Week of Rivers 2011 - Part II

Wednesday July 6 - A Walk in the Woods
After four consecutive days in the kayak, it was time to take a break. I decided to go to the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest, which is one of the last remaining old growth forests in eastern U.S.

When I arrived at the forest, I was concerned. A large number of the big old trees where sheared off. The stumps had shredded shards of wood on them, so it looked like the trees were twisted off. It looked like a tornado or strong downdraft had brought down a lot of the trees. When I went further into the forest, I finally got into the giant tulip poplar trees. The poplars are up to 100 feet tall and have huge trunks.

The hike was nice since you cross a stream and the Rhododendrons were in bloom. It was hot and steamy like a greenhouse however.

I had a picnic lunch and then went for a scenic drive through the mountains.

Before heading back to the campground, I stopped at a grocery store to pick up food for dinner. I was going to cook up the meat in tube form I brought with me and I needed side items.

I kicked back in my lounge camp chair and read for awhile. It was a perfect way to relax and recharge the batteries.

Thursday - Don't Be Expecting Gas Money
On Thursday Rick and Larry were leading a group of first timers on the Ocoee. Usually the "kinder gentler" trip for first timers has people put in below the entrance rapid (to skip Grumpies) and all of the sneaks are taken. I offered to help since I've been on the river many times.

At the morning meeting we determined where and when the group would meet at the campground. To minimize the number of shuttle vehicles, Mark (another kayaker) and I rode with Gilley and David, both open boaters.

We all met at the middle Ocoee put in and saw that the group was FAR too large. Anything larger that seven or eight is hard to manage. We broke into two groups. Several people went with Fast Fred, who is know for doing several Ocoee laps a day like Rick. Fast Fred's group consisted of people who had run the Ocoee before. The other group consisted of the first timers, trip leaders, and safety boaters. Even after the group split, the first timer group had twelve people (or perhaps eleven). This is where we made a mistake. The shuttle drivers and passengers ended up in different groups, and the groups weren't going to finish anywhere near the same time.

The first timers carried their boats down to the put in below Grumpies while Rick, Mark, John, and I went to the main put in. We would meet up with the rest of the group on the river.

Below Grumpies the group merged and we were off.

We took a slightly different line at Gonzo Shoals than I normally take, but it was an easier line.

At Broken Nose, we also took an alternate to the normal sneak line. The normal sneak is actually not that easy. It's easily class III boogie water where you have to dodge holes and rocks and keep working to river left. The line we took was much more river left and it required everyone to go single file down a small drop. This avoided much of the harder stuff and you didn't have to work to get to river left.

When we were getting close to Double Suck, I told Rick that I would prefer to take the boof line and NOT the sneak. He agreed to do that, but only after we shepherded all of the other people through the sneak first. We both hung back to sweep.

Rick headed towards Double Suck. Rick was too far left. He's not going to be close to the boof rock. What are you doing Rick?! Should I follow him or go to where I know the boof line is? The water is pushy and there isn't a lot of time to mull it over. The second hole is very, very bad and you don't want to get in it since it will work you over. Ok, I'll follow Rick. He knows every line on this river. We sailed right through Double Suck, narrowly missing the two holes and narrowly averting disaster. Later Rick said "There's a green line of water right next to the holes. Who knew!".

After Go Forth Creek, Larry had me lead the group for awhile. I was to stop before Table Saw.

We gathered in an eddy above Table Saw and we explained how to run it. Table Saw looks scary, but it's really a big water roller coaster. It's import to not flip in the first wave/hole, stay loose, and keep the paddle in the water. I ran the rapid, then continued on through Diamond Splitter.

I eddied out and then noticed that a kayak was stuck on rocks above Diamond Splitter. It was Terry's, one of our first timers. Apparently she swam in Table Saw. The boat was not in a spot that you could easily get to. John paddled up to the boat and tried to get it off the rocks. It wouldn't budge, but he could turn it a bit. That was enough for the current to pop it loose a couple of minutes later.

Accelerator is a fun rapid towards the end of the run. It really does accelerate you. A lot of people like to run it backwards. The person in front of me was going backwards, I was going forwards. I was talking and wasn't paying attention and was flipped. Not a problem since it was easy to roll back up there.

We got to the take out and carried the gear to the cars. Now where is Fast Fred's group?! Gilley left the passenger door on his pickup unlocked, which really annoyed me since my WALLET was in my short's pocket. However, it also meant that we could change into our dry clothes.

It was getting close to 3:30 and the water would be shut off at 4:00. Rick, Larry, and John took off so that Rick could get another solo run in (he can do a full lap in 45 minutes, so he had barely enough time to ride the bubble of water).

Mark and I sat in the hot sun along the side of the road waiting for Gilley and David to show up. Terry and Tom were also waiting, but they were in a different vehicle. Their car was locked, so they were stuck in their wet gear.

A half hour goes by. Allen then shows up and says that we can load our gear into his truck and he'll take us to the top. Here's where the next shuttle mistake was made. Terry and Tom also loaded gear and rode up with us. As we drove up the highway, we saw Fast Fred's group STILL on the river and Rick had nearly caught up to the on his second lap.

We get to the put in and met up with Larry and John. Now what do we do? Terry and Tom by this point were cold and tired of being in their wet gear. Even though we could spot them money for dinner, they wouldn't want to go to a restaurant dressed in stinky kayak gear. The logical thing for Tom and Terry to do would be to meet back up with their driver. I asked John if he could drive them back to the take out, which he did.

After dropping off Tom and Terry, John picked Mark, two guys from Texas and I up at the put in. Our gear would get back to the campground in Allen's truck. Mark said "Gilley better not be expecting any gas money." I kept saying "I should have driven..."

We went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Copperhill. I wanted BBQ at Herb's but was out voted. When we came out of the restaurant, it started to rain really hard. Unfortunately, the rain was very localized, so it didn't help rivers like the Tellico.

We got back to the campground and I claimed my gear from Allen's truck.

Friday - A Grim Situation and the Auto Flip Feature in Rooster Tail
On Friday we decided to head out the Nolichucky again. The level was similar to what it was the previous Saturday or perhaps slightly higher. We wanted to leave before 8:30 am to keep the group small and because it's a long drive.

Larry drove and John, Allen, and I rode with Larry. Casey met us at Uncle Johnny's. Uncle Johnny's is a hostel for Appalachian trail hikers and kayakers and you can hire shuttle drivers at Uncle Johnny's.

Our driver introduced himself as "Grim". He had hiked the entire Applachian Trail, so we assumed that this was his trail name. Grim said that he was from Savannah, but really liked Erwin Tennessee and decided to stay awhile.

