2024 Lower James River Expedition

This week, the James River Leadership Expedition wraps up its summer Session 1 set of trips down the James River. Our educators will be traveling from VCU Rice Rivers Center on the Lower James all the way to the mouth of the river at Hampton. 11 students, 3 JRA educators, and 1 guest teacher will battle tides and increasing salinities to take their vessels all the way to the Chesapeake Bay!

“Do you think that dragonflies were named for the dragon or the fly?” – August

Our journey today prompted many such questions that made us ponder the world around us.

Our group met mid-morning at the VCU Rice Rivers Center, right on the banks of the Lower James near the Enon Bridge. After some icebreakers and lunch, we put in at the Rice Center’s dock and began our paddle on the James. We were immediately faced with choppy waters which tested our newfound paddling skills over the first couple miles. We then made a pit stop at Hughes plantation where we observed the Living Shoreline that was recently installed there by the JRA to prevent shoreline erosion.

After this quick break, we set off amidst even windier conditions. We cooked on the remaining 5 miles, with it only taking us 2 hours to complete the journey. This time the wind was on mostly on our side, giving us leisure to think about the James and and the wildlife and plant life that we were witness to. We spotted bald eagles, breaching fish, and dragonflies.

Our journey concluded at the Lawrence Lewis Jr. Park where, after docking our canoes, we set up camp nearby. We worked together to set up our tents and assessed our leadership styles and learned about interacting with people with different styles of leadership. Next, we had some time to ourselves to play cards and get to know each other while the chefs, Riley and David, prepared spaghetti for the group. Now, we ponder deep questions: asking about tomorrow’s adventure, leadership traits in ourselves, and of course, the etymology of the word “dragonfly.”

P.S. don’t order us a pizza – we’re excellent cooks!

This morning we woke up at Lawrence Lewis Jr. Park, had a quick breakfast of bagels and yogurt, and got on the water.

The wind was noticeable, but not too bad, and pretty quickly, we made it to a bank of cypress trees where we stopped for some snacks and some rock skipping. The plan of the day was to go south from the park, round a sharp point of a peninsula, and come back north to our new camp at Fort Pocahontas.

Once we made it to the end of the point, after a few breaks, we stopped for a lunch of wraps with ham, turkey, cheese, and guacamole. Once we got back on the water, the wind was at our backs, and we made quick time back up the point where we landed at Fort Pocahontas. Since we had a lot of time before dinner, we played some card games.

Then we jumped off the dock and swam a bit. Afterwards we began preparing for dinner, and jumped into our roles for the day.

After a dark and stormy night, we woke to soggy tents and a rained soaked camp. While some were asleep and others awake, chefs Ian N. and Max layed out a breakfast of yogurt, bagels, cereal bars, and assorted spreads. After eating, we put up our now damp tents and packed our wet bags quicker than usual. All in anticipation and excitement for the coming 11 mile canoe down the James River and up the Chickahominy River in 95 degree heat (yippee!).

The first three miles were nice, it was relatively cloudy and the heat was manageable. Our first two stops, each after 1.5 miles of straight canoeing, were under shade with the purpose of gathering the group for some major crossings. On the way to our next stop several canoes spotted dolphins in the water. 3 miles later, we stopped for lunch. 

 At this point, the heat had reached its peak, and everyone was ready to take a dip in the river. Halfway there, we ate build-your-own wraps and oranges. We set off again and were met with the most interesting sight, a Spanish-Colonial house with sweeping glass arches and the layout of a retirement home. If you are the owner of this house on Dancing Point, please contact the JRA, so that we can know more about it, thank you. 

 2 grueling miles later, the exhausted group stopped at a small beach. The heat had seriously picked up in the past 15 minutes, but to lift our spirits, the beach was filled with tiny crabs.10 minutes later, we pushed off again and began our trek to our final destination: Chickahominy Park. We grouped together one last time to cross under the Dresser Bridge. The final half mile, which felt like 4, was tedious (thank you David for the word). After 11 miles of paddling in calm waters and radiating heat, we were met with proper bathrooms, showers, and air-conditioned yurts that were not for us. 

After showering, we played a full game of Mao (ask David). Which comes to now as we wait for a delightful meal of burgers, hot dogs, and a multitude of condiments. We were joined for dinner by Matt from the Richmond office with his toddler Holly, and Maya from the Williamsburg office. Bon Appétit!

Wake up!! It’s the first of the month!!! 

After a very long and humid night we woke to a majestic sunrise at Chickahominy. Once finished packing up, we played a few games like Don’t Touch Nothing and BS. Breakfast consisted of oatmeal prepared by Flemster and friends! Later in the morning we were picked up by the Spirit of the James. We got all of our belongings onto the boat and Captain Todd navigated us out of the campsite.

On the boat ride we trawled a ton of croaker, crab, flounder, and an anchovy. David and Ian kissed the fish and one fish almost pooped on Ian. Then we tossed all the fish back in the river. On the way to the seafood place we saw the reserve fleet for the military (aka. “The Ghost Fleet”). The ships are all equipped with gear, vehicles, fuel and supplies in case they need to be deployed. After that we saw Busch Gardens and the Jamestown archeological site from the river. We also saw several dolphins on our way.

After we left the campsite we started doing tests on the water. First we did a turbidity test which showed 26cm of visibility depth on the Chickahominy River. After the turbidity test we conducted a dissolved oxygen (DO) test. Then we pulled in a fishing net and caught some fine fish. We sped towards our destination and re-did the tests near Newport News. We caught 44 Croaker fish!

We all took naps on the way. After a few hours we arrived at Johnson & Sons Seafood. We grabbed our bushel of crabs and headed to the Ruritan Community Center (thank you Karla for the cobbler). Then, we discovered there was a pool right next to the center. We geared up and headed over. At the pool we encountered Coleman and his amazing CANNONBALL! skills. Once we were cooled off we headed back to a feast of crab, taters, hush puppies, and corn. Shoutout to Dave and Sam for eating all the crabs! Dessert was some delectable ice cream sandwiches and cobbler. That brings us to now, where we are writing this before eating melted marshmallows and chocolate.