The Nation's Best Paddling Colleges
The Nation's Best Paddling Colleges
A college is defined as an institution of higher learning--which is a pretty good way to describe a waterway as well. Because of this, and because so many young people are taking to the water these days, we've decided to bring you a look at some of the nation's top colleges where paddling comes into play almost as much as academics.
Doing so wasn't easy--as much variety exists in colleges as it does in paddlers. Included here, then, is a sampling of learning institutions with prominent paddling subcultures. Some schools were chosen for their proximity to paddling, be it sea, lake or river; others were chosen for their number of paddlers; and others were selected for their programs and clubs. Our only parameter was that it is a post-secondary school (excluding junior colleges) where it's as easy to find a paddling partner for a spring float as it is a dance partner for the spring formal. These are the schools where canoes hang below dorm-room balconies, high-water creates as big a buzz as a basketball rivalry, sea kayaks adorn vehicles at the student union, cafeteria chitchat revolves around hull configuration, students play hooky to go surfing and even professors wear river sandals.
So instead of pouring over entry books to decide where to spend your four, five or six years, here's a list to choose from as you ponder those entrance essays. And, lest you think we're playing favorites, the schools have been listed alphabetically by region to avoid any unnecessary drownings of mascots.
WEST
| Boise State University | BOISE, IDAHO |
With the Boise River flowing through campus, and countless others a potato's throw away, Boise State University (BSU) has exactly what it takes to be a great paddling school. Although the Boise lacks rapids as it passes through campus, the water is swift, clear and clean, with kayakers, canoeists and rafters using the stretch as an afternoon escape from class. When the flows are high, students can paddle from the 8th street campus bridge to the 36th street wave--a big glassy with enough room for six kayaks. As the water drops the wave turns into a playful, post-class hole. BSU Kayak Club President Mike Holley says BSU's beauty as a paddling school lies in the variety of rivers nearby, maps of which can be found in the BSU library. "Having the Boise River run through campus makes it easy to teach novices the basics," he says. "But we have everything from Class II-V within an hour of school. If you schedule your classes for the mornings, you can be paddling the Payette in the afternoon and be back in time for pizza and beer at Lucky 13." The club meets twice a month, has weekly trips to the Payette, and has plans to build a slalom training site in Boise. Brian Ellsworth, a BSU alumni and long-time Idaho paddler, is one BSU boater who perfected his kayaking while getting his BA in Business. "BSU is a great school for kayaking," he says. "The Payette, Boise and Bruneau are too convenient. When the water's high you can go surfing between classes, and when the rivers start going off, it's hard to stay in the classroom. I had to skip my graduation ceremonies for a Selway trip."
--Grant Amaral
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Paddling Club: BSU Kayak Club; 25 members. |
| Fort Lewis College | DURANGO, COLORADO |
Fort Lewis is best known in paddling circles for the remarkably short distance from lecture hall to rodeo hole or slalom course. Just four minutes away is the free-flowing Animas River, offering miles of surf waves, slalom and rodeo boating (here you can get schooled before, during and after class). The river plays host to several annual events, including team trials for rodeo and cash-purse slalom racing for students' book money. For slalom racers is Durango Whitewater, a club that recruits and trains year-round. Westwater Canyon of the Colorado River is four hours away, and many steep runs, including Lime Creek, the Box Canyon of the Animas and the Piedra, are so close you don't even have to share gas money.
Situated at 6,500 feet, Durango is a multi-sport town, offering everything from paddling and mountain biking to skiing and snowboarding. And the area gets more than 300 days of sun a year to take advantage of this recreation. All this attracts a high-quality faculty for a small four-year college; of the 174 full-time faculty members, 91 percent have doctorates or the highest degree attainable in their disciplines. Several college guides have named Fort Lewis science programs as among the best in the country, and awards have been bestowed upon its business school, music department, Center for Southwest Studies and Teacher Education program. Formerly known as "Fort Leisure," the school employs a unique trimester system that leaves a long winter break for going south to surf, with finals taking place in late April, giving students a jump on spring runoff. As if that isn't enough, the town offers four tattoo and body piercing shops, and the ratio of men to women on campus is equal. Attire-wise, expect to see sun dresses and muscle shirts half of the year and baggy-pant snowboard wear in the winter. And don't be surprised to see 1998 Forerunner by Dad.