On our way to the put in, Grim started his tour guide spiel: "During your entire journey on the Nolichucky, you will be in the Pisgah and Cherokee National Forests. The Pisgah and Cherokee National Forests did not allow alcohol or illicit drugs. If you have alcohol or illicit drugs, give them to me for disposal because I am a recreational substance disposal expert."

When we got close to the Tennessee/North Carolina state line, he says "Tennessee doesn't have a sense of humor. However, North Carolina does." When we crossed into North Carolina, we saw the 55 MPH speed limit sign. "We call this the double nickels of death.". If you even go above 35 mph, you would fly off of the twisting mountain road!

We went though all of the big rapids at the start of the run just fine: Entrance, On the Rocks, Jaws, and Quarter Mile. I still portaged around the entrance to Quarter Mile. Why have a bad day?

We came up to Rooster Tail, the last big rapid on the river. Rooster Tail has a curler wave, and if you are too far right, it WILL flip you. John calls this the "auto flip" feature. Larry goes first and sets up to take video of us running the rapid.

Of course, I go too far right and flipped. I was banged upside down for awhile, but I was waiting a bit for things to calm down before rolling. Now! I blew the roll. I knew another big drop was coming, so I bailed out of the boat. I managed to shove the boat into an eddy, then I swam into an eddy. John asked if I knew what I did. I said "Yes, I was too far right". Later Allen tells me: "Thanks for going that way. I was thinking of doing the same thing and you showed what would happen."

Later Allen swims in an odd place. I thought he did it to make me feel better.

We got to the take out and Larry's truck was waiting for us. We got into dry clothes, loaded up gear, and headed towards Asheville. In Asheville, we stopped at Asiana Grand for dinner. Asiana Grand is a large Chinese buffet frequented by kayakers.

Saturday - The Clown Car and the Drive Home
I planned to drive home Saturday after I got off of the river. I had already packed up everything before the 8:30 a.m. meeting. I couldn't quite decide where I wanted to go. John kept pushing for a couple of creek runs that were allegedly running, but I wasn't up for something new and possibly above my skill level. If I went to the Ocoee, it's an hour drive in the wrong direction, making it a six hour drive home. If I ran the Nantahala, I would have a five hour drive and I would have time to stop at the NOC store. I looked at the group planning to go to the Ocoee. "Hmm...I don't know ANY of those people". Matt and Linda were going down the Nantahala, but planned to take their time play boating. I had to make a decision or I wasn't going to be going anywhere. Nantahala it is. I brought my dry top, so I was set for the cold water.

Matt wanted to have ALL of the cars at the bottom. I liked this idea since it meant I could leave when I wanted to. However, this made the shuttle more complicated since I would have to hitch a ride to the put in. I brought cash with me in case hitching didn't work and I needed to pay to ride an NOC raft bus.

Now where should I stand to get a ride? Do I need to show some leg? I walked along the road and saw another hitch hiker. After about ten minutes, a Honda Odyssey mini van pulls up. We all got in. We had nine people and three kayaks stuffed into that thing. It was a clown car, but I appreciated the ride.

As promised, Matt and Linda played on just about every feature on the river. That was fine since I learned a couple more play spots. Matt is an instructor, so he got into instructor mode a couple of times. He had me practice eddying and to get the maximum number of eddies in one section of the river.

We came to the falls. I eddied out in truck stop eddy, then took off. I wasn't close enough to the top hole, so I was going into the bottom hole. I didn't turn quite fast enough, so I was on my side for several seconds. I was able to right to boat back up by doing a hip snap, which caused cheers from other boaters. My core exercises paid off!

I was parked after the slalom course, so I ran the slalom gates that were set up.

I got off of the river and loaded up the gear. I had a car load of wet camping and paddling gear that had been in the hot sun all day. Whew!

I called Janyne to let her know I would be home at a decent time (I was off the river at 3:30 pm and it is a five hour drive) and I headed onto the highway. The view of the Smoky Mountains was spectacular while I was driving towards Asheville.

I had a great time at Week of Rivers and have wonderful memories. I'm looking forward to Week of Rivers 2012!

Week of Rivers 2011 - Part I

Creek Side Campsite - Score!
Week of Rivers is an annual event for Carolina Canoe Club members. The club takes over the Smoky Mountain Meadows campground in Bryson City North Carolina, which becomes the base of operations for the event. Every morning at 8:30 a.m. the club meets and river trips are organized. If you don't get with a group at the meeting, you are stuck at the campground (there are also "private" trips that aren't announced, but you have to be invited).

I usually camp in the open field. You don't need a reservation and it's cheap ($7/day). A Facebook and paddling friend Wendy posted on Facebook that some of her friends were not going to make it and was looking for people to share her shaded, creek side campsite with her and Amy. I quickly replied "yes!", and it was a great decision. When I arrived Friday evening, they already had my parking pass ready. Wendy already had a pop up tent over the picnic table, and Wendy and Amy helped set up my tent. For Week of Rivers I use a larger tent, which I only use a couple of times a year. It's easy to set up (color coded!), but I appreciated the help. The pop up tent over the picnic table was great since it rained several times during the week, so items under the tent were dry. Wendy also provided hangers to hang up gear to dry from the tent. The babbling brook next to the site was also nice. All of this made the site worth the extra cost.

Saturday July 2, Nolichucky
The Nolichucky is a natural flow river that goes through a beautiful, undeveloped gorge in the Pisgah and Cherokee national forests. The run starts in North Carolina and ends in Tennessee. The river was at 795 cfs, which is a very nice novice level. At higher flows the Nolichucky is a class III-IV river, but at 795 it is more like a class II-III river. We joked that the rapid named "Jaws" was more like "Piranha". We wanted to head to the Nolichucky since it's best to hit natural flow rivers during Week of Rivers if they are available.

Matt and his wife Linda were leading a private trip that I was invited to join. I always enjoy paddling with Matt and Linda so I join their trips whenever I can.

While I was quickly gathering up gear and preparing my lunch, my friend Stefan showed up with another friend John. Apparently Stefan asked for me and John knew where I was camping. We were leaving in a few minutes so I needed to hustle.

I asked Stefan if he could go on a long day trip (the Noli is more than two hours from the campground and it's a long run). He was camping with his wife and daughter and I didn't want him to get in trouble for getting in late. Stefan said that he could go, so I quickly took him over to Matt. I asked Matt if he could add one more person. Matt said no since we would need another shuttle vehicle.

