August and September Activities
AUGUST 20, SATURDAY, Meet 9:45 a.m.
Southeastern Outings Kayak and Canoe Outing, Big Wills Creek near Gadsden, Alabama.
Details: This will be Southeastern Outings’ thirteenth kayak and canoe trip on Big Wills Creek. This is a scenic stretch of river located in a very rural area. This stretch is fairly easy and without classified rapids. Along the river we’ll see wildflowers and stop to investigate islands and beaches. Forty-six SEO people participated in this very popular outing in 2015.
Novice canoeists are welcome and may come on this trip, but each novice canoeist must be partnered with an experienced canoeist in their canoe.
Please note that for this trip you may rent canoes and one or two-person (tandem) sit-upon plastic kayaks and paddles from Big Wills Outfitters.
Here is the schedule of outfitter charges:
1. solo kayaks each $30
2. canoes and tandem kayaks $50 each
3. shuttle fee per boat for owned rather than rented boats $10
Rental fees include life jackets and shuttle service. Also the outfitter will shuttle for a fee all private boats used on this outing. If you wish to rent a boat from Big Wills Outfitters, please call the outfitter BEFORE Saturday, August 20 at 256/538-3226 to reserve your boat. Tell the outfitter you are boating with Southeastern Outings. Please note that the outfitter has only 5 canoes and 57 one-person sit-upon kayaks and 5 tandem (2-person) sit-upon kayaks for rent, so be sure you call to reserve early. Once all their boats of one type or the other are reserved for August 20, there will be no more boats of that type available to rent!
If you rent a boat from this outfitter, the outfitter will take you and your rented boat to the put in, and you will take out at the outfitter’s property so you will never need to transport your rented boat at all. Life jackets, paddles and shuttle fee are included in the rental boat fee for those who rent boats from the outfitter. You may bring your own canoe or kayak on this trip, but you must pay the outfitter to shuttle your privately-owned boat. For more information about the outfitter and photos of the creek, please visit their website www.facebook.com/bigwillsoutfitters
When we arrive at the outfitter’s, you will sign a waiver, pay your shuttle or boat rental fee, use the restroom, and then eat lunch in the picnic area at the outfitter’s. After you finish lunch, the outfitter will transport ALL the boaters and their boats, both rented and owned, to the put in. We will then paddle down the creek to the take out, stopping as often as we want to.
Well-behaved, properly supervised children age 10 and over welcome.
After the canoe and kayak trip we are hopefully planning to go to a restaurant in Gadsden for dinner. Our going to dinner depends on what time we finish boating. If you would like to have dinner with us at the restaurant after the kayak and canoe trip, please bring a change of clothes. A changing room is available at the outfitter’s.
Reservations Required: You must contact Dan Frederick, email seoutings@bellsouth.net or call 205/631-4680 if you plan to come on this kayak and canoe trip. You may leave a message on Dan’s voice mail if you wish.
If you want to come on the August 20 kayak and canoe trip AND you are renting a boat from the outfitter at the site of the trip, you are required in this instance to call the BOTH the outfitter to reserve your boat AND ALSO contact Dan Frederick to notify him that you are coming! Please do not just show up for this outing at the meeting place without making advance reservations! Please meet 9:45 a.m. at the Applebee’s in Trussville. We plan to depart from there at 10:00 a.m.
Info. and trip leader: If you have questions or would like additional information about this outing, please call or email Dan Frederick, seoutings@bellsouth.net or 205/631-4680.
SEPTEMBER 3, SATURDAY, Meet 8:45 a.m.
Southeastern Outings River Beach Walk, Swim and Picnic at Barton’s Beach and Perry Lakes Park in Perry County, Alabama
Details: Enjoy a beach gathering on a beautiful, fine-grained sand beach in Central Alabama. The scenery is spectacular. The area is an extensive sand beach on the Lower Cahaba River. The floodplain broadens and creates areas of bottomland hardwood forests, oxbow lakes and extensive sand and gravel bars.
