Adventure starts here.

Whitewater

  • You Work And Sleep More Than Half Of Your Life. When Do You Play?

    Everyone needs to work and do their part to afford a life, but it is important to have a work/life balance. They say if you live to 75, and work an average work week of 8 hour days, that you spend 1/3 of your life working. Another 1/3 gets devoted to sleep. That’s a lot of time!

    Travel

    This being said, make sure whatever you do that it is something you enjoy, and even more important, make sure to take time for yourself. Ever hear the saying, “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy?” This goes for everyone, not just Jack.

    Travel

    In recent studies, it’s been proven that traveling decreases stress and can actually boost your health! Lots of people travel to gain new experiences, which is great! Sometimes though, travel is the perfect remedy for past experiences that may be holding you back. If you travel somewhere you’ve always wanted to go, it is easier to forget about the bad experiences that might be hard to get past along the way. If you remove yourself from the environment that is causing you stress, and send off on an adventure, nine times out of ten, the stress will not follow!

    Travel

    Take that ski trip with your buddies from back in the day, go on that one month backpacking trip in the Andes, or take off work and drive wherever the roads take you. This is your life! Don’t let anyone else think they own you or your decisions. It doesn’t matter if it’s your wife, husband, boss, friends, or kids. If they don’t want to join you and instead hold you back, see ya!

    Travel

    It’s a good idea not to burn your bridges with anyone, but if they are holding you back in your own life, you may want to rethink who you are spending your time with. You become who you hang around. If you spend time with someone who is super fun and adventurous, you will be the same way! If you hang around someone who is always negative, puts people down, and is never up for your adventures, you will eventually, and unfortunately, become like that too.

    Which path sounds better? How will you choose to live your life? We all know that life sometimes gets in the way, but beyond that make time for your dreams. Travel.

  • Whitewater Rafting In Patagonia – Futaleufú River

    Whitewater rafting or kayaking is exhilarating! Yunno when you get those little butterflies in your stomach at the top of a rollercoaster? It’s like that when you hit the rapids or drops. Think about that 10x! Patagonia offers some of the most epic white water in the world.

    Patagonia

    Futaleufú is a small Chilean town located in Northern Patagonia. It may be small but the tourism industry is growing fast! Somewhere along the way the secret of this thrilling whitewater haven.

    The Futaleufú River, also known as “Fu”, runs more than 120 miles of bright blue/turquoise water. Flowing through the Andes mountains with over 47 rapids ranging from easy class ll to extremely challenging at class V. 

    With every turn featuring a new obstacle, rapid, or view of the snow capped Andes, this whitewater excursion should be a must for your bucket list.

    Whitewater Rafting

  • Tuck Fest 2019

    In March, we wrote to you about North Carolina’s US National Whitewater Center.  Knowing how the Tuck Fest event turned out last year, we had to get this information out to you. It was an amazing time for everyone involved. If you are in the Charlotte, North Carolina area, plan ahead because this event is one that you don’t want to miss.

    Tuck Fest

    Located in Charlotte North Carolina, the creatively designed USNWC ignites a love for outdoor adventure for both family as well as competitive sport enthusiasts.  This weekend, the USNWC will be hosting its annual Tuck Fest. From April 25-28, 2019, guests may observe or participate in competitions or clinics. Vendors will line the walkway surrounding the whitewater events while excitement fills the air.  The Tuck Fest celebrates the joy of the outdoors in this four-day, fun-filled event.

    Tuck Fest

    Be sure to plan ahead as the schedule of events is complete.  From marathon and mountain bike races to kayak and raft races, opportunities to challenge your skills are plenty.  As many will be attending, all athletes are encouraged to register early online. If clinics are your interest, the list abounds for learning as well.  Rock climbing, belaying, kayak polo and fishing, trail running, yoga and more are scheduled for clinics. There will even be a class on Wildlife Rescue! Each day packs a full schedule of events.  

    Visitors don’t need to participate in competitions or clinics to enjoy the experience.  The atmosphere created at Tuck Fest alone with music, food, family and friends is a win-win for all.

    Tuck Fest

    Inclusive Excursions will be one of the many outdoor industry vendors featured at Tuck Fest.  Keep your eye out for our tent and stop by. We are looking forward to meeting you all. We ar also raffling off a Strider Bike so the little ones can start riding early! All proceeds will be donated to the Altivas Canas Children’s Project in Peru. Mentionthis blog and get a 10% discount on apparel!Come out and enjoy the event.