I told Stefan to quickly follow me to another group that was going on the Nolichucky (everyone was leaving in a few minutes), and that group included John. I went up to Kathy, who was also in the second group and one of the drivers. "Can you take one more person?" Kathy at first thought that I wanted Stefan to ride with them and then join my group at the river, a logistical nightmare. "No, no, Kathy. Can you take him and have him be a part of your group?". Kathy replied, "Oh, sure".

I rode with Karen, who drives a Honda Fit (Janyne also has a Fit). It was funny seeing a big open boat and a kayak on top of a Fit. It worked and we got great mileage.

The shuttle for the Nolichucky is really long. Most people pay $20 for a driver to drive their car back to the take out. It turns out that Matt doesn't like other people driving his car, so we set up our own shuttle. This turned out to be a pain at the end of the day since it added an additional hour to retrieve the cars at the put in. We also didn't take out at the Nolichucky Gorge campground since the owner charges $3 a head to use the take out. We had to paddle further downstream.

It was a drama free day on the river. There were no flips or swims in the group. I was very happy to have a clean run down the Nolichucky. On my previous trip I had an ugly swim through most of Quarter Mile rapid. I did portage around the entrance to Quarter Mile since that bad swim was still fresh in my memory.

Murphy's ledge is at the of Quarter Mile rapid. At the low water level, it was disconcerting since it was a drop of several feet over ledge. Sarah went first over the ledge and then guided people where to go. She raised her arms and all you could see were her hands. It turned out to be an easy boof over the ledge.

When we got off the river, we changed into dry clothes. The drivers then went off to retrieve the cars at the put in. While we were waiting, we saw Stefan's group drive by. doh!

We got on the road and had dinner at a restaurant in West Asheville called the Universal Joint. It got its name from the fact that the restaurant used to be an auto repair shop. The restaurant had a great selection of local micro brews and a varied menu. It has a lot of nice vegetarian and non vegetarian options. I went for the ribeye sandwich.

I asked Karen if $10 would be sufficient for gas. She said that I didn't need to give her gas money if I drove from Asheville back to the campground. She wanted to sleep. Deal!

We were getting low on gas, so I planned to stop in Dillsboro. The gas stations in the mountains close EARLY (10 pm). It was ten minutes after 10, and the gas station in Dillsboro was closed. Of course the low fuel light came on. I had to drive into Sylva to find an open gas station (turns out some of the station keep the pumps on and you can use a credit card, but it's hard to tell when all the lights are off).

It was a long but great day. We didn't roll into the campground until 11 p.m.

Sunday, Upper Green. My that Diesel is Heavy!
Wendy asked my if I would like to join her, her cousin Ben and his fiance Sarah, Diane, Scott, and Jamila on a trip to the Upper Green. The upper Green is a beautiful class II-III run, so I joined the group.

We were supposed to meet Ben and Sarah at exit 59 on I-26 9:45 "ish". Lee Thonus was also organizing a trip on the Upper Green and was going to have a shuttle already set. The take out requires you to have a key since it is on private property. Lee had a key, so it would be good to have him help set shuttle. We also had to hurry since the normal release is only from 10 to 12.

Ben and Sarah showed up a little before 10. We then headed out on I-26 towards Spartanburg since Diane thought Lee said that we were meeting at exit 63. I called up Lee to let him know we were en route and to confirm the exit number. "Lee, to confirm, what exit are we meeting you?" "53, but we'll wait for you at the off ramp on 54" "crap! We're heading the WRONG WAY". Of course the next exit wasn't until 67, and THAT was another four lane divided highway. We had to go several more miles before we could turn around and Ben had to follow us. The incredible thing is, Lee waited for us the entire time! The convoy merged and we headed to the put in.

We put on and entered the gorge. The Upper Green is a beautiful gorge and several waterfalls flow into the river. The rhododendrons were in bloom.

We came to the first big rapid, Bayless Boof. We all got out to scout it. It looks scary, but it's an easy slide down the rock, which launches you into the air and you land in a pool at the bottom. The rock wants to turn to the right when you launch, so you have to have some weight on your left butt cheek. If you go to the right, you may hit a submerged rock below. One person did that a year ago and smashed in the front of his boat, which was a Diesel similar to mine.

I came down the rock slide, went into the air a bit, then landed in the pool below. What a great ride! Lee had gone first and was taking photos.

We all came up on the second big rapid, Pinball. Lee gave us long involved instructions. Pinball is a double drop. You go over the first drop and have to avoid a rock, then you turn to make the second drop. It's hard to see exactly what line people take because they disappear when they go over the first drop.

I ran the rapid fine even though I didn't think I was quite on the right line. Woo hoo! That's when I noticed the carnage. Scott's kayak was upside and stuck on rocks in the river. Doug, an open boater, was swimming. Apparently the instructions needed to be simplified.

After Pinball, Lee led several of us on a short hike up a creek. We then came to a beautiful waterfall.

We then reached the take out and now it was time for the dreaded 2/3 mile carry up to the parking lot. The first 1/3 is a steep goat trail, then the rest is a jeep road. Rather than mull about the schlepp, I sprinted up the trail with my gear. I made it to the top and broke out my lunch. It took several minutes for the next person to trudge up the hill.

After everyone was back to the take out with their vehicles, we discussed where to go for lunch (second lunch or dinner for me). Ben mentioned the horrors he saw at the interstate exit: Cracker Barrel, Waffle House, McDonalds, etc. Wendy mentioned that there is a nice sandwich shop in Saluda, but she wasn't sure if it was open Sunday. We'd give that a try.

We came into Saluda, but the sandwich shop was closed. However, a really nice restaurant was open. Saluda is a cute old railroad town (Saluda has the steepest standard gauge railroad in the U.S.) with a lot of restaurants and shops. The shops featured art from local artisans such as hand blown glass.

After our early dinner, we headed back to the campground.

Monday - Chattooga section 3.5 1.48 feet - Lightening and Thunder, Oh My!
Monday we got a group together to run section 3.5 of the Chattooga. The group included: Larry, John, Steve, Allen, Jamila, Conrad, and myself.

The Chattooga is a designated wild and scenic river and parts of the movie Deliverance were shot on the river. Because it is a wild and scenic river, there's a quarter mile carry to the put in and from the take out. That's still better than the Upper Green!

It started out as a beautiful day on the river. Then it started to rain very hard, then there was lightening and thunder. We stayed on the river close to shore. The rain then stopped for awhile.

We all got out to scout Bull Sluice. There are two main lines: the double drop on the right and the boof line to the left. The rapid is intimidating, but the left line is actually not difficult.

