Fall Gala – September 17-19, 2010

We will be staying at Smoky
Mountain Meadows Campground near Bryson City NC on the weekend of
September 17-19, 2010. We plan to have canoe/kayak trips scheduled for
Friday, Saturday and Sunday with opportunities to visit and socialize
in the evenings.

Smokey Mountain Meadows map
755 East Alarka
Rd.
Bryson City, NC 28713

GPS
Coordinates, 35 22.571N, 83 27.410W

Call the campground and make your reservation at (828)488-3672
or (864)420-8077.

This year, in addition to our usual river trips we will
be offering a Trip Coordinator workshop. The class will consist of a campfire session and river trip on Sunday morning. Which river will depend on the participants. Bagels/coffee will be provided by GCA
for members who participate in the training session. If you are planning to participate in the Trip Coordinator clinic, please meet at the pavilion at 9:00am on Sunday morning the insurance fees for the class are being picked up by the club. This is a great
opportunity to get more involved in your club – you’ll finish the
session knowing all you need to know in order to help coordinate
paddling trips!

Everyone
will be on their own for breakfasts and river lunches but we will
plan on having a group dinner again on Saturday night. We have
reserved the covered pavilion for use by the GCA on Saturday night so
we will have a gathering area with picnic tables which is  guaranteed
to be dry even in case of rain. We will have grills available for
cooking and the club will provide paper plates, cups, napkins and
plastic cutlery. Please bring whatever meat or main dish you would
like to put on the grill (enough for just you) and bring a side dish
or dessert to share with the group.

On Saturday afternoon/evening we will be having a ROPE THROWING CONTEST! There will be a 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize from the GCA store so you won’t want to miss this event. Dig out that throw rope, loosen up that throwing arm and start practicing for distance and accuracy so you can show us what you can do with a rope! This is a good way to see if you need a little more practice.

Weather permitting
(meaning it doesn’t rain on us) we will have a group campfire after
dinner. You might want to bring a chair to sit around the campfire
(and a little firewood if you have any so we can actually have a
fire). NEWSFLASH!: We are going to have a special program during our
group get-together on Saturday night. Will Leverette, the author of A
History of Whitewater Paddling in Western North Carolina will be
joining us for a presentation and book signing. This should be a very
interesting session and based on information from one of our members
who has heard Will speak before, YOU WON’T WANT TO MISS IT! We will also have the GCA store available for your shopping pleasure. If you’ve been wanting a GCA t-shirt or hat this is your chance. We will have the store set up on Saturday night.

If you
have any questions you can contact me at bkhaskell@comcast.net Also,
after you do make a reservation, send me a quick e-mail just
to let me know you are coming. It is helpful for planning purposes if
I have an idea of how many we are expecting that weekend.