    Thursday Line-up

    9PM

    The latest album from The Suitcase Junket, Mean Dog, Trampoline is populated by characters in various states of reverie: leaning on jukeboxes, loitering on dance floors, lying on the bottoms of empty swimming pools in the sun. Despite being deeply attuned to the chaos of the world, singer/songwriter/ multi-instrumentalist Matt Lorenz imbues those moments with joyful wonder, an endless infatuation with life’s most subtle mysteries. And as its songs alight on everything from Joan Jett to moonshine to runaway kites, Mean Dog, Trampoline makes an undeniable case for infinite curiosity as a potent antidote to jadedness and despair.

    7PM

    Friday Line-Up

    Heading into Destroyers of the Soft Life, the fourth LP by J. Roddy Walston and The Business, JRWATB pursued a brighter, more nuanced sound that teased out the band’s latent pop sensibilities without skimping on energy or attitude. As you press play on the opening track “You Know Me Better”, anthemic guitars scream out of buoyant, hooky lyrics as Walston’s chugging piano supplies a persistent heartbeat. The “bar band” sound of the past has been replaced by an aspirational, booming cacophony that could fill stadiums.

    Instead of the raucous bombast JRWATB manifested on their breakout hit album Essential Tremors, the band’s leader had certain rules he was determined to follow on Destroyers of the Soft Life. One was:“Speak/sing clearly, no hiding behind mumbles.” Another was, “D.I.Y. but hi-fi —record ourselves as much as possible but have it sound amazing and full.” The final, most important, rule was, “Nostalgia is a cancer —acknowledge that you are in the present.”

    9PM

    Marcus King has been writing songs, performing onstage for half his lifetime, and fronting his own groups for nearly a decade. Since he was a teenager, he’s been trading licks with famous fans and mentors, Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks, whenever their paths have crossed. Haynes was so blown away by the then-19-year-old’s artistic precocity that he signed King to his Evil Teen label, released the band’s debut album, Soul Insight, in 2015 and produced the band’s self-titled follow-up a year later.

    “Forgive me for I have sinned,” Marcus King implores, on the gorgeous, contemplative “Confessions,” an essential track from The Marcus King Band’s third full-length album, Carolina Confessions. “The pain that I put you through is killing me inside/Thought if I could make you leave/Then you would see/I ain’t worth a damn anyway.” This highly revealing moment from the multi-talented, confident 22-year old artist gets to the heart of the album’s fundamental themes, guilt and the quest for absolution. Carolina Confessions is confirmation of a preternaturally mature artist coming into his own; it’s a sprawling, scintillating work that affirms King as one of today’s most engaging, singular songwriters. He may be young, but King’s eloquent songs, expressive guitar playing, and ecstatically soulful singing mark this gifted, thoughtful young prodigy as a force to be reckoned with.

    7PM

    Sarah Shook & the Disarmers have moved from getting people’s attention to commanding it. Years–with its sharpened songwriting, unique perspective, deepened sound and roll-up-your-sleeves attitude–will grab you by the collar and put a defiant finger to your chest. It is resolute, blunt, and unflinching. Inspired by artists such as the Sex Pistols, Elliott Smith and Hank Williams, Sarah sings with confidence, control, and, at times, a hint of menace. The Disarmers match her on every track, coloring the tales of resilience and empathy with as much urgency as ever as well as a broader sonic sweep.

    5PM

    Saturday Line-Up

    Like many great Southern storytellers, singer-songwriter Tyler Childers has fallen in love with a place. The people, landmarks and legendary moments from his childhood home of Lawrence County, Kentucky, populate the 10 songs in his formidable debut, Purgatory, an album that’s simultaneously modern and as ancient as the Appalachian Mountains in which events unfold. “I was writing an album about being in the mountains,” Childers said. “I wanted it to have that gritty mountain sound. But at the same time, I wanted a more modern version of it that a younger generation can listen to — the people I grew up with, something I’d want to listen to.”

    9PM

    Caamp is a folk trio from Ohio, making beautiful noise. Started by boyhood friends Evan Westfall and Taylor Meier, Caamp came to life in Athens, Ohio. Taylor began penning and playing original songs at coffee shops around Athens in 2013. Evan moved down a couple of years later and together in a hazy attic, enjoying light beers, they would find the heartfelt sound that became Caamp. Since independently releasing their self-titled first record in 2016, they have climbed Spotify charts, headlined the US, purchased denim jackets and added a bass-playing buddy, Matt Vinson – who also enjoys light beers and denim. With their sophomore album Boys on the horizon, the Ohioan folk trio have high hopes and no reservations.