John had my video camera and was going to shoot us running the rapid. Then the deluge started up again and there was more lightening and thunder. We went for cover and waited it out for awhile. Allen used his kayak as shelter.

We all then ran the boof line fine. Larry got out and took the camera to shoot John running the rapid.

After Bull Sluice we kept kept running into the same group of kayakers. Many of the boaters didn't seem to be in control of their boats. They would come through our group, then would stop so they never moved ahead. Conrad referred to them as the "monkey troop". If you're going to play through, play through!

Larry is an instructor and taught everyone how to eddy hop when creeking. We did this in the rapid named Screaming Left Turn. When creeking, you go one at a time down a rapid and communicate to the person behind you what eddy to go to next, many of which may only hold one or two boats.

We got to the end and it was time for the quarter mile carry. I again picked up my gear and rapidly went up the trail to get it over with.

We all then went to a pizza restaurant near the river called Humble Pie. The owner was trying to close the restaurant for the Fourth of July holiday. He still let us come in and said "I have three large pizza doughs left and salad, which should feed you." We all discussed the available standard pizzas, and we agreed on what to get. Everyone except Allen that is. Allen just went and ordered what he wanted for one of the pizzas. Everyone looked at each other and went "WTF?" It all worked out since Allen's topping choices weren't too scary and we were hungry. He seemed surprised that people were eating "his" pizza.

Later that night Amy broke out glow sticks and we had a rave at the campground. One partier fell into the creek (not me). I was getting too loud for our neighbors, so we received complaints. I blame the top shelf tequila Wendy broke out. Everyone was surprised to see me tooling around the campground early the next day.

Tuesday - Pigeon Gorge and lower Pigeon
Tuesday I joined a group going to the Pigeon, aka "The Dirty Bird". We had John, Jamila, Allen, Rick, Steve, Kathy and Kathy's husband Kevin. The Pigeon gorge is a short run, so we were going to also do the lower Pigeon. The lower Pigeon is class I-II, but has some fun play spots (and long stretches of flat water).

We weren't sure what the release would be. The normal release is 1200 cfs, but on the previous Saturday it was 2200 cfs. The extra water caused a lot of carnage. When we arrived at the put in, we saw that it was a normal release.

We then had another shuttle mishap. The first problem was that Allen nearly ran out of gas and we had to stop. Kathy pointed out that one of the shuttle rules is that you gas up the night before.

The next problem dealt with how to go to the take out. Should we take River Road to the take out or I-40? Kevin said "I-40. I remember River Road being full of pot holes" This was a BAD plan. As soon as we got onto I-40, we immediately hit construction. The road narrowed down to one lane and there was a lot of traffic. Luckily we stopped for gas BEFORE hitting the traffic. I have never gone that way to the take out and didn't know what exit to take. Of course the group got separated trying to merge. At the end of the run, we took River Road. It had hardly any pot holes.

We got to the put in and we took off. The run was drama free until we got to Lost Guide. John was leading Jamila through the rapids since it was her first time on the Pigeon. He eddied out, but didn't expect Jamila to also go into the eddy. Jamila flushed out of the eddy and went backwards into the hole at the bottom of the rapid. I had already run Lost Guide and was watching. I thought to myself "TURN AROUND" since you could predict the outcome. Jamila flipped in the hole, but immediately rolled back up. Later that night Jamila apologized for all of the "carnage" she experienced. Rick and I both looked at her and said "WHAT carnage? You were never out of your boat."

When we got to the lower Pigeon, we played on a lot of the ledges. I was surfing my Diesel and Steve yells out "HEY, what you doing playing?!" On the Chattooga Steve play boated a lot and I only surfed a couple of times.

Rick then decided to make the run more "interesting" by using hand paddles. He got stuck surfing on a ledge and flipped. One of the ledges is sticky, and I've been flipped on it before. He tried rolling three times and failed. I went over and bumped my bow on his boat so that he knew that could use it to flip himself up. He was not happy since he didn't "ask" for a rescue and I got in his way. He ended up swimming. One of his hand paddles came loose, but we were able to retrieve it. Steve watched the whole thing and said we would have done the same thing.

We got to the take out and went separate ways. John had to go back to Raleigh to teach a class. Allen and Steve took off back to the campground. Kathy, Kevin, Rick, Jamila, and I went to dinner at Lulu's in Sylva. At Lulu's we ran into a lot of kayakers we knew like Barb and Len.


Part II of the blog will be in a subsequent posting...

June Kayaking Videos

Double Trouble
Middle Ocoee
June 11, 2011

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Split Screen Nanty Falls
June 18, 2011

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Nantahala Falls
June 18, 2011

Nolichucky Swim Team

Have Gun Will Travel
My kayaking friend John was a trip coordinator for a paddling trip on the Nolichucky over the first weekend in May. The Nolichucky is a class III-IV river in North Carolina and Tennessee. It is a long eight mile run, parts of which are challenging. The toughest parts are in the first two miles, so if you have problems, you could have a long day. The Noli is also remote. Once you start, you are committed.

I told John that I wanted to join the trip since I had a new Wavesport Diesel 70, a much bigger boat than I had the one other time I had run the Noli. The Diesel can handle fairly big holes, which would be very helpful on the Noli.

I also carpooled with John. When I arrived at his house, as a joke he showed me a pellet gun that he wanted to bring (back story: on recent trip, a guy I carpooled with was seriously thinking of bringing a real handgun. What the heck FOR?!).

Since John didn't have the roof rack installed on his car, we loaded up my CR-V. We were on our way in record time, all loaded up and on the road in under 15 minutes.

We hit horrible bump and grind traffic on I-40 around Greensboro and Winston Salem. Even with the bad traffic and a dinner stop, we still got to the Nolichucky Gorge Campground a little after 9 pm. This made the campground manager happy since he doesn't like people to arrive too late at night.

We selected a camp site on the river. This was the first time John had a river side site in the campground. It worked out well since it would get sun in the morning.

It was a mostly clear night and I saw a shooting star (it was supposed to be a peak night for a meteor shower). There was a crescent moon over the river and you could see the entire sphere of the moon. A clear sky meant that it got cold. Everyone knew to bring ear plugs since frogs were making a lot of noise and the coal train runs throughout the day and night. The train's brakes make horrible screeching sounds when the train comes around the bend.

Saturday Noli - Introducing the Swim Team
The paddling group was going to meet at 11:15 am on Saturday. This would allow people to drive up in the morning if they didn't want to camp Friday night. John and I went to McDonald's in Erwin Tennessee to have breakfast and to use free Wifi. We couldn't believe the LONG line at the drive thru and that a lot of the people waiting in the drive thru were puffing on cigarettes.