--Kent Ford
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Paddling Club: Durango Whitewater; the club's annual fundraiser is the town's social event of the year.
Town Population: 15,000 |
| Humboldt State University | ARCATA, CALIFORNIA |
Set among towering redwoods, lush mountains, raging rivers, placid lagoons and the Pacific Ocean, Humboldt State University (HSU) is a school for all types of paddlers. Within an hour's drive students can sea kayak, paddle whitewater, take a canoe across a lagoon in Redwood National Park, or go for a screaming ride in the surf. And Humboldt State is rated as one of Money Magazine's Best Buy Universities, so you won't have eat rice and beans to have gas money for the next paddling trip.
As sure as students are attracted to HSU for its academic programs and paddling opportunities, they are attracted to the hip atmosphere of Arcata. This medium-size town has great restaurants, shops, cultural activities and more Birkenstocks than average. Arcata is a haven for nature lovers, outdoor enthusiasts, and those who are tuned in and turned on. Several paddling-oriented businesses also nest in Arcata, including Yakima, Kokatat, Wing Inflatables and several whitewater outfitters. Many students pick up extra work as river guides come summer.
Although there is no official school paddling club, Humboldt State is one of the few universities in the nation to offer a course in river kayaking, with students receiving credit for introductory and intermediate courses. The university also offers non-credit programs in river rescue, rafting, whitewater kayaking and sea kayaking. The Arcata community pool is home to a weekly rolling clinic, and every year a trip is held to a faraway destination--last summer students sea kayaked around Washington's San Juan Islands. The school's Center Activities also rents paddling equipment and arranges group trips proposed by students.
--Scott Harding
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Paddling Club: Center Activities Office, (707) 826-3357 |
| Idaho State University | POCATELLO, IDAHO |
My first cherished text on river running was Ron Watters' The Whitewater River Book. Today, Watters hangs his helmet in Pocatello, Idaho, where he is the director of Idaho State University's (ISU) Outdoor Program. Nearly three decades old, the program provides students with dozens of opportunities to hike, climb and ski throughout the Rocky Mountains--but it's the paddling program that shines. "We have a very diverse paddling program," says Dana Olson-Elle, an ACA Instructor Trainer who heads up the Outdoor Program's paddling sector. "We offer kayak touring trips on Yellowstone and Shoshone Lakes and cost-sharing river trips on the Middle and Main Forks of the Salmon. We also have semester-long classes in kayaking with as many as 90 students per semester, offer three-day canoe workshops and are adding a kayak touring program." A fleet of 25 kayaks, a heap of rafts and gear to keep these boats on the water support the school's paddling program, as do three full-time staffers and a dozen volunteers. ISU is a great place to hang out for four years--even if you're not in school. There are great play waves within 20 minutes of campus, easy access to the Payette and Snake River drainages, and plenty of paddle shops and outfitters to keep you wet all year.
--Jeff Bennett
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Paddling Club: ISU Outdoor Program, 800 participants per year; (208) 236-3912. |
| Lewis and Clark College | PORTLAND, OREGON |
When the Lewis and Clark College Outdoors Program was born in 1978 the school already had a strong paddling scene--and no wonder. High atop Palatine Hill in the southern reaches of Portland, Ore., the school is just minutes from the Willamette River, with dozens of whitewater trips within a 90-mile radius. As two decades of students have come and gone, College Outdoors has conducted raft, canoe and sea kayak trips from Oregon's Deschutes River to Washington's San Juan Islands and many points in between. Replete with its own fleet of rafts, canoes and sea kayaks, the program is well equipped to handle large groups, and even has a van to haul car-less students.
