New Year’s Day Sax Lake Paddle Trip
| River: | Haw |
| Skill: | All |
| Trip Date: | 01/01/2026 |
On New Year’s day 2026 a small handful of club members (myself, Alton Chewning, Roy Siggins, Colin Harrington, and Jim Butler) joined forces with the “Polar Paddle” put on by the Haw River Canoe & Kayak Co. at the backwater lake created by the dam on the Haw river just above downtown Saxapahaw. We in the CCC had intended a downriver trip, but water levels didn’t come through.
We were an eclectic armada: Alton sported a sea kayak, Roy a play boat, Colin an Oru folding kayak, and Jim a fishing pedal-kayak/hobie. Joe, Ben and I each soloed our respective tandem canoes. (Ben was accompanied by Sir Rocco, the pup.) The kayakers assumed the lead and quickly made their way up the lake where the river begins to show again (narrowing). We open boaters came at our own pace. When I joined these double bladers on the return, Alton and I got a delightful history of Roy’s races in the famous Colorado FIBArk downriver competition – one of the oldest and most grueling in the US.
In addition to having of course a soft spot for canoes, seeing Joe Jacob out there really was inspiring. I can share with Joe’s permission that he underwent an open-heart triple bypass surgery unexpectedly in mid October of 2025. As I watched Joe take to the water and solo his trusty blue Mohawk 2 miles in the wind – I was reminded how much it matters who we spend our time with, and how lucky I was to start 2026 off in the inspiring company of such a crew.
As the sun set and the water glassed out with the drop of the wind, things took on that ethereal atmosphere of winter, water, and dusk. As the warmth left the air along with the light, and the pink sky started to darken there was a great scene playing out: Alton portaging a sea kayak twice his size while discussing choice reading selections from Bob Brueckner’s library he’d brought along; Jim reporting and recording the precise data of the paddle; Roy and I testing some freestyle maneuvers on a buoy near the dock; while Ben and Joe, paddles in hand surveyed the lake-side location where their outfitter’s new shop is being constructed (the former one having been destroyed in 2025 by Chantal). It was a beautiful moment as an end in itself.
As I headed back to the dock I reflected how it was another new year paddle just like this where I first met Bob Brueckner on the Middle Haw, and how this would be the Haw’s first year without its old friend Bob – but I also reflected on how a recent member of the Friends of the Lower Haw board told me that Ben Clarke had just joined the board, and I smiled knowing the Haw will always have its friends. I thought about how tenuous life’s important connections can be: who knows if I would have stayed connected at all, much less president, of the CCC if once upon a time Alton hadn’t caught me slipping quietly out of holiday party and shown a special kindness to my son with the unexpected gift of a children’s story book about paddling.
I needed that paddle, and I’ll need it again. I hope that when you need the wilderness of the water – I hope you can reach it. It is a_need_we have.
“Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit.” – Edward Abbey
SYOTR