When we went back to the campground, I killed time by reading, gathering up gear, and making my lunch.

The Nolichucky was around 1300 cfs, a perfect level. Our group on Saturday consisted of: Rich from Asheville, Ken from near Columbia SC, Jim and Kat from Raleigh, John from Durham, and myself from Apex.

The shuttle for the Nolichucky is very long. Normally paddlers pay $20 to hire a local shuttle driver. We couldn't fit all the boats, people, and gear onto one car, so we needed two drivers. One person in the group said "So, $40 divided by 6 is...$5 each." Well, not really.

When we got to the put in, we had to negotiate sucking mud and gnats. Luckily the gnats were not an issue once we were on our way.
Entrance rapid and On the Rocks were not problem for me and my hole munching Diesel. It was going to be a great day!

Rich, however, swam at On the Rocks. I got his paddle and threw it on the bank on river right. Rich was out of the water on river right and Jim pushed his boat to the bank. We yelled at Rich to GRAB his boat since it the current was taking the boat. We weren't really in an eddy and the next rapid Jaws was just ahead. Rich then fell into the river, so he had to be rescued again. Rich's boat also went downstream. Jim and I corralled Rich's boat on river left, Rich was on river right. Using a carabiner I loaned to Jim, Jim towed Rich's boat across the river. John had to go upstream and retrieve the paddle I tossed on the rocks.

Ken also swam at On the Rocks, but it wasn't nearly as dramatic.

Jacked By Hungry Jack
We all got out to scout Quarter Mile rapid. The tricky part is the entrance, the rest is mostly class III boogie water (about a quarter mile long) where you dodge rocks and holes. The very end is Murphy's ledge, which is a three-foot river-wide ledge. At the entrance you have to get on a tongue of water and eddy out, then you can line yourself up and continue with the rest of the rapid. John got in his boat and showed us how to do it.

I got back into my boat and started off. I was too far left and missed the tongue. I was quickly turned around and flipped. I was bounced up and down while upside down and I was going right for Hungry Jack, a large hole you don't want to be in. I wasn't in a good spot to roll, so I bailed out of the boat.

John was the only person in his boat and came out after me. Both my boat and I went into Hungry Jack, which luckily spat me out and didn't recirculate me. John said that this was the first place I yelled "OW" since I was smacked against a rock. This is also likely where my boat was dented. John said my boat went into Hungry Jack, came up on its stern and then was smacked on a rock.

For almost the entire rapid I was bounced off of rocks and went into and out of holes. See the human pinball! My knees were banged up pretty bad and at the end, were bruised and swollen. John kept coming over so that I could grab the back of his boat. I did NOT want to go over Murphy's ledge. We got separated several times and John was in parts of the rapid he really didn't want to be in. I kicked, but the current was strong. Eventually I got to shore, at the last eddy before the ledge.

John then chased after my boat. After spending a few minutes crawling over rocks and trying to avoid poison ivy on the shore, I eventually walked up the rocks to the railroad tracks. When I saw John and my boat, I scrambled down to the river. That's when I saw the huge dent in my boat.

After seeing what happened, the rest of the group carried their boats over rocks to avoid the entrance move.

On Sunday I met a rafting group at the take out. One guy asked "That was you swimming yesterday?" "Yes" I said. "Oh, we felt bad for you. That had to hurt.".

Since both the boat and I were banged up, I decided not to deal with Rooster Tail rapid. I got out before the rapid and climbed up the bank to the railroad track. It was a tough portage.

No one swam in Rooster Tail, but John did his usual line on Rooster Tail: he flipped and rolled.

By this time I discovered that my choice of paddling clothes was poor. I wore Neoprene shorts and top and a spray jacket. I was in the cold water a long time, the wind was kicking up, and it became cloudy. I was COLD.

At the take out, John said I was a "trooper" for paddling it out to the end in a banged up boat. I said "Did I really have a choice?"

User Error
When we were back to the campground, I called the dealer where I bought my boat just six weeks before: Endless Rivers Adventures. It looked like my boat was ruined, so I wanted to see what might be covered under a warranty. I identified myself and said that I recently bought a boat AND signed up for their Thanksgiving Costa Rica trip. Ken, one of the owners, said that this was a "user error". This is ironic since I am a software tester! My coworkers laughed and said "Gee, even on weekends your defects are returned".

Ken dismissively said that "No material could withstand that sort of impact." Too bad. How sad. "If you put it in the sun, it MIGHT pop out". I didn't believe it.

Local Cuisine and Audry Saves the Day
For dinner Saturday, Jim recommended a local restaurant that has home cooking (translation: tasty, but expect a lot of calorie bombs). I was drawn to the "pan fried" chicken, which was very good. I lessened the damage by having a salad and baked potato rather than mashed potatoes or the various fried side items. I don't think green beans really count as a vegetable if they are cooked in fat back.

After dinner Jim had us going all over Erwin Tennessee. He kept telling us a story of how in the past an elephant killed a man and they hung the elephant as punishment. Several of the stores were supposed to reference this event, but we never saw anything.

We then got lost on the side streets. I drove, so I turned on "Audry", the GPS. Audry took us right to the campground. Everyone laughed when Audry said "arriving at Noli Gorge Campground". "She SOUNDS like a paddler (Noli is the nickname for the Nolichucky. I didn't want to type Nolichucky into the GPS).

Shuttle Driver
I woke up Sunday morning feeling like someone beat me with a rubber hose. Jim offered to switch boats around so that I could use John's Diesel, but I didn't want to damage someone else's boat. I was bruised and sore, so I figured it was best to be conservative. This was a good call since there were seven swims in the group Sunday, three of which were at at same time.

Jim graciously fed us all ham and eggs. I showed Kat the wonders of a French Press, which made better coffee than her instant coffee.

Bob Wiggins and his son Bob from Asheville were joining the group Sunday. Bob has a huge ancient diesel Suburban that seems to be held together by rust. But it's the perfect paddling shuttle vehicle since Bob said he could fit ten boats on it. Since I decided not to paddle Sunday, I would drive shuttle. Everyone appreciated it and jokingly asked if I wanted $20. "Nah, paying it forward with karma points." Driving the beast up the mountains was quite a challenge. The seat couldn't be adjusted and I could barely press the gas pedal. It was so loud, people would look when I went by. I brought Audry along to make sure I didn't get lost on the mountain roads.

I went into town to have lunch and to use the Wifi at McDonald's. I dried out gear, napped, etc.

It was getting to be about 4 pm and I was getting worried. The group was on the water at 11:00 am. Where WERE they?!

