Bobby McDaniel, who was featured regularly in Lakeside Magazine, died while paddling the 631-mile Alabama Scenic River Trail.
Elmore County Coroner Tim Ellison said Bobby McDaniel, 57, of Lincoln died Monday afternoon while boating.
Ellison said the accident is still under investigation, and the official cause of death had not been determined Tuesday.
He said McDaniel was pronounced dead at about 2:22 p.m. at the Elmore Community Hospital in Wetumpka.
McDaniel, an avid kayaker, was frequently featured in The Daily Home Lakeside Magazine monthly column, “Taking to the Water.”
“It’s a shocker,” said Riverside Mayor Rusty Jessup. “He was a very community-minded person who cared deeply about his fellow man.”
He said McDaniel offered to help establish a designated Alabama Scenic River Trail Association camp in Riverside.
“Bobby and I served on the Board of Directors for the YMCA in Anniston,” Jessup said.
McDaniel worked at the YMCA in Anniston in the 1980s as a physical fitness director, where he first learned to kayak.
McDaniel was an experienced whitewater kayaker and apparently had just about completed the only stretch of whitewater along the Coosa River when he died.
Douglas Wicklund paddled with McDaniel through the whitewater rapids Monday, which included the Class 3 Moccasin Gap rapid.
He said McDaniel had flipped his kayak two or three times as the two picked their way through the rapids.
Wicklund said just above Corn Creek, McDaniel’s boat overturned for the last time.
He said McDaniel was laughing and joking about capsizing his boat and was attempting to climb back into the kayak he had rented for that portion of his trip when he suddenly “went limp.”
“He didn’t say another word,” Wicklund said.
Wicklund managed to get McDaniel to shore and called for emergency help.
Wicklund, who is one of seven people to complete the 631-mile river trail, said he developed a friendship with McDaniel because of their mutual interest in the nation’s longest one-state river trail.
McDaniel also volunteered with the Alabama Scenic River Association as a “Trail Angel,” who assist others who paddle along the scenic river trail. McDaniel would assist paddlers along the Gadsden area of the Coosa River, Neely Henry, Logan Martin and Mitchell lakes.
McDaniel had planned this trip for almost a year, after the Oxford hardware company where he worked for 24 years closed its doors in January.
He began his paddling trip in early March.
“He came in here after he packed up his kayak, the week before he started his trip,” said Alan Battle, owner of Riverside Marina, which is across the river from where McDaniel lived.
“He would come into my store all the time to pick up a Lakeside magazine,” Battle said. “He was supposed to have stopped at the marina and camp, but I don’t know if he did or not. I was out of town about the time he came through.”
Battle said he is shocked and saddened by McDaniel’s sudden and unexpected death.
“He died doing something he looked forward to doing,” he said.
Fred Couch Jr. of Anniston, who is president and founder of the Alabama Scenic River Trail Association, said he remained in contact with McDaniel as he traveled down the Alabama Scenic River Trail.
“He called me about every three days on the trail,” Couch said. “He was real happy. He talked about all the people he met.”
Everyone who knew McDaniel said he was very personable and could easily strike up a conversation with any stranger.
“He met all sorts of people on his trip,” Couch said.
He said McDaniel started his trip in Rome, Ga., about 50 miles upstream from where the actual 631-mile trail begins. He was more than halfway through his trip when he died.
“The stress of the whitewater was more than he could handle that day,” Couch said.
He said he was shocked and saddened to learn of the devoted paddler’s fate.
“I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “It’s something you can’t predict.”
Couch said McDaniel told others if he died tomorrow, “I want to be doing exactly what I’m doing now.”
“He was just a wonderful person, always happy,” Couch said. “He was doing what he loved the most. God just decided to have him come home early.”
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