Taking paddle therapy

Taking paddle therapy
http://www.newsobserver.com/105/story/1499384.html

Taking paddle therapy
By Joe Miller - Staff Writer
Published: Sun, Apr. 26, 2009 02:00AMModified Sun, Apr. 26, 2009 06:00AM
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'Civilization is a pretty nice thing," says long-time paddler and outfitter Joe Jacob, "but it comes with a price, and I call that price insanity. The background noise that we consciously and subconsciously respond to makes us tune out. If we don't, we become overwhelmed."

Every week in this space we focus on ways to keep fit. That usually means keeping your body fit. Just as important, though, is keeping our psyche in shape. Neglect it or let a world increasingly overrun by Twitter blasts, text messages, the 24-hour news cycle and YouTube videos of everything desensitize you and everything becomes nothing.

That's where the boat comes in. A couple of hours paddling on the water, say Jacob and fellow paddling outfitter Banks Dixon, is worth a month of Tuesday afternoons at 4 on the therapist's couch.

Lake Johnson Park, which has a lake that covers more than 150 acres, rents paddle boats to visitors. - NEWS & OBSERVER FILE PHOTO
paddling resourcesFor guided trips, rentals or both:
Frog Hollow Outdoors, Durham: Conducts guided trips in the region. 949-4315, www.froghollowoutdoors.com.
Haw River Canoe & Kayak Co., Saxaphahaw: Specializes in guided trips on the Haw River, 336-260-6465, www.hawrivercanoe.com.
Paddle Creek, Raleigh: Guided trips and rentals on the Neuse River from Falls Lake dam to Buffaloe Road, 866-1954, www.paddlecreeknc.com.
Neuse Adventures Canoe & Kayak Rentals, Raleigh: Offers rentals with shuttle on the Neuse between Poole Road and N.C. 42 near Clayton, 553-3295, www.neuseadventures.com.
Boat rentals at some local lakes:
Lake Benson, 1807 Aversboro Road, Garner. 662-5703.
Lake Johnson, 4600 Avent Ferry Road, Raleigh. 233-2121.
Lake Wheeler, 6404 Lake Wheeler Road, Raleigh. 662-5704.
Shelley Lake, 1400 W. Millbrook Road, Raleigh. 420-2331.
Umstead State Park, U.S. 70 entrance, south of Interstate 540. 571-4170.
Fred G. Bond Metro Park, 801 High House Road, Cary. 469-4100.
Lake Crabtree County Park, off Aviation Parkway just south of I-40 in Morrisville. 460-3390.
University Lake, South Old Fayetteville Road near Jones Ferry Road in Orange County. 942-8007.
Cane Creek Reservoir, Nine miles west of Carrboro on N.C. 54 in Orange County. 942-5790.

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"There's an old saying," says Dixon, "that every day on the water adds a year to your life. My great aunt used to tell me that, and she lived to be 102."

Water has a restorative effect. We vacation by the water, retire to communities on the water, pay $170 for a New Age water bell fountain that transports us miles away.

"It's fluid. It's directly connected to the emotions," says Dixon of Durham's Frog Hollow Outdoors. "We spend the first nine months of our lives in water. It's no coincidence that when we're on water we feel a sense of safety and well-being."

Jacob, who for years ran Rock Rest Adventures of Pittsboro and now runs guided trips through his Haw River Canoe & Kayak Co., says the transformation on the water occurs before pushing off from shore.

"I notice it when they show up in the parking lot," Jacob says. "I don't care if they're bank presidents or university professors or ditch diggers, they're like first-graders. They want someone to take over for them."

They want to go on the water, Jacob says. They want a little shove that will send them into a world where the white noise of daily life is blotted out.

Fortunately, we live in an area with ample opportunities for paddle therapy.

"You don't have to go five minutes out your back door," says Dixon, "and you're in an area where wildlife thrives."

Dixon is partial to an area he calls "three rivers," where the Eno, the Flat and the Little rivers combine briefly to form the Neuse River before becoming Falls Lake for the next 24 miles. You may not get that feeling immediately as you put in at a concrete Wildlife Resources Commission boat ramp, he says, "but it doesn't take long."

The Beaverdam area of Falls Lake is good as well, says Dixon, especially once you cross under the Old Weaver Trail bridge into a shallow wetlands area.

"We've never had a lack of wildlife sightings, of great blue herons -- there's a small rookery -- of bald eagles, osprey."

Wildlife is also abundant at the mile-long mill pond at West Point on the Eno Park, a refuge in the heart of Durham; at the Robison Creek boat ramp on Jordan Lake, at a remote section of the popular reservoir that few speedboats find; and at Neuse River between Falls Dam and Capital Boulevard, where the slimmest of riparian borders manages to insulate the river from a bustling Raleigh beyond.

One possible caveat from Jacob. Couples seeking an escape together need to know that "between the two gunnels of a boat, everything in your relationship gets in the boat with you." Translation: Piloting a tandem canoe requires the ultimate in good communication. If you squabble on shore, you'll squabble in a canoe, a craft in which men have a tendency to play captain.

"Women," observes Jacob, "like kayaks more than men."

Relationship issues aside, a little paddle therapy may be just the thing to help you tune out life's white noise. And maybe you'll live to be 102 in the process.