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SARAH ANNE PERRY
Get Ready to Paddle the Oconee
F orget about trying to hike on this trail.
If you do, be prepared to get wet.
With a $4,000 grant from Georgia
River Network, the Upper Oconee
Watershed Network is working with
the Athens-Clarke County Leisure Services
Department to establish the first blue trail,
also known as a water trail, in Athens. This
will provide kayakers, paddlers, swimmers and
others public access to the Middle Oconee
River. The first of two access points is set to
be built in Ben Burton Park later this year.
"We've got a treasure running through our
town and along the edge of our campus in the
North and Middle Oconee rivers," says Kevin
Kirsche, director of the University of Georgia's
Office of Sustainability. "I think it's really
important for people to
engage with the river
in positive ways and
that that engagement
instills a value for the
local river system."
The grant comes
from money raised by Paddle Georgia, an
annual Georgia River Network event during
which 350 people canoe and kayak 100 miles
of Georgia rivers. A portion of each event's
profits is earmarked for an organization
with goals of addressing water concerns and
improving river recreation on the section of
river traversed during the week.
"We really believe that by improving access
to rivers in Georgia, more people will have
the opportunity to get out and experience
and develop a relationship with rivers, under-
ACC Commissioner Allison Wright, a self-
professed "water person," came on board in
January after Stephens approached her about
an environmentalist comment she had made
in a county commission meeting. Wright says
she keeps kayaks and values the outdoors???
particularly waterways.
"The greenway trail and all that network
has its process, but the blue trail is sort of
lacking in that voice, I felt like," she says.
"So when the opportunity came to be able to
have a voice and to help it along, I just had
to do it."
River advocates hope providing public
water access will encourage the public to take
advantage of local waters and increase its
concern for the environment.
"Once people value
the river and interact
with it positively,
then I think they'll be
compelled to work to
conserve or preserve
the quality of the river
itself," Kirsche says.
In addition, Wright says, terracing to the
water will lessen the vegetation damage and
bank erosion presently caused by kayakers who
are frequently trampling plant life to reach the
water.
Eventually, Stephens says, a second access
point at Ben Burton Park will allow kayakers
to leave the water early and spend more time
in the park, instead of waiting to float back
to Big Dogs' location on Atlanta Highway.
Building a second access point will make it
???We???ve got a treasure running
through our town and along
the edge of our campus.???
Paddlers on the Middle Oconee River.
stand their importance in our lives and really
develop appreciation," Georgia River Network
Executive Director April Ingle says.
U0WN won the grant in 2011, when Paddle
Georgia participants explored the Middle
Oconee and Oconee rivers. The organization
then spent the next two years deciding what
to do with the money. Plans to build on the
North Oconee River fell through, but the
Upper Oconee Watershed Network blue trail
committee, chaired by Big Dog's On the River
owner Terry Stephens, decided the section of
the Middle Oconee River that runs through
Ben Burton Park would be a more immediately
practical location for the first access point.
easier for groups of paddlers to keep up with
one another and provide a safe space for
children's water play, Wright says. And, Ingle
says, building a blue trail???and eventually a
whole network of trails???in Athens may boost
the local economy by acting as a boon to the
city's tourism industry.
"I used to say all the time as a student
here that Athens would be the greatest place
in the world if there was a mountain or an
ocean," Kirsche says. "The outdoor oppor
tunities are less apparent here, but they are
present."
Sarah Anne Perry
SPLASH IT UP
The nearest place you could take your kids
to go run around at a water park used to be
Gainesville. (The Frances Meadows Aquatic
Center is 45 minutes up the road.) But no
more.
Thanks to some SPL0ST money, Athens now
has two "splash pads" to help you cool off???
one at the newly renovated Rocksprings Pool
(291 Henderson Extension), and the other at
East Athens Community Park (200 Trail Creek
St.).
Granted, if your kids are older than 10,
the trip to Gainesville might be worth it.
Admission is $8 per person, and there are two
water slides and a lazy river. But for younger
kids, or for some cheap thrills, the splash pads
are the way to go. Admission to each is $1 per
Note that the Rocksprings splash pad is
closed Mondays, while the East Athens splash
pad is closed Tuesdays.
But If It Rains: The openings of the splash
pads were well timed, since most of this
spring and early summer was stuck under rain
clouds. Even so, we're bound to have some
rainy days in the future, which is why you
should take the kids over to Double Dutch
Press (1377 Prince Ave.; doubledutchpress.
com) the next time you need to get out of the
house. Owners Amanda Burk and Katherine
McGuire each hold master of fine arts degrees
from the University of Georgia but went on
to do all sorts of interesting things before
deciding that they could no longer resist the
The splash pad at Rocksprings Park includes buckets high above that intermittently dump water on unsuspect
ing children below.
person, and kids have a blast squirting water
from fish on poles or waiting for a bucket of
water to come splashing down from a fake
palm tree. And if you're at Rocksprings, the
pool is new, too, so you also can take a dip.
If you're unfamiliar with the idea, imagine
a playground with water intermittently squirt
ing from various parts. In some places, you'll
get a big splash from
above, while other parts
have water squirting
from toadstool "umbrel
las" or hoops spraying
water on anyone willing
to jump through them.
Basically, it's a Dr. Seuss-inspired place where
kids can just run around with anyone else
there and cool off. Always a good thing.
Personally, I can't believe it's taken this
long to get some kind of waterpark in this
area. I've taken my daughter to play in the
water at both Ben Burton Park and Watson
Mill Bridge State Park, but it's hard to get
past the thought of sliding on a rock and
heading to the emergency room. Which pains
me, because I basically grew up playing in
streams as a kid, and I want my daughter to
have the same experience. But for the big city
life of Athens, the splash pads are a step in
the right direction. Now, if only we could twist
some officials' arms and get a kid-friendly
fountain installed somewhere downtown as
part of some master plan improvements. Hey,
a girl can dream, can't she?
smell of ink. So, they met back in Athens to
start their own shop. Today, the duo does
screenprinting and printmaking on a variety
of presses and other methods, and they have
developed workshops specifically for children,
among a slate of other workshops. Along
with summer camp sessions for children ages
8 and older, classes for kids of all ages and
skill levels include 'zine
making and several neat
variations on linocut
methods.
After taking a
linocut class myself (cut
a design into a piece
of linoleum, ink it up and run it through the
press), I signed up my 5-year-old for a similar
experience. Except instead of getting a set of
V-shaped knives, she used a pencil to draw a
design into a plastic foam plate. She inked it
up, ran it through the press???OK, the grown
ups helped with that???and eagerly set about
making another print.
By the time we were packing up to go,
she had experimented with all sorts of paper
cut-outs, inked strings and multicolored
masterpieces. In addition, she got to wear a
cool ink-stained apron???and the ink on her
hands took the rest of the weekend to come
off, which meant she was excitedly examining
her multicolored hands for a few days. Bonus
points.
Kristen Morales
Imagine a playground
with water intermittently
squirting from various parts.
JULY 10, 2013 ??? FLAGP0LE.COM 7
KRISTEN MORALES