August 2018 Activities

REVISED TRIP

AUGUST 11, 2018, 10:30 A.M.

Tube Float Tallapoosa River at Heflin

Details:  Southeastern Outings is very pleased to once again offer the opportunity to go tube floating.  The water level in the Locust Fork River is too shallow to float any section of that river this Saturday, so our previous plans to river float on that river are hereby cancelled.
We have just identified today a new tube floating outfitter on the Tallapoosa River at Heflin.  Tallapoosa River Outfitters has rented kayaks to SEO for many years, and now they also rent tubes.
Join friendly folks on a relaxing, lazy summer day tube float.  Everyone is cordially invited on this real fun event.  The float will be on the Tallapoosa River near Heflin, Alabama.
We will eat our picnic lunches by the river when we arrive at the outfitters.  Then we will float on the river for about two to three hours.  The outfitter will put us on the river upriver from his place, and you will float down river and take out at the outfitter’s place.  Then you can play in the river at the end of the float if you wish, and/or just lie out and relax or get in your car and leave after finishing the tube float.  
Please bring picnic lunch, drink, sunscreen, towel and dry clothes in the car to change into for the ride back home.  Wear old shorts or a swim suit and substantial, snug fitting footwear you don't mind getting wet and dirty.  Old sneakers usually work well.  Bare feet, flip-flops, slip-ons and thin-soled “beach shoes” are not acceptable!
The usual charge for tube rentals is $15 per tube.  However, if we bring ten or more people in our group, the outfitter will charge us only $10 per tube, so please bring your family and friends with you.  Please come on this outing yourself and bring others with you to help us have over ten people in our group so that we are eligible for the discount.  Tube rental charge covers tube rental, transportation upriver to put-in point, use of a life jacket and use of picnic area and swimming area in river after lunch.  All participants are required to rent tubes from the outfitter for the tube float itself, no exceptions.  Please do NOT bring your own tube!
Well-behaved, properly supervised children age 7 and older able to handle themselves in a tube for two to three hours on moving water are welcome and encouraged to come.  Parents are advised of risks of wading and swimming in sometimes deep water, and parents are responsible for all risks to their children. 
Please be at the Leeds Highway 78 gravel parking lot no later than 10:15 a.m. ready to depart promptly at 10:30 a.m.  Arriving 15 minutes before departure time will allow time to use the restrooms at the service station, hear announcements concerning the day’s event, and form carpools from the parking lot.  Depart promptly at 10:30 a.m. from the Leeds Highway 78 gravel parking lot.  If you are not at the meeting place at the designated departure time, you will be on your own at the tube float.  Please be on time ready to go at the meeting place! 
Please eat breakfast before you arrive at the meeting place, and come with a full tank of gas if you intend to drive.
After the tube float and depending on the time we finish, we may go to a restaurant in Oxford for an optional dinner.  If you would like to wash up and/or have dinner with us at the restaurant after the tube float, please bring a change of clothes and a towel.  Outfitter has a Porta Potty where you can change.  Better than that hot showers are available for $5.00 at a truck stop by Interstate 20.  If you would like to shower, wash up and/or have dinner with us at the restaurant after the canoe trip, please bring a change of clothes and your shower things.
Reservations Required: You must email seoutings@bellsouth.net or call Dan Frederick, 205/631-4680 if you plan to come on this outing.  Please advise your name and telephone number.  You may leave a message on Dan’s answering machine or voice mail if you wish.  If you are also making a reservation for someone else coming with you, please give the NAME of that person.  Don’t just say, “My daughter, my friend, my wife”.
If you have made a reservation to participate and then decide to cancel, please be absolutely sure to call and notify the trip leader.  Don’t just tell your friend if you intend to cancel!!  
Please do not just show up for this outing at the meeting place without making advance reservations!  And if you decide to meet us at some place other than the meeting place specified in this announcement, please notify Dan in advance and directly of this fact.
Info: Dan Frederick, 205/631-4680 or seoutings@bellsouth.net


REPLACED WITH TUBE FLOAT ABOVE
AUGUST 11, SATURDAY, 9:00 a.m.
River Float, Picnic, Swim on the Locust Fork River in Blount County near County Line and Trafford
Details: Easy river float on the Locust Fork River.  Have fun swimming and just sitting in the pools in the river. We will be floating from Vaughn’s Bridge (also called Blaylok Bridge) to the location of the previous Dean’s Ferry Bridge.  Please bring a picnic lunch, drink, towel, sunscreen and something to float on such as an inflatable vinyl float or air mattress.  Please see river float note below for information about floats.  You must be able to swim to participate in this outing!
Well-behaved, properly supervised children age 8 and up welcome, but parents are responsible for all risks to their children.  Bring a friend or several if you wish.
Because parking at the take out is available for only 3 or so vehicles, we want people to carpool as much as possible from the meeting place in the morning.
Depart 9:00 a.m. from the Hayden/Corner Park and Ride.
Info: Dan Frederick, email seoutings@bellsouth.net or call 205/631-4680
Float Note-Trip leader Dan Frederick has 60-inch long floats for sale at $12 each ONLY at the start of outings Dan attends.  We regret that at this time we have been unable to find a source where we can buy more of the 72-inch canvas-covered floats.  Please pay either with exact change or a check made out to SEO.  First come, first served.