A few years ago, Lewis and Clark upped the ante by forming the Lewis and Clark Paddling Club (LCPC). Founded by two-time Olympic Festival medallist Sam Drevo, the LCPC has paved the way for students to experience whitewater under the guidance of world-class paddlers. In the club's first year, Drevo brought more than 60 faculty members and students into the club. Members have access to pool sessions four times a week and the club offers four river trips per month. The club also donates a quarter of its annual budget to American Whitewater's Northwest River Conservation Fund. Finally, lest newcomers worry that Drevo won't be around after graduating, he has developed an Instructors Training Program to ensure the quality of future LCPC instructors. The club looks to be a national powerhouse for years to come.
--Jeff Bennett
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Paddling Club: Lewis and Clark Paddling Club (40 members), (503) 768-7432. |
| Southern Oregon University | ASHLAND, OREGON |
Famed in the '80s as one of Playboy Magazine's Top Ten Party Schools, Southern Oregon (SOU) has crested again in the '90s as a Top Paddling School. The campus is full of environmental-minded students and faculty who rip it up on any of five Class V and dozens of Class II-IV runs nearby. SOU molds its freshman class each year with a mandatory adventure on the Rogue River. Paddle opportunities continue throughout the year through an outdoor program specializing in weekly river outings. Day jaunts include the Rogue, Klamath, Applegate, Umpqua, Scott, and Cal Salmon rivers. SOU's boating trips are outfitted through a warehouse of gear, rafts and kayaks--all of which are available for rent--and kayak classes are taught in the school's indoor pool and on a nearby lake. Each year the school sponsors several returning paddle club groupies with a professional guide camp on California's Scott and Salmon rivers. Many students opt to stay in Ashland over the summers for river guide positions--putting their student-sponsored river time to use through one of the many local outfitters.
--Eric Hansen
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Paddling Club: SOU Outdoor Program, (541) 552-6470. |
| University of Montana | MISSOULA, MONTANA |
There was a time when most paddlers outside the northern Rockies would say, "the Kootenai...where's that?" Times have changed and The River Wild and well published photos have made Montana's Kootenai River famous. University of Montana students, of course, already knew they had prime paddling close at hand. Just ask Dudley Improta, manager of the Campus Recreation Outdoor Program at the University of Montana. "We have a lot of good runs close to campus on the Blackfoot River and Alberton Gorge of the Clark Fork," he says. "Plus great paddling on the Lochsa in Idaho."
To find paddling partners, students need go no farther than the Oval park area on campus where it's relatively easy to convince classmates to put down their hacky sacks and grab a boat. Improta, manager of the Outdoor Program for 15 years, oversees a fleet of kayaks, canoes and inflatables and puts them to good use with students. ACA-certified instructors teach kayaking while qualified guides conduct raft trips on nearby rivers. Improta also brings in lecturers and actively promotes preservation of the region's waterways. Recent speakers include river safety author Les Bechdel and veteran kayaker Doug Ammons. Members also conduct an annual Blackfoot River Cleanup each fall in conjunction with the Montana River Network.
--Jeff Bennett
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Paddling Club: Campus Recreation Outdoor Program, 600 members; (406) 243-5172 |
| University of Washington | SEATTLE, WASHINGTON |
The University of Washington (UW) has long been an academic and athletic giant of the Pacific Northwest. Located in the semi-urban climes of Seattle, UW straddles a region replete with paddling opportunities, and for 15 years the University Kayak Club has helped students take advantage of it. "We have about 20 whitewater kayaks, three C-1s, 13 sea kayaks and all the gear most paddlers would ever need," says club president John Ross. "Plus, members have access to the campus pool each Sunday." The club has few formal courses, but is active with kayak polo, safety courses and other paddling activities. Students must be club members in order to use the equipment, but the list of places to use it is mind boggling. Lake Washington and Puget Sound offer prime touring, and whitewater buffs can head to the Snokomish, Snoqualmie and Skykomish river drainages after class.
--Jeff Bennett
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Paddling Club: University Kayak Club, 300 members. |
CENTRAL
| Northland College | ASHLAND, WISCONSIN |
An hour east of Duluth, Minn., on Lake Superior's southern shore lies Ashland, Wis. Once known as a major shipping port for lumber, it is now home to one of the country's more progressive small colleges. Northland College--with less than 1,000 students--provides a liberal arts education immersed in environmental studies. And well it should: the school's outreach institute is named after America's father of environmental activism, Sigurd Olson. Plus the fact that Northland is located in a part of the country where lakes and rivers are more common than roads. It's no surprise that faculty and students consider paddling integral to whatever curriculum they are pursuing. The college offers five outdoor-education related majors, and encourages individualized areas of focus. Students often develop elaborate projects with extensive fieldwork--including paddling--on environmental issues.
