the river lives inside this very moment; neither in the past nor in the future, in this very moment only."- Mehmet Murat Ildan