on Smith Mountain Lake
CANOEING &
KAYAKING
Photography and story by Erich Faber
Paddling opportunities are abundant on Smith
Mountain Lake with 20,000 acres of water and over
500 miles of shoreline to explore. Public access
points on the main lake, such as Smith Mountain
Lake Community Park in Franklin County and Smith
Mountain Lake State Park in Bedford County, have
miles of undeveloped shores to discover. Some
of my favorite places to paddle are up the lake’s
tributaries, which receive very little motorboat
traffic, such as the headwaters of Gills Creek, Bull
Run, Blackwater River, Lynville Creek, Indian Creek,
and the Roanoke River, to name a few. A lake map
showing boat launches and bridges is a valuable
starting point to plan your adventure.
The word “canoe” originates from Christopher
Columbus and his report that the Arawak Indians
from the West Indies used
a seagoing boat, or “kenu,”
made from a hollowed-out
tree trunk. The American
Indians of the northeastern
woodland used the boats that
we call “canoes.” The birch-
bark canoe they perfected
had a wood frame covered
with sheets of birch bark
that were sewn together with
white pine root and sealed
with pine or spruce sap.
Today canoes are
popularly available in wood,
aluminum, fiberglass, and plastics. I have a 16 foot
polyethylene Old Town canoe which is perfect for
use on the lake, because it has a keel for extreme
stability and straight tracking. Canoes are a good
choice for folks who want to enjoy their paddling
experience with two or three people.
The first kayaks were made by the native
people of the Arctic: the Inuits and Aleuts. They
stretched seal or walrus skins over frames of wood
or whalebones. The boats were used mainly for
hunting. The word “kayak” actually means “hunter’s
boat,” which I can attest is an appropriate name. In
the 1800s, Europeans began to make kayaks that
were covered in fabric.
Kayaks are available in sit-in or sit-on top
37
