Our eldest daughter, MLV, is 7 years old and a spitfire of an active kid. She is a perpetual ball of energy, intent on growing up too fast. This summer season she decided it was time to start paddling her own kayak. For the first 7 years of her life she's been relegated to the canoe, graduating from riding in the middle to paddling the bow with my wife in stern. 

All that changed within a week of her being out of school. She jumped in a kayak at the family lake and learned a few paddling lessons from my wife. The next day she paddled out with me and caught her first bass from a kayak (a Tarpon 100.)

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A day later she paddled her own kayak, a Native Watercraft Stingray, 4.5 miles down the James River from Scottsville to Hardware.

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So, the next weekend we decided to hit the Balcony Falls run with the family. We asked MLV if she wanted to ride in the canoe or her own kayak. We warned her that this would be her first true whitewater run. She opted to paddle her own kayak.

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American Whitewater describes the 5 mile run as such :

"With a huge watershed providing year round boatable levels this is THE run for beginner and intermediate paddlers in VA. While people come from all over to paddle this run, during the week you could have the river to yourself. All in all, this very fun run is mostly class 2 with an easy class three at Balcony Falls. It is a great run for instructing beginners and has enough play (at levels over 4 feet) to keep intermediate paddlers interested as well."

I had never paddled Balcony either, and so I tucked our youngest, EBV -5yrs old, between my legs on a Jackson Coosa HD and got ready for a fun ride.

My wife was paddling the new Jackson Bite Kayak. And as the only paddler who had been on this section, she would be leading the charge.

For a 7 yr old, the Balcony run starts off hot and heavy. It's Class I and II's right off the bat and doesn't really relent, culminating in Balcony Falls, which AW calls an easy Class III.

MLV handled it all pretty well. She followed my wife's instructions, and paddled right off her stern through the first section, with me and EBV running safety behind them.

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As we approached Balcony, the tension built a little. I could see MLV tighten up. She locked in behind her mother. My heart began to race. I got so locked in to watching her, planning for her flipping and swimming, that I never turned on the GoPro mounted to my hat. Instead I found myself speaking under my breath, "Paddle hard MLV, keep digging!"

And she did.

She took a big wave to the face, punched back with her paddle and stayed upright, catching the eddy after Balcony. Meanwhile our 5 yr old EBV took a full shot of water to the face as we dropped in and made our way through the rapid. She screamed, " WOOO-HOOO!! I love this part!"

As we say in our household, "that girl has the nerve."

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As we cruised up to MLV in the eddy, I could spot a couple of tears trickling down her face. I looked to my wife, and we both had the same thought; "we hope we didn't just ruin her taste for paddling."

I asked her if she was alright. She was a little shaken. So we paddled to shore and decided to have lunch, to talk. MLV admitted being scared. She feared that she'd flip and swim. We talked about what to do if that happened. We told her we were there to watch over her, but that she had done awesome. 

A little swimming, and playing with her sister seemed to soothe her anxiety.

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At one point I called her over close to me and wrapped my arm around her little shoulder. I said, "Close your eyes. Listen to the sound of the water rushing. Listen to the songs of the birds in the trees. Feel the mountain breeze blow across your face. It doesn't get much better than this feeling right here.You're in the mountains. This reminds me so much of where you were born, in the mountains of West Virginia. You are a mountain girl. I'm so proud of you."

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