If you ask some geography buff what’s the oldest river in the world, you’ll probably get the Nile River as your answer. What most folks don’t know is the name of the second oldest river in the world.

The second oldest river in the world is the New River, which has its beginnings high in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. It’s also the only known river that flows from south to north, as it winds its way from our state, through the mountains of Virginia, West Virginia and eventually finds its way into the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico.

The New River is also one of the favorite bodies of water that locals and visitors alike use to kayak, canoe and float some time away, relaxing and enjoying the scenery as you drift away the afternoon on an inflated inner tube.

If you think that tubing is a water sport that’s for kids only, think again. As long as you have flowing water and a need for a little cooling off and relaxing, adults can enjoy tubing too.

My first real experience with tubing took place some years ago on the famed Niagara River near Buffalo, N.Y. Some of my fishing buddies decided that it was simply too hot to expend our energy by fishing for smallmouth bass. Gathering a few well-patched autos tire inner tubes and an icebox filled with drinks and snacks, we headed to the lower Niagara River s few miles below the falls.

The Niagara River is not nearly as swift and dangerous if you are well below the famed waterfalls, and the water from Lake Erie is always cooler there. With our posteriors well seated in these cool waters, we floated for several hours down river into the upper Lake Ontario waters and enjoyed good company and the afternoon.

Finding flowing water may be a difficult to find here in eastern North Carolina, but it can be found on several coastal streams as you venture upstream for a bit.

The waters in our part of the state may not be as cool as those waters of the Niagara River in New York, but it works for us Southerners, as well as the Yankees on a hot summer’s day.

Our Tar River above Washington usually has enough water flow to float tubers along at a leisurely rate and, even on a hot summer’s day, it can be refreshing if you accomplish a little planning as to places to launch and take out your tubes.

If the length of river you plan to travel on your floating adventure is too long to find a convenient place to end the floating trip, have someone with a motorboat on hand to pick up the crew to end the day.

Most of the time the Tar River will have adequate flow rate to enjoy a few hours of floating, but for more exciting water action, the Roanoke River from just below the dam at Roanoke Rapids Lake on down to the last real falls of the Roanoke River at Weldon can be about as close to a true fast-water floating experience as you’ll find in eastern North Carolina.

Between Gaston and Weldon, the Roanoke River has enough relatively fast water to make it a bit exciting. This particular section of the Roanoke River winds its way toward the sea level at a good rate and actually has some mild Class 1 rapids that end at the final rapids on the Roanoke River at Weldon. There’s probably enough flow for miles below Weldon to make for a good float, but boating traffic by fishermen below that could make tubing a little unpleasant.

Since floating with inner tubes hasn’t yet caught the “tax-em-some-more” eyes of our politicians, there aren’t many restrictions on inner tubes. Even so, it makes good sense to always wear a PFD (life jacket) on your planned floating adventure.