Ashland is just 24 miles by road to the put-in for the Apostle Islands National Lake Shore--or only 18 if you paddle it. The Peshtigo, Wolf, Brule, Montreal and St. Louis rivers provide whitewater opportunities, and pool sessions occur daily. Outdoor skills classes include two levels of whitewater canoe, kayak and coastal kayaking instruction, and Northland alumni are consistently recognized for their polished paddling. The spring quarter usually involves travel with classes heading to the Southeast for whitewater or sea kayaking on the Carolina or Gulf coasts.
--Rick Hill
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Paddling Club: Recreation Services Program, (715) 682-1344 |
| University of Minnesota | DULUTH, MINNESOTA |
The University of Minnesota at Duluth has paddling so ingrained it pops up all over campus. There are paddling majors and majors with paddling minors and institutes where you can teach paddling as a practicum for other majors. The school is situated on the shore of Lake Superior in Duluth--a beautiful shipping port for the Great Lakes and a summer haven for people escaping Chicago and Milwaukee. Mansions line one of the main drags, which is more often than not traveled by boat-adorned vehicles. Duluth is the kind of city where dressing up for dinner means insuring your blue jeans and flannels are relatively clean. Outdoor education, recreation and environmental education are just a few of the available majors--with credit awarded for such things as ACA certification.
Paddling opportunities encompass everything you can do with a boat in water. Spring runs on the St. Louis River get into the Class IV-V range with plenty of local streams providing Class III-IV as they knife through small canyons on their way to the lake. An hour up the road lies the gateway to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area--one of the most treasured wilderness canoeing havens in North America. And right out the back door is Lake Superior itself, with all the scenery and stormy weather your touring heart could desire. Duluth does get a bit chilly and snowy in the winter--but boaters just head for indoor pool sessions or take up ice climbing or dog sledding.
--Rick Hill
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Paddling Club: UMD Kayak and Canoe Club, (218) 726-6177; 45 members. |
| University of Wisconsin | MADISON, WISCONSIN |
They call Madison "Mad Town," and not because an abbreviation was needed. With a major university and the State Capitol crammed together on an isthmus between two sizable lakes in Wisconsin, derangement tends to blossom and thus "mad" refers to a pervading anything-goes type of community. Naturally, paddlers fit right in. The campus's crown jewel is the Memorial Union and terrace--a large patio overlooking Lake Mendota. The Union houses the Hoofers outing club and its substantial boating fleet, which includes one of the largest collections of canoes and kayaks in the state. Some of the early techniques in vacuum bagging were tried in the club's boathouse and to this day old Hoofer fiberglass river kayaks show up in local used-boat lots. Presently the Hoofers provide instruction and equipment, and sponsor trips just about anywhere--like three hours north to run whitewater on the Peshtigo and Wolf rivers, or to West Virginia for spring break. For quieter pursuits paddlers head for the Lower Wisconsin River just 20 minutes west or any of the five lakes in and around the city.
The city itself hosts an annual canoe/running extravaganza called Paddle- n-Portage, where two separate water courses are paddled on each lake with a half-mile portage in between--including a circumnavigation of the capitol building. A healthy marathon canoe racing circuit functions in the area and annual sprint competitions draw good crowds. The university provides everything a Big 10 school should, including colleges of education and social work that are rated among the best in the country. Throw in at least four microbreweries, numerous outlets for Bratwurst, and more than 10 gourmet coffee shops, and you have to go paddling just to keep your body on an even keel.