    7PM

    With gritty vocals over rock riffs and horns, The Commonheart delivers an emotion-packed, soulful sound that lights up any stage. Frontman Clinton Clegg is a powerhouse who commands full attention with his limitless onstage energy and vocal range. The new album Grown is a remarkable display of each member’s talent interlacing heavy blues, soul, and gospel influence across trumpet, saxophone, keys, guitar, and singers. The Commonheart’s sound is a true testament to the past while completely holding its own as one of today’s most promising acts.

    5PM

    Known for their progressive song writing and energetic live performances, Mo Lowda & The Humble’s beginnings were in the beer-soaked basements of Philadelphia. Following the release of their first full length album in 2013, the trio, consisting of Jordan Caiola, Shane Woods, and Nate Matulis began playing venues throughout the city. After experiencing the high of multiple sold out hometown shows, Mo Lowda took their act on the road and began consistently touring the country. Their 2016 sophomore release, Act Accordingly, was a short and sweet embodiment of the band’s natural progression; refining their already formidable sound. Following that release, Jeff Lucci stepped in as the new bassist, bringing his unique songwriting and tasteful use of effects pedals into the mix.

    3PM

    A grassroots following, now hundreds of thousands deep, has turned to Sean for a kind of musical exploration for almost 20 years. Tim McGraw, Martina McBride, Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts, Meat Loaf, Jake Owen, Brothers Osborne, Christina Aguilera, Buddy Miller and more have all recorded his songs––a dizzying list that spans not just styles, but generations. Success shows no sign of slowing: Sean earned his first no. 1 single on country charts in early 2018 with breakout artist Brett Young’s delivery of “Mercy,” which the two co-wrote. As a performer, Sean packs listening rooms and quiets unruly bar crowds. His sound––a warm tenor painting vivid stories over acoustic guitar often cushioned by keys or other strings––has prompted a diverse range of music scenes from the storied Boston folk community to Texas’s defiantly self-sovereign camp to warmly claim Sean as one of their own.

    “My payoff is just making the music,” Sean says, then smiles. “Everything else is bonus.”

    At 34 year-old, Sean has the catalog of artists twice his age. He released his first album at just 15, and until his acclaimed eponymous record in 2015, he did it all independently. “Bootstrapping your own career, you get to build at an organic pace that allows you to grow with your music,” he says. “It teaches you how most musicians do it. Overnight success is not the rule––it’s the exception. Most of us are doing it the other way.”

    1PM

    Sunday Line-Up

    The Milk Carton Kids’ All the Things That I Did and All the Things That I Didn’t Do waltzes into disaster and its aftermath. Though they didn’t approach the new album conceptually, a theme of shattered realities began to emerge out of the songs that sparked to life. Recent events provided a bruising background for the record, yet the project is somehow bigger than any personal grief. Two-part harmonies ride acoustic guitars high above the haunting landscape created by the presence of the band, as if Americana went searching for a lost America.

    5PM

    Souvenirs. Drew Holcomb has collected many of them. A road warrior for more than a decade, he’s spent his adulthood onstage and on the road, traveling from place to place with a catalog of vibrant, honest songs that explore the full range of American roots music. He turned a new corner with 2017’s Souvenir, a highly-collaborative album that finds Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors focusing on the things that truly stick with you — including family and friends, music and memories, people and places — in a fast-moving world.

    3PM

    “It started with golf clubs and country clubs, but now it’s all rock clubs”, Liz says, giggling. She spent the majority of her life developing her golf skills, only to drop her college scholarship to move to Nashville and pursue music. “Writing songs and playing the guitar came as naturally to me as golf did. But music tickled my brain in a way nothing else ever could.”

    But, Liz didn’t know a soul in Nashville when she moved. So, she went and got a job at a familiar place: a country club. “Liz may not have known anyone when she moved here,” says the Stampede low-end provider Grant. “But now, I feel like she knows pretty much every person she walks past. She just doesn’t stop smiling, and people don’t stop smiling back.” Coincidentally — or not so coincidentally cuz, well, Nashville — some fellow co-workers at the country club also had a band. They called themselves Future Thieves, and they offered to record Liz’s first EP, Monsters. After that, Liz began writing songs as frequently as she smiles. She formed a band with Ky Baker on drums and Grant Prettyman on the weird long guitar, and they recorded the Live at the Silent Planet EP. And now, there’s enough new songs to record a full-length album. “The record we’re working on now is a combination of Liz’s darkly-lit, reclusive songwriting habits, and Grant and I’s Rolling Rock induced rock and roll” chimes Ky. “It’s about bringing our different styles together to create something that makes us all question what kind of music we even like anyways.”

    1PM

     

     

    For more information about daily schedules, race registration or to purchase tickets, go to www.tuckfest.usnwc.org.