Grab Your Tube and Get Back Outdoors on Secular Sundays

Sundays offer a lot more than church services, and in Columbia, S.C. there are many outdoor activities that are available to residents. One of these activities involve floating down the Congaree River, just steps away from the Capital City.

Palmetto Outdoors offers many services to their clients, including bike tours, kayak tours and equipment rentals, but many people flock to Palmetto Outdoors for the tubes.

“We have anywhere from 200 to 300 people on the weekends during the summer,” says Casey, a Palmetto Outdoors employee.

“Tubing” the river is actually as simple as it sounds; adventure seekers are dropped off just north of Columbia in the Saluda River and then float their way to the Congaree River in a large yellow tube. The trek down the river is made even more adventurous with a few small rapids that dot the Saluda and Congaree River. Some people even brought coolers filled with beverages that they put into a tube.

“I enjoy kayaking, but with this you just kind of get in the tube and let the river take you…its very relaxing,” says Patrick, who had just finished his second trip down the river.

Getting outdoors is not just relaxing, but also beneficial to mental health and well-being. A recent study published in the International Journal of Public Health focused on outdoor environments and how they impact our health. The study found improvements in three major areas of mental, physical and social well-being. The main source of the outdoor health-promoting outcomes involves an increase in physical activity, the reduction in stress levels, and the ability to experience nature in a social setting.

Despite being so close to the city, the Congaree River provides easy access to everything nature has to offer. A range of wildlife can be spotted from the bank of the river, as well as the tube, including a variety of birds, turtles and fish, all nestled within the urban sprawl of Columbia.

With Pew Research indicating a decline in church attendance all over the United States and studies continually showing the health benefits of being outdoors, it is no surprise that Columbia residents have no problem trading in their pews for tubes.

Visit Palmetto Outdoors here to schedule your tubing experience and for more news and information about the Secular Community, follow @SecularShepherd on Twitter.

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