--Rick Hill
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Paddling Club: Hoofers Outing Club, (608) 262-1630; 150 members. |
EAST
| Appalachian State | BOONE, NORTH CAROLINA |
Appalachian State had an auspicious beginning for its ultimate link with the boating community. In 1899, this college opened under the new name Watauga Academy--a place hard core boaters who paddle the nearby Class IV-V Watauga Gorge might go a hundred years later. Whitewater, however, was not the academy's first focus--the first 53 students enrolled to become teachers for rural North Carolina desperately in need of educators. In 1967, the college became Appalachian State University, and in 1971 it became part of the extensive North Carolina University system.
Yet the school has maintained its individualistic rural heritage, with ASU's Outdoor Programs an integral part of the school. Many students choose ASU because of its location in the Appalachians and four seasons of paddling. The school has two boating groups: an Outdoor Program, providing equipment and instruction in kayaking, canoeing and rafting; and a small, informal group of hard core whitewater boaters who regularly tackle such runs as the Watauga Gorge, Wilson Creek, the New River Gorge and Green River Narrows. In the Outdoor Program, group sizes are about a dozen (three instructors and nine students) for training runs on Sections 3 and 5 of the Watauga, the Tuckaseegee, the Toe and the lower Nolichucky. The program also provides canoeing instruction on the Class I-II upper New River as well as rafting trips on the Nolichucky Gorge and French Broad. In spring and fall, kayak-rolling sessions occur twice each month in the ASU pool. The school also offers a sea kayak program which provides instruction on nearby Watauga Lake and takes trips to the Georgia coast and Everglades.
--Ed Grove
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Paddling Club: The Outdoor Program, 250 members; (829) 262-4953. |
| Brevard College | ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA |
Looking for an avid paddling college? Brevard College in North Carolina's Transylvania County offers a real immersion course: you'll be surrounded by the rivers and mountains of the Southeast with an optional semester-long paddling trip to exotic locales. The county is more than 50 percent National Forest, meaning rock climbing, mountain biking and some of the best whitewater around. Brevard's curriculum includes about a variety of adventure activities, including a 21-day wilderness camping trip. The school's environmental focus is not confined to its outing programs--even traditional liberal art courses are eco-conscious. Brevard College is also renowned for its music program and has become a Mecca for those interested in Appalachian folk music; get ready for banjos and dulcimers at the school concerts. In the fall of 1997, Dr. Windy Gordon, a Brevard professor and kayak instructor at the Nantahala Outdoor Center, taught the "Voice of the Rivers" class where a group of students kayaked from the headwaters of the French Broad to the Gulf of Mexico for credit. Tracing such rivers as the Tennessee and Mississippi, the class spent a semester studying the rivers' ecology, history and surrounding culture. Next year's paddling expedition will start in the Republic of Georgia and paddle through Azerbijan to Armenia.
--Gordon Black
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Paddling Club: Brevard Outing Club, 40 members; (704) 882-8292. |
| Dartmouth College | HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE |
Dartmouth College was founded in 1769 to educate native peoples in the region--white youth and others. After evolving over the next two centuries into a classic Ivy League college, Dartmouth returned to its roots in the 1970s by rededicating itself to teaching the underprivileged. It also became coed, and the college is now equally divided between men and women. Dartmouth's claim to fame in paddling is its independent paddling club with the richest history on the East Coast: the Ledyard Canoe Club (LCC). Founded in 1920 by a handful of Dartmouth stalwarts on the Connecticut River at the edge of campus, the LCC has grown to 800 members (300-400 of which are students). The club was named for John Ledyard who made his own dugout canoe in the late 1700s and paddled down the Connecticut River to Hartford. The club has sponsored physical education classes in whitewater kayaking, touring, marathon canoeing and wilderness canoeing, and has a thriving rental business for its canoes and kayaks. Every second weekend in April (beginning in 1963), the club hosts the oldest collegiate-run whitewater slalom race in the U.S.--the Class II-III Mascoma Slalom in Lebanon, N.H. The club also hosts a marathon canoe race on the Connecticut River every July 4 weekend. Other annual trips include: Sophomores from the Source (who take four days every July to paddle from the Connecticut's source to Hanover); and the Trip to the Sea for Seniors (who take a week in early May to paddle a war canoe from Hanover to Long Island Sound). In addition, the LCC runs numerous day and weekend trips to such rivers as the Moose, Swift and Penobscot, and the Ottawa and Jacques Cartier in Canada. The club also sponsors an annual trip every Spring Break which starts at the Nantahala Outdoor Center in North Carolina and works its way north--ending with Pennsylvania's Lower Youghiogheny River. About 90 percent of incoming freshman take a four-day outdoor trip devoted to canoeing, whitewater kayaking, hiking, horseback riding or fishing. Jay Evans (first Olympic whitewater coach) and his son Eric Evans are club members as well as 1996 Olympic silver medallist Dana Chladek.