Finally Kat and Jim showed up. Kat shook her head and said "It was quite an adventure". Bob had broken his wooden paddle at Jaws and swam, plus there were many other swims.

Throughout the day, I had my boat out in the sun on my roof rack. I had the dented part exposed to the sun. Nearly 90% of the dent popped out by the time Kat showed up. I asked if she believed in miracles and showed her the boat. Everyone was amazed by the self healing boat. It's battle scarred with scratches, but at least it can be used.

Conclusion
It was a really fun group to paddle with. At some point we will have a reunion of the Nolichucky swim team and run the river again as a group. John said that I would have the award for the "longest" and "ugliest" swim. In total there were five swims on Saturday, seven on Sunday.

Click here for more photos.

CCC Members at USNWC

Pigeon and Noli - Liquid Sunshine and Rooster Tails

The Loft
In August I was invited to go paddling with Len and Barbara and stay at Barb's mountain house near Waynesville, North Carolina. Barb's family has large vacation house that everyone in her family uses. Normally I sleep in a guest bedroom downstairs, but for the first time I was assigned to the loft bedroom. The loft is very nice because above the bed there is a large picture window with a view of the mountains and the private bathroom has a chandelier! Barb and Len's friend Steve was in the downstairs guest bedroom because he had to get up early for a cycling event, the Blue Ridge Breakaway.

I enjoy staying at Barb's place because I don't have to camp. It takes a lot less time to load and unload for a trip since I don't have to deal with all of the camping gear. I always make sure to bring a hostess gift with me and Janyne will often bake goodies like banana bread to share.

Barb and Len also invited other friends to stay including: paddling friends Ron, Joan, and Joan's two teenage children.

Liquid Sunshine
Saturday morning Barn, Len, and I took a walk. There are a lot of horses in the area, and they all know Barb because she likes to feed them carrots. We had plenty of time since the Pigeon doesn't run until 12:00.
We loaded up all of the paddling gear and headed to the Pigeon. It had started to pour down rain, which is really only a problem when you load and unload gear. I waited at the putin while the shuttle vehicles were positioned. I tried to stay out of the pouring rain as much as possible.

The rain didn't stop until we were at Lost Guide rapid. It doesn't matter if it rains while you are on the river, but it wasn't so good for the people on the bike ride. We found out later that the park service had to close the Blue Ridge Parkway due to the rain and the fog. One of Janyne's cycling friends got hypothermia while going fast in a descent and spent some time in the hospital. The rain wasn't in the forecast, so very few of the cyclists brought rain gear.

Before Double Reactionary rapid on the Pigeon, we encountered a young lady standing IN the river. Apparently she was part of a university rafting group and she fell out of the raft. Lee had her grab onto the back of his kayak and he tried to take her to shore. She must have let go because she ended up swimming through the rapid and was really bounced around. After the rapid, Len had her grab his boat and got her to shore. She was really upset and didn't want to go though the next, and last rapid, accelerator. The problem is, there's not a good way to walk around it, so you have to be in a boat.

We stopped at Pigeon Gorge take out for lunch where Barb met up with us. Barb joined us to run the lower Pigeon. At the end of the run, Barb said that it seemed "easier". We told her that her paddling has improved and is more experienced, so it should seem easier.

After running the Ocoee quite a few times over the summer, the Pigeon seemed so much easier. Of course, any river can be made more difficult by using a play boat, playing more in features, practicing more difficult moves, etc.

We headed back to Barb's place where we later had a great grilled salmon dinner.

Getting the Bird from Roostertail

On Sunday Lee, Len, Bob, and I ran the Nolichucky River. This was my Nolichucky PFD (personal first descent). The Nolichucky is a class III-IV river and is generally considered more difficult than the Ocoee. On our run, the river was running between 1600 - 1700 cfs, which isn't a bad level for a first timer.
Len and I drove to Bob's house near Asheville and loaded up Bob's big Suburban. The Suburban is really old and beaten up, but it can hold a lot of gear and people. The air conditioning went out years ago, but we didn't need it.

We met Lee at the Nolichucky Gorge Campground. The campground manager, whom I've written about before, was on us before we even crossed the bridge. "$3 a head" he barked. Bob answered with "Well, we have three heads". The fee is worth it though since the campground manager arranged for a shuttle driver, the campground is the take out for the Nolichucky gorge, and we could use the campground's bathrooms and showers. The Nolichucky shuttle is very long and difficult, so it is worth the $20 to hire a driver to bring the car back to the take out.

The Nolichucky Gorge is beautiful because the river winds between the mountains. The run is remote and quite long. The more difficult rapids are in the first third or so of the run. The water was turbid with a lot of silt, but that was due to the recent heavy rains. It was a beautiful, sunny day, but it wasn't too hot.

My first combat roll was in the rapid "On the Rocks". I flipped and did a combat roll right away. Later Bob said that while he was watching me run the rapid and saw me flip he said "NOW would be a good time for a roll...".

We then came to the roostertail rapid. You can't see much of the rapid until you are almost on top of it. You have to go from right to left between rocks and have the proper boat angle. I wasn't quite on the right line. I flipped in the first drop and was banged against the bottom. I rolled up, caught my breath, then was flipped all the way over to the other side. I was banged on bottom again. I rolled up and I thought I was up for good! yea! But then I was pinned against the rock I was warned about (don't get pinned THERE), which then flipped me. After being banged against the bottom a bit more, I had enough and bailed out. That may not have been the best choice because I was banged against the rocks in the swim. I lost some skin on hands and knees, but I DID have my carbon paddle in hand. Lee had me grab the back of his boat and towed me to shore.

We all then had lunch since roostertail marks the end of the more difficult rapids. While talking at lunch, I discovered I was the youngest person in the group. I said how old I was and Bob said "42? I thought you said 32. If you were 32, I'd have you run Roostertail AGAIN."

At lunch Len gave me a great compliment. He said that he saw a huge improvement in my paddling skills, especially reading water and boat control. I wasn't thrilled to have swum, but everyone swims at some point.

The rest of the river is mostly read and run. Lee was in the lead and for some reason was moving really fast when we were in rock garden rapid. Rock garden is a fairly long rapid where you have to dodge rocks and holes. I tried to follow Lee's line, except for when I saw him go into holes I wanted to avoid. After the rapid, Lee admitted that he didn't have a very clean line.

When we were loading up gear, Bob mentioned that he saw me do a couple of "practice" rolls late in the run. I flipped on a couple of minor things and rolled up. I said "Oh, you weren't supposed to see those...".

