Life Outside Spring 2019 - 40

Walking across her waterfront property one day
in 2014, she spotted a pair of kayaks gliding down
the Holston River.
"I had never been in a kayak before," she admits.
Intrigued, she bought one and loved it. "And I
thought, 'People will pay to do this. I'm onto something.'"
Despite a bare-bones marketing budget and the
naysayers who said it couldn't be done, Beaule and
her spouse opened Adventure Mendota in May
2015, offering sit-on-top kayak rentals for a scenic,
5-mile stretch of the North Fork that starts at the
edge of their backyard. The goal was to host 350 to
500 paddlers that year.
No one showed up the first day, and Beaule worried that Mike, who'd insisted 12 kayaks were too
many, might be right. Then the Kingsport TimesNews sent a reporter to cover the new business,
and a local TV station followed suit.
"That story ran all weekend long, over and over,"
Beaule says, referring to the broadcast. "My phone
rang over 100 times that weekend, and it never
stopped ringing."
Despite an overabundance of rain, Beaule
launched 2,500 kayaks on the river that summer.
The next year, she left her job to run the new venture fulltime. Except for 2018, when inclement
weather forced her to cancel about 400 bookings,
the business has grown by 25 percent annually, with
up to 90 kayaks entering the river daily from May
to September. For safety reasons, Beaule refuses

ON THE RIVER
Eva Beaule's volume of floaters on the Holston has grown
each year of her business.

Spring 2019 \\ LifeOutside Magazine

to rent them out when the Holston is muddy and
rushing after a storm.
The North Fork, a slow-moving Class I waterway that runs waist-deep at most, is perfect for
first-timers, she points out. The scenery, with its
clear views of the top of Clinch Mountain against a
backdrop of blue sky, isn't bad either. About a mile
after launch, paddlers encounter a ford running
alongside a functional swinging bridge.
"Once in a while my kayaks intersect with farm
trucks," Beaule says. "I've actually got a picture of
a bunch of kayaks and a red truck all on the river
together."
Farther on, kayakers pass beneath an old railroad
trestle before stopping at the Mendota Bridge,
where the staff of Adventure Mendota meet and
take them back to base camp. The entire experience
takes about three hours.
Along the way, Beaule's customers are apt to
see eagles perched on tree limbs, turtles sunning
on logs and cattle bathing in the cool water. ("We
always tell people we're going cow-kayaking," she
jokes.) A couple of great blue herons frequently
fly just ahead. One summer, a litter of baby otters
grew up before the outfitters' eyes.
Outgoing and enthusiastic, Beaule is extremely
hands-on, refusing to get an automated reservation
system like many outfitters do. "I talk to every guest
that comes to Adventure Mendota," she says. "I like
to find out if it's a good match." And if someone
shows up alone, Beaule hops in the kayak too.

Life Outside Spring 2019

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