--Ed Grove
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Paddling Club: Ledyard Canoe Club, 800 members; (603) 643-6709 |
| Georgia State University | ATLANTA, GEORGIA |
In the land of dueling banjos, kayakers and rafters roar down the Chattooga River, canoeists tour Okefenokee Swamp and sea kayakers paddle with dolphins off Cumberland Island. On Monday morning, many of these paddlers are wearing ties and toting briefcases to lectures at Georgia State University (GSU). Although GSU is often confused with its farmland cousin--the University of Georgia and its beer-drinking Bulldogs--the school is in the business of graduating corporate leaders, but that doesn't mean those future leaders don't have time to paddle.
The school's whitewater and flatwater paddling programs are some of the most popular offerings in its "Touch the Earth" menu of activities which also include caving, rock climbing, windsurfing, diving and fly fishing. Early program instructors were some of the first to paddle Tennessee's Ocoee River long before outfitters arrived. The canoe and kayak instruction program and rafting and sea kayaking trips are geared to beginners with a sprinkling of intermediate and advanced courses. Leaders are some of the most experienced watersports folks in the Southeast. After the 1996 Olympics came to Atlanta, a number of Olympic-level whitewater and flatwater athletes enrolled at GSU. Perhaps one day, the competitive spirit on the water will rival that of the classroom.
--Lisa Riblet
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Paddling Club: No clubs, therefore no dues, no mottoes, no meetings. GSU Aquatics Center is used for kayak instruction and roll practice. |
| Paul Smith College | PAUL SMITH, NEW YORK |
At six million acres, Adirondack Park in upstate New York is a paddler's paradise with 2,759 lakes and ponds and 1,500 miles of rivers and streams. One of the historic lakes in the Park is Lower St. Regis where raconteur Paul Smith started a fancy retreat in 1859 (four U.S. Presidents slept here) that saw its fair share of hunting, paddling and cigar smoking. Smith, who died in 1912, once said, "There's no fool like an educated fool," so it's somewhat ironic that he ended up bankrolling a college.
However, Paul Smith's specializes in forestry and hotel administration--ventures he understood well. Once a wilderness guide, Smith would smile knowing that all forestry majors are required to take a canoe safety course and that environmental students cruise the vast tract of watery wilderness just outside the wood and brick buildings on campus in self-propelled craft. In fact, 60 percent of all students take the school's canoe safety course, and paddling is part of the tapestry at this sleepy school. One of the secretaries rows a guideboat to work and three members of the faculty are serious paddlers. Mike Rechlin, head of the Forestry Division, has completed the 90-mile Adirondack Canoe Classic more than 12 times; Jim Gould, an English teacher, has canoed the length of the Hudson River; and intramural Director Jim Tucker (AKA "Dean of Fun") coaches the small but dedicated flatwater racing team.
While Tucker's troops often paddle 25-45 miles on a weekend day, the team's claim to fame came in October 1996 on Blue Mountain Lake: 12 mad canoeists paddling a 35-foot Old Town war canoe pulled a water-skier for 13 minutes and 44 seconds, a world record. Up in the Adirondack where the lakes freeze fast, the season is short, but the paddling intensity is high.