After loading up the gear and changing into dry clothes, we headed back to Bob's place. The drive along I-26 in Tennessee and North Carolina is gorgeous. There are a lot of large mountains and it is mostly undeveloped.

I had a great time on the river. Lee was a great guide since he knew the river well and always explained each rapid. Bob and Len also knew the river. It will take me several more runs to become comfortable with the river and to know the lines.

WOO2! Weekend of Ocoee 2 - Table Saw's Revenge

On the Road Again
I had such a good time paddling the Ocoee in July with my kayaking friend John, I wanted to go one more time before John's fall college football work schedule consumed all of his weekends.

Friday evening John was working the Redskins game in Washington D.C. He planned to drive back to Durham Saturday morning and we would leave for the Ocoee from his place. It took him several hours just to get to Fredericksburg Virginia! As a result, we didn't get on the road until 6 pm.

The drive to the Ocoee is nearly 6.5 hours. On our previous trip we ended up at the Chilhowee Campground because there were no campsites at the Thunder Rock campground. Chilhowee Campground requires you to drive further down the highway, then 7.5 miles on a switch back unmarked road up a mountain, something we didn't want to do in the middle of the night. We decided to camp at Smoky Mountain Meadows campground in Bryson City. We called ahead, they told us where to set up, and we'd pay in the morning.

Thunder Rock Campground
The Thunder Rock Campground is across the Ocoee river from the highway. Unfortunately that meant I heard truck traffic all night. I need to pack ear plugs! However, you can't beat the campground's location because you can be at the put in in under five minutes.

For this trip I upgraded my camping gear. I replaced the Thermarest with a twin sized Eddie Bauer inflatable mattress (which has the battery pump built in). I also brought along a battery powered fan since it was SO hot on the previous trip. When you car camp, you don't have to worry as much about weight.
Behind our site ran the water that comes out the hydro plant power house. TVA was generating power when we arrived, so the water was flowing quickly. In the middle of the night I heard a noise, and I could tell that the water wasn't flowing any more. In the morning the level had dropped way down and it looked like there was no current at all.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Ocoee
It's not usually a problem to have only one car when paddling the Ocoee. There are so many paddlers around, you can hitch a ride back to the put in.

After I parked my car at the take out for our first run on Sunday, I asked a group if they were setting shuttle and if could have a ride. I got a story about how they "normally" would let people ride with them, but were full and had no room. Hmm...there's PLENTY of room in the cab of the truck AND in the back (and I don't take up much space). A simple "Sorry, but no" would have been more polite. Not a good way to earn river karma points!

It was still fairly early in the morning on Sunday, so there wasn't much traffic on the highway. I waited for awhile, only bothering to put out my thumb for vehicles with some sort of kayak, raft, or open boat (everyone else gives you a funny look and zooms by). Another paddler came over to the side of the road to hitch a ride. I introduced myself. Finally a small car from Memphis with kayaks on top pulled over. Two of us needed to share a single seat, so it was good that I already introduced myself!

For the second run on Sunday, I ended up getting a ride in the back of a pickup truck. I rode in the back with a bunch of kids and another kayaker. Overhead was a raft, which was dripping water. That was fine since I was already wet, it was warm out, and it sure beat walking. After we were a ways down the road, the driver yells out "Don't TRUST the tailgate". So we slid away from the tailgate.

Setting shuttle Monday was little trickier. There was little traffic on the highway and no rafting companies had started yet since the water had just turned on (and Monday would be a light day anyhow). My car was the only car in the take out parking lot. Oh, this could be awhile. Luckily a pickup loaded with kayaks in the back stopped. I rode in the back on top of the kayaks, clinging to the bottom of the open window at the back of the cab (I didn't want to get flung off on a curve). From my perch I could see the nearly empty river and saw that the water bubble had reached double suck rapid.

Buzzed By Table Saw
Prior to this weekend, I had run table saw rapid multiple times (several runs at higher water levels) with no problems. On Saturday, table saw decided to teach me a little humility.

On the first run Saturday, I flipped in the hole at the top of the rapid. I ran the entire rapid upside down and was bounced up and down through the big waves. The rapid sent my kayak into an eddy on river right, where I rolled up and caught my breath. John tapped the top of his helmet to ask if I was ok, and I responded that I was.

On the second run Saturday, I made it past the hole at the top. However, I was flipped in one of the waves lower in the rapid. I rolled and went on my way.

Sunday I ran the rapid cleanly. Apparently the lesson was over!

At one point John made the comment that he "Liked my style", referring to the fact that if I blow my first roll attempt, I will try several more times. He was happy that he didn't need to practice rescue techniques.

Not Kevin's Eddy
Flipper rapid is done in two steps. You go over the first drop on river right, eddy out river left, then go over the second drop again on the right. You do NOT go barreling down the center since there's a big drop that will likely flip you (hence, flipper).

John was getting annoyed that I wouldn't eddy out. I would zoom on by and finish the rapid, sometimes on river left for the second drop (which isn't the preferred line). He was going to call the eddy "not Kevin's Eddy". On the second run Saturday, I flipped, rolled, and again went down the left. John said "You SURE don't want to go into that eddy! You'll do ANYTHING to not do it.". He explained how I needed to ride the curler of water, which would do most of the work of putting you in the eddy.

On Sunday's run, I DID eddy out, so I suggested that we call it "Sometimes Kevin's eddy" or "usually not Kevin's eddy".

Did You Know That There's a Hole BELOW Double Trouble?
During week of rivers, I managed to get flipped in a hole that is BELOW double trouble on river left. I wanted to avoid that hole this weekend.

After running double trouble with no problems, I eddied out river left above the hole. I did a bad job of peeling out into the current, went right into the hole, flipped, rolled, and went on my way. John laughed. On subsequent runs I eddied out river RIGHT.

On one run though double trouble, I almost T boned another kayaker that was playing in one of the waves. The rule is simple: the boat in the current has the right of way. If you are playing in the wave, you yield to whoever is coming downstream. This play boater waited until the very last second to peel out, so I missed him by inches. I didn't want to change my boat angle or speed since that would cause me to flip.

Captain of the Swim Team - First Ocoee Swim
Have I mentioned that there's a hole in the center of power house rapid?

I flipped in Hell Hole, which is just before power house rapid. I then took too long to set up for my roll. I rolled up on my first attempt, but went right into the center of power house rapid. I made it through the first part of the rapid, but I flipped in the bottom hole. I was chundered upside down for quite awhile. I couldn't get a good roll, so I bailed out. I picked a PERFECT spot for my first Ocoee swim since it was after the last rapid and in flat water. Perhaps I should have held out for ten more seconds and tried to roll once I was ejected out of the hole. The hole will chunder you for awhile, but it doesn't keep you.

