LONG CREEK, S.C. - Gov. Mark Sanford picked a wild place to continue his efforts to get South Carolinians more active.

Sanford brought his wife, Jenny, and the couple's four sons on Saturday to the Chattooga River just above the Bull Sluice rapid used in the film "Deliverance." The Chattooga was designated a wild and scenic river by Congress in 1974.

"You couldn't pick a prettier part of South Carolina," Sanford said, "and it's a great place to highlight the bigger theme we're trying to get out."

Sanford has urged people in South Carolina to spend more time outdoors or taking part in some physical activity the past two years. The Republican governor has tried to back his words with actions. Sanford biked across the state in 2004. Earlier this month, he toured Sumter County's Sparkleberry Swamp in a kayak.

Overcast skies and morning fog got the group off to a late start. Once conditions improved, the convoy of five boats and 25 people took off on their adventure.

Sanford's no novice to the Chattooga. He says he worked as a river guide while in college on the same part of the Chattooga that he and three of his four sons toured on Saturday.

The youngest Sanford boy, 6-year-old Blake, sat on the riverbank with his mother. Blake wanted to be in the boat with his father and brothers, Jenny Sanford said, and "may never get over it."

Still, Blake cheered with his mom as Sanford maneuvered his raft between huge boulders and rushing white water to safely reach the shore.

Several onlookers lounged on the rocks and riverbanks watching Sanford's party. At least one woman came out to make a point to the governor.

Susie Cornelius held up a homemade sign with the letters "CPW" on it as Sanford passed.

"We're here in protest of the governor's passage of the bill to dissolve the Westminster Commission of Public Works because he signed it over the objections of the public," Cornelius said.