--Joe Glickman
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Paddling Club: Flatwater Canoe Racing Team (10 members) and Whitewater Paddling Club (six members), (518) 327-6389. The headquarters of the United States Canoe and Kayak Team is located 25 miles away in Lake Placid, N.Y. |
| University of Tennessee | KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE |
Mornings in class, afternoons on the river, evenings in the library or the bar. Such is the schedule for many University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) students. Situated along the Tennessee River in the eastern portion of the state, UTK is halfway between the Cumberland Plateau and the Great Smoky Mountains--two areas loaded with whitewater runs. And with a student population topping 25,000 there is no dearth of paddlers; dozens of colorful boats whiz by on the tops of cars after each rain as if they had suddenly sprouted from the ground
A scant hour from campus is the Little River, providing students with a conveniently located whitewater playground during winter and spring. Summertime means the Ocoee River, one of the most popular playboating rivers in the nation. It is no surprise that UTK paddlers routinely rank among the best in the annual Ocoee Rodeo. UTK also attracts slalom racers because of its proximity to the Ocoee Whitewater Center, site of the 1996 Olympic slalom event. UTK is also home to one of the oldest and largest paddling clubs on a college campus, with its Canoe and Hiking Club offering a wide array of paddling equipment, clinics and trips down nearby Appalachian rivers. With hundreds of members, throwing together an impromptu paddling trip is never difficult, and weekly roll sessions are held in the university's aquatic center. UTK, of course, offers much more than great paddling. As the flagship school of the state's university system, students can choose from hundreds of educational programs, and Knoxville offers great dining, several breweries, fantastic art exhibits and concerts. Put all this together, add a little southern hospitality, and it's no wonder why UTK is a top-choice for paddlers.
--Scott Harding
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Paddling Club: UTK Canoe and Hiking Club, (423) 974-9749. |
| Warren Wilson College | ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA |
Come to the Blue Ridge Mountains, go to school, get a degree in Outdoor Leadership. That's the program if you enroll at Warren Wilson College (WWC). And between classes in one of 30 areas of study there's time to grab the co-pilot seat of your buddy's shuttle rig and follow the divining rod to your favorite local creek.
Warren Wilson is a small college with a large competitive spirit. From whitewater to flatwater, WWC has built a solid paddling program that focuses on team sports and competition. In fact, paddling is the most popular and successful athletic program on campus. On the whitewater slalom scene, WWC has arisen out of no where. "Every Southeast race I've attended this year, there has been a team or an individual from WWC that does really well," says Olympic Gold Medal Canoeist Joe Jacobi. A college-organized slalom race called the Styrofoam Cup is held each year on the nearby Nantahala River with nine Southeastern colleges competing. The paddling scene is so busy the staff created a student-coaching program just to handle the numbers. The best paddlers in the program train with Olympians residing at the Nantahala Outdoor Center. On weekends, students take to nearby steep creeks such as the Narrows of the Green and the Rocky Broad. When winter doldrums set in, college paddlers compete in the United States Canoe and Kayak Team-sponsored pool slalom competition or take off to warmer climes such as Costa Rica and Turkey to participate in international competitions.
--Lisa Riblet
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Paddling Club: School-sponsored teams for all disciplines, with an Olympic-sized pool and competition pond. |
I was a junior at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, during the exceptionally wet winter of 1994. My class schedule made it easy for me to boat after my last class on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Tuesdays and Thursdays were a different story--my 2:30 p.m. German class tied up my whole afternoon. And it always seemed to rain on Wednesday nights, priming rivers for Thursday's creekin'. After missing several days of boating in the Great Smoky Mountains with friends, I realized something had to be done. I stayed late after my next German class to talk to the instructor. "I live in a basement apartment down by the creek. Every time it rains hard, my floor gets flooded and I have to hang all my stuff up to dry. I don't really want to miss class but when it floods, I have to get all my books up and take care of my stuff," I explained coolly. The instructor went for my excuse, telling me the same thing used to happen to him. Finally, I had a free ticket to skip class to go boating. And not once did those floodwaters rise to the level of my third-floor apartment.
--Scott Harding |
Do you have a favorite paddle tale from college? Whether it's playing hooky with a professor to go paddling, or using an upside-down kayak as a desk, send it in and we'll run the winning entries in 1999. Send entries to: College Paddle Tale Contest, Paddler magazine, P.O. Box 775450, Steamboat Springs, CO 80477; or email to editor@aca-paddler.org. |