AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) - Bob Brooksher launched his tandem kayak into the Augusta Canal on a recent Saturday morning with the ease that comes from years of practice and uncounted miles of water journeys.
“Sit, River, sit,” Brooksher said, coaxing his companion, a furry white canine dubbed River Dog, to settle in the kayak’s front cockpit.
The dog obliged, having enough practice at this ritual to know what to do without fidgeting or fuss, and the two were soon out in the canal current waiting for the others to join them.
If both dog and man seemed at home on the water, its likely because they have been on the water almost every day for the past three weeks.
The two are part of a monthlong journey down the Savannah River basin that began in the mountains of North Carolina and will end at the Atlantic Ocean in April.
The journey, is part adventure, part consciousness raising and part environmental activism by Brooksher, his friend Joanne Steele and her son, Jesse Steele, called “Source to the Sea.”
The trip has been a dream of Brooksher’s for many years, and had remained a dream until this past year, said Joanne Steele.
“It was my idea to do it this year,” she said, in part to commemorate her 60th birthday and in part to mark 70 years of the nuclear age.
Steele noted that the Savannah River watershed is home to five nuclear reactors and the Savannah River Site, where bombs were once built, and will be the home of the first two new nuclear reactors commissioned since the Three Mile Island disaster.
Steele, a musician, artist, environmental activist and educator, said the trip has many goals, including raising awareness about the environmental dangers that face the Savannah River, which was ranked the third most toxic river in the nation last year by the nonprofit group Environment Georgia.
Steele said their little group also is working to connect and collaborate with like-minded groups and communities along the river, such as the Augusta chapter of the Sierra Club, which held the Augusta Canal side trip Saturday.
“We are also celebrating the beauty of the river,” Brooksher said. “It is just a really beautiful ecosystem.”
There trip began on March 8 on Whiteside Mountain in North Carolina, where they identified a spring that feeds into the Chattooga River, one of the main tributaries to the Savannah, Brooksher said.
“We drank from the spring and had a little ceremony,” he said.
From there the first leg of the journey began with a four-day hike to the headwaters of the Chattooga, where the paddling began.
Along the way the group has used canoes, kayaks and rafts, depending on the water they were traversing.
Most recently they completed about 138 miles of lake paddling, navigating lakes Hartwell, Russell and Thurmond. From Augusta until they finish at Tybee Island on April 11, they will have the benefit of smooth water and a current to help them along.
Brooksher estimates that when all is done they will have covered about 425 miles, including side trips, such as the one on Saturday.
The trip is being documented by videographer Andrew Vinker, who joins the group most weeks to paddle and film their progress. Brooksher said they intend to enter the documentary in some film festivals to bring more awareness to their cause.
Brooksher said he’s met many people on the trip who share their concerns about the river and their desire to preserve it for future generations.
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Information from: The Augusta Chronicle , https://www.augustachronicle.com
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