Tubing/snorkeling the James River

[SelkieDVM]

Last Saturday, the BF and a friend and I went tubing on the James in the Mt. Athos area (just east of Lynchburg). To cut to the chase, I do not recommend this section for tubing.

We've done a lot of tubing on the James but this section was new to us. There's a parking area where you can put in right after turning onto Mt. Athos road from 460. The take out area is at a ramp about a mile and a half down Mt. Athos, but about 4.5 miles away by way of the river. This section doesn't move very quickly in many parts, and we were on the water for five hours before hauling out about a half mile short of the ramp (more on that later).

The guys were fishing and I was snorkeling. I just hold onto the tube and glide along. I love the sensation of flying over an alien landscape. The boys caught some modest smallies, but Chad did have one good fight from a sizeable catfish that hit his jig like a great white leaping out of the water.

The river was too shallow to float over in many areas, and we had to do a lot of careful scrambling over the rocks. In one section the water was moving so slowly that we were actually going upstream due to the headwind. Glad I had my Jetfins, as I actually had to tow Chad through this part.

Well, after about 4.5 hours, Chad got a hook embedded in his finger and I sustained a nasty cut on my leg (knew I shoulda worn a full wetsuit), so we decided to haul out early. The river here was adjacent to some RR tracks and we knew we could follow them back to the parking area.

BUT, the tracks cross Babcock & Wilcox property. B&W manufactures nuclear fuel for naval ships. Their plant is surrounded by rows of razor wire-topped fences and signs that read, "Use of Deadly Force Authorized." There are guard towers. We were intercepted by two nice young security guards in an SUV. After taking our info and observing my bleeding leg and the hook, I guess they determined that we were most likely not terrorists and received authorization via radio to give us a ride back to the truck. So, thanks guys, I know you could easily have arrested us. You'd think there would be signs along the river, though.

A long, strange day but we ended up laughing about it. My cut is healing nicely and we got the hook out of Chad's finger without too much trouble. It was his 54th birthday.

[Riversnorkel]

Nice TR, sounds lke you had a blast, despite a few snags, pun intended.
River snorkeling is a blast!

[james croft]

That what does not kill you only makes you stronger.

Depending on how bony the James is due to water levels I sometimes use kneepads when not wearing a wetsuit. I found it prevents a lot of cuts and scrapes.