AUGUST 18, SATURDAY, 9:00 a.m.
River Beach Party, Swim and Picnic at Barton’s Beach in Perry County, Alabama
Details: Enjoy a beach party on a beautiful, fine-grained sand beach in Alabama without having to endure the long drive to and from the Gulf of Mexico.  The area is an extensive sand beach on the Lower Cahaba River in Perry County next to the Alabama Aquatic Biodiversity Laboratory (formerly the Marion Fish Hatchery) and Perry Lakes Park near Marion, Alabama.  The scenery is spectacular.  The floodplain broadens and creates areas of bottomland hardwood forests, oxbow lakes and extensive sand and gravel bars.
Please bring swimsuit, towel, picnic lunch and drink with you.  Wading shoes with substantial soles are recommended.  See float note above for information about acquiring floats.  Dan will bring float air pump.  Restrooms are available at Perry Lakes County Park where we’ll park our cars.  The hike to Barton’s Beach is easy since the terrain is level and the walk is all on trails.
We will 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!
Optional dinner following our day of sunning and swimming. 
Depart 9:00 a.m. from McDonald’s Galleria.
Info: Dan Frederick, seoutings@bellsouth.net or 205/631-4680
AUGUST 25, SATURDAY, 10:00 a.m.
Canoe and Kayak Outing, Big Wills Creek near Gadsden, Alabama. 
Details: This will be Southeastern Outings’ sixth canoe and kayak 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 or one person sit-upon plastic kayaks and paddles from Big Wills Outfitters.  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 August 25 at 256/438-7172 to reserve your boat.  Tell the outfitter you are boating with Southeastern Outings.  Please note that the outfitter has only 7 canoes and 43 one-person sit-upon kayaks and 3 tandem (2-person) 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 25, 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 pavilion 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, but parents are responsible for all risks to their children. 
After the canoe and kayak trip we are planning to go to a restaurant in Gadsden for dinner.  If you would like to have dinner with us at the restaurant after the canoe trip, please bring a change of clothes.  A changing room and a restroom are each 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. 
Depart 10:00 a.m. from the Applebee’s in Trussville.  For more essential information about this trip, please see Note for Canoe Trips below.
Info: If you have further questions, please call or email Dan Frederick, seoutings@bellsouth.net or 205/631-4680.  You may leave a message on Dan’s voice mail if you wish.
Note for Kayak and Canoe Trips
The kayak and canoe outing listed in the announcement above is suitable for beginner/novice canoeists and kayakers, but each beginner canoeist must paddle with an experienced canoeist.  Life jackets or personal flotation devices are required and must be worn.  Bring your own boat, borrow one, paddle with a friend, or rent a kayak or canoe from Big Wills Outfitters.
If you want to come on this SEO kayak and canoe trip AND you are renting a boat from the outfitter, you are required to call the BOTH the outfitter to reserve your boat AND ALSO contact the trip leader, too, and notify him that you are coming! 
Please bring in the boat your picnic lunch, something to drink, and a towel. Put your belongings in a waterproof dry bag in the boat.  Wear old shoes you don’t mind getting wet (old sneakers work well).  Also bring at least 6 feet of sturdy cord to tie up your boat if you don’t already have it attached to your own boat.  If you have further questions, please call the trip leader.
When you make your reservation with the trip leader, please be absolutely certain to provide ALL of the following information:
1.     Whether you want to kayak or canoe
2. Whether you are renting a kayak or canoe from the outfitter or bringing your own boat
3.     Your name
4.     Your telephone number or email address
5.  If you are also making a reservation for someone else coming with you, please give the NAME of that person.  Don’t just say, “My daughter, my friend, my wife”.
6.     If you are canoeing, please give your skill level. 
7.     If you have already selected a canoe partner and you are making a reservation for your partner, too, please give the name and skill level of your partner.
8.  Please do NOT just show up at the meeting place without making an advance reservation!!

9.  And if you have made a reservation to participate and then decide to cancel, please be absolutely sure to call and notify the trip leader.  Don’t just tell your friend if you intend to cancel!!