When Linda Niedbalski first started kayaking about four years ago, she drew a lot of curious looks.

“People used to look at me like I was a nutcase,” Niedbalski said with a laugh. “You’d run into people with motors on the back of their boats, and they’d be, ‘Wow, what are you guys doing?’ Now there’s a lot more out there than there has been.”

While Kansas isn’t a white-water wonderland, it does have its share of kayakers, even if they defy the roiling-water, Eskimo-rolling stereotype.

And Niedbalski, a veterinarian by day, just might be the poster child.

Hooked on the sport by friend Malcolm Smith, Niedbalski estimates she paddles “once a week, easy” in the summer.

“It’s really a relaxing way to exercise,” she said. “You can take your time doing stuff. You can paddle around looking at stuff, or you can work out really, really hard. Just sitting out on a little boat is very relaxing.”

Niedbalski owns two boats – a sea kayak, a recreational boat that’s longer than a white-water kayak with more room for storage and greater stability, and a two-person “sit-on-top,” a kayak designed for more leisurely outings.

“I go out to Clinton (Lake) a lot, and there’s not a lot of rapids at Clinton,” Niedbalski said. “I go on backwaters. It’s being out with nature. It’s quiet. It’s like canoeing, but a little more interactive.”

Lawrence resident and avid kayaker Malcolm Smith floats around the bends of the Wakarusa River in the Clinton Wildlife Area. Smith, who has been kayaking for 10 years, says he tries to get out at least a couple of times a week during the warmer months.

That’s not to say Niedbalski wouldn’t like to shoot the rapids.

“I’d like to,” she said, “but it scares me a little bit.”

Run the ‘rapids’

There are two places nearby for kayakers to get their whitewater-esque kicks.

One is just downstream of the Bowersock Dam on the Kansas River. The other is a “playhole” on the Wakarusa River.

“A nice thing about it is, you can choose your own risk,” said Smith, a 10-year kayaker who introduced Niedbalski to the sport. “You can say, ‘Today is a great day to go down the Wakarusa or the Kaw because they’re running.’ That presents a good challenge. Or, Kansas has enough lakes you can do some lazy kayaking.”

Smith estimated he spent half his time on the rivers, 40 percent of his time at Clinton Lake and the rest of his time at Lone Star Lake.

Whatever the venue, Smith extolls kayaking’s many virtues.

“As I get older : it’s a great sport,” he said. “You can exercise your upper body, which doesn’t get much exercise in day-to-day walking. And in Kansas, you can be totally alone, a long way from any real signs of civilization, and the wildlife you can see is just unbelievable.

“If you go a bit south of here, to Southeast Kansas, there are all sorts of rivers. The Fall River is beautiful for kayaking. Rivers in Southeast Kansas are beautiful for kayaking, since they have rock rather than mud bottoms. And we’re three hours away from some of the best kayaking in the country in the Buffalo and Niangua rivers.”

Getting started

A beginner could get started in kayaking for less than $400, estimated Dan Hughes, owner of Lawrence’s Sunflower Outdoor & Bike.

That bottom line would include a basic boat, personal-flotation device and paddle.

“A lot of it depends on what you already have, if, for instance, you already have a PFD,” Hughes said. “But you can get a boat for around 300 bucks, a paddle for 40 bucks and a PFD for 40 or 50 bucks.

“Obviously, there are more expensive paddles, more expensive boats, more expensive PFD’s. Those prices are for pretty entry-level items, but you’d be set up with a boat for one person that’s great for area lakes a rivers that’s super-stable.”

Smith says it shouldn’t take a newcomer long to get the hang of kayaking.

“It’s a pretty quick sport to pick up,” he said. “If you’ve ever canoed, it’s not very difficult. There are five basic strokes. Beyond that, learning to fall out of the boat and get back in are the two most important skills to learn. A person can have a great time for relatively cheaply in Kansas, if you’re safe and know how to swim.”

Niedbalski said part of the allure was the ability to go solo – unlike canoeing, which typically required two boaters.

It lent itself, she said, to spontaneity.

“If you want to go for just a couple of minutes after work, you just plop it on the car and go,” she said.

In part for that reason, Hughes said, kayaks were gaining in popularity.

“Paddle sports are growing ever so slightly,” he said, “but kayaks have supplanted canoe sales. Kayaking is growing at a pretty good pace, but at the expense of canoeing.”

Kayaks also are touted as good platforms for fishing or photography.

“And sit-on-tops are good,” Hughes said, “if it’s a hot day and you paddle around, jump in for a swim, then climb back on.”