Sixteen people participated in the popular outing with us in August, 2019. You can float on the river from the upper end of the beach to the lower end of the beach and then carry your float and walk on the beach back up to the upper end and repeat that real fun experience as many times as you like during the day. You may bring whatever flotation device you wish on this outing. Dan will bring a float air pump to the beach. Please see float note below for information about flotation devices.
Please bring with you swimsuit, towel, picnic lunch and water, soft drink or fruit juice to drink. Wading shoes with substantial soles are recommended. A change of clothes (dry underwear also advised) to be left in the car is also recommended, especially if you want to come to dinner with the group after the outing.
A restroom is available at Perry Lakes County Park where we’ll park our cars. The approximate 1/3 mile hike to Barton’s Beach is easy since the terrain is level and the walk is all on trails.
If the tower is open, we may also offer an optional opportunity to climb on stairs to the top of the Perry Lakes Park viewing tower, a rebuilt fire tower with gorgeous views high above the tallest treetops in the area.
Well-behaved, carefully supervised children age 7 and older able to swim are welcome, but parents are responsible for all risks to their children. All participants must be able to swim to come on this outing!
Depending on the time we leave the beach, we will probably go for an optional dinner on the way back after the outing is concluded.
Please meet at 8:45 a.m. at the McDonald’s Galleria. We plan to depart from there at 9:00 a.m.
Info. and Trip Leader: Dan Frederick, seoutings@bellsouth.net or 205/631-4680
SEPTEMBER 17. SATURDAY
Southeastern Outings Kayak and Canoe Trip
Location to be Announced
SEPTEMBER 24, SATURDAY, Meet 6:45 p.m.
Southeastern Outings Evening Walk
Where: Hillsboro Trail, Helena, Shelby County, Alabama
Details: Join friendly folks on an easy four-mile evening walk on the Hillsboro Trail in Helena, Alabama. This smooth trail is wide, paved and with only a few short hills. On this particular walk you will be walking on a scenic trail which goes through mostly wooded terrain.
No motorized vehicles are allowed on your trail! All road crossings are through three tunnels under the roads. Note this is a relatively easy outing, one which should be lots of fun for everyone. Well-behaved, carefully supervised children age seven and up able to walk four miles without complaining are welcome on this walk.
After the walk we’ll enjoy going together for frozen yogurt at Yogurt Mountain in Hoover.
Please meet at 6:45 p.m. in the front parking lot at the Helena Middle School and depart from that location at 7:00 p.m. to begin the walk.
Info: Dan Frederick, seoutings@bellsouth.net or phone 205/631-4680
Revised Southeastern Outings Covid 19 Pandemic Information
Most of you are already familiar with the stay-at-home
orders issued by the Governor of Alabama.
The Governor stated, “A person may leave his or her place of residence to participate in outdoor activity so long as the person maintains a consistent six-foot distance from other persons.
Notice of Southeastern Outings Precautionary Measures Concerning Covid 19 Virus
Southeastern Outings assures all our outings participants that we strongly desire to protect your health during this critical time. You may make your own decisions about what to do to protect yourselves, but the following measures are what we strongly suggest. We recommend taking the following measures.
We ask our participants to maintain a reasonable social distance, usually 6 or more feet, between yourself and other people. We recognize that this may not always be possible, but we encourage you to keep some distance from others as much as possible.
We will have outing announcements, but we ask you to try insofar as possible to maintain a distance of six feet between yourself and others while the announcements are given. Dan will try to project his voice effectively in such instances, and please, please do not converse with others while announcements are being made.
Optional potluck dinner parties will be cancelled until further notice.
In any case, of course, if you have flu-like symptoms (fever, aches or pains in the joints and respiratory system problems) please stay at home and do not come on outings with us! This is just common sense.
We want to point out that walking in the woods outdoors where there are not many other people present is considerably safer at this time than being in crowds of people or in heavily populated public places. Participating in our events will give you opportunities to be in the outdoors, get some beneficial exercise, and do something you enjoy with other people while still allowing you to easily and conveniently maintain safe social distancing.