On Monday I also managed to get flipped in power house rapid, but but at least I WAS to the right of the center hole. I was getting tired, so it did take a couple of roll attempts to get up. But I was determined. I was NOT going to swim again.

Monday - Having the River to Ourselves
Monday was a regular Ocoee release, but there wasn't a raft in sight. We wanted to get on the road as soon as possible, so we arrived at the put in before the water came on. When we started, we were the first kayakers on the river.

John suggested I take a video of the river filling with water. I used my new video camera and stood on the ramp holding the same shot. Click here for the video, which is sped up to 4X actual speed.

It was a really fast run. We didn't really play anywhere, there were no rafts in our way, and smaller groups go faster. We were off the water by 11:30 am and on the road by 12 pm.

We stopped at Endless Rivers Adventures on our way back so that John could visit with the owners and buy a river knife. I picked up a nice pair of earrings for Janyne that were made by a local artist.

We had decided to stop at Asiana Grand Chinese buffet for lunch/supper (lupper?). Kayakers rave about the restaurant, but I had never been there. They had a huge selection of items and it was worth the stop (even though the scale may not agree with that).

After that it was time to get home and hang up the gear to dry for the next paddling trip.

WOO! Weekend of Ocoee

My kayaking friend John posted an Ocoee trip on the Carolina Canoe Club's trip list for late July. The trip would only consist of John and I on Saturday and possibly additional people on Sunday. I had been able to get on the Ocoee three times during week of rivers and I wanted to become more familiar and comfortable with the river.

John and I carpooled since there wouldn't be a problem running shuttle on the Ocoee with just one vehicle. The highway runs along the river, so setting shuttle is easy. There are so many paddlers around, it is not difficult or dangerous to hitch a ride.

I picked up John after work on Friday and we were on our way. We arrived at Thunder Rock Campground around 11 pm. When we crossed the bridge over the Ocoee to the campground, we could see in the moonlight that the river was running! Since the flume for the hydro plant is broken and under repair, TVA is trying to draw down water from the lakes behind the dams.

The campground does not take reservations, so it's first come, first serve. Of course, every campsite was taken.

We went to Plan B. I had printed info on some hotels in Murphy such as Hampton and Holiday Inn Express. All of the hotels were full. This exercise did, however, make me glad to have changed cell phone plans to Verizon. John's AT&T phone did not get any reception around the Ocoee.

Now it was time for plan C, which was the Chilhowee Campground. This campground required us to go further down the highway and 7.3 miles up a mountain on a fire road (paved at least). However, it was a lot of switch back turns, which was rough to do in the dark after a long day. The road was paved, but not marked.

The campground has sections A through F. We didn't want A and B since there was no need to play extra for electrical hook ups, so we started at C. All of the sites were full. D, nothing. E, nothing. F, nothing until I came to the LAST site, which I almost went past.

I don't know what plan D would have been.

Friday night's camping wasn't bad since it had cooled down by the time we went to bed, plus it had been a long day. Saturday night, however, was rough because it was hot until about 3:00 am.

Don't Call it Slap Chop Rapid

Run Number One
When we got up Saturday morning, we discovered that John had left his food supplies at home. I offered to share mine since a Cliff bar wouldn't be enough for breakfast. We ended up going out for breakfast at a restaurant in McCaysville Georgia. I had a full spread: French toast, bacon, grits, fresh cantelope, coffee, hash browns.

On the way to breakfast, we drove along the river. We could see it was really high, especially at tablesaw rapid. The Ocoee was rocking! Saturdays are scheduled upper and middle releases, so the middle usually has around 1500 cfs. We later discovered that the amount that day was closer to 2200 cfs. This was due to the fact that everything was open and releasing water.

But where WAS everyone? Kayakers aren't morning people, but the river was running all night and it was really high. There should be lots of people to take advantage of the unusually high release! What did they know that we didn't know?!

At the put in, John did see one kayaker take his small play boat, look at the water, then go back for a much bigger boat. At the put in we ran into Robert, another CCC member. He looked at my kayak, a Liquid Logic Lil Joe, and said "I'm glad *I* have a bigger boat". uh oh. The Lil Joe is a river runner, so it SHOULD be ok.

After unloading gear, I drove the car to the take out. I got a ride in the back of a pickup with other paddlers.

This was going to be my first time running the entrance rapid, with the added difficulty of a higher water flow. The water was so high, it was pouring onto the ramp you walk down from the top of the dam to the river. It looked even bigger when you were standing next to it versus scouting it from above. I was thinking of Beaker from the Muppets.

The good news was, there we NO rafts on the ramp to contend with. It made starting much easier since you could get in your boat, put on your spray skirt, and go into the current without dodging rafts. In fact, we saw relatively few rafts all day, which is unusual. We encountered a conga line of rafts only a couple of times all day.

John started first so that he could get high in the eddy and be in position in case I blew the ferry. I looked at the fast flow, swallowed hard, tried to be sure I had a good boat angle, then took off. I knew where I needed to be and I didn't mess around. You have to make a couple of ferries across the fast moving water and get to river left, or you could end up in a monster hole known as Grumpies. The water was very pushy so I didn't try to eddy out before Grumpies. When I headed down, John said to himself "Well, there he goes..."

John gave me kudos for leading most of the way down the river that day. There are only a couple of rapids that you need to scout, and we sneak those. The rest is read and run. You just don't follow the raft lines because they purposely go into the bigger holes.

I had six or seven combat rolls on the first run. John was very happy that I go to roll practice since I came up every time. The water was pushy and there were only the two of us most of the time, so a rescue would have been tricky. A long swim would be likely and you'd could lose gear. The eddies were also smaller and more squirly, so it made for a fast run.

Before we got to the slice and dice rapid, John said we needed to modernize the name and call it "slap chop". John went through first and said later that he flipped and rolled. I came to the last part of the rapid and I'm sure I was airborne a bit before being flipped. I held on for a bit upside down for things to calm down, then rolled back up. The rapid must not want a new name.

I made the required ferry to avoid double suck, but I managed to get flipped in the sneak. I banged against the rocks, so I may have put more scratches on my helmet.

Below double suck it became a raft convention. Rafts were all over the place! They blocked the way we would normally go, so we ended up a little more river center. John went through a hole and said to himself "Oh, that wasn't good". I came into the hole, and it grabbed the back of my boat and wouldn't let me go. I paddled like mad, but it pulled me into the hole and flipped me. John could hear me saying "sh*t, sh*t, sh*t". The hole didn't keep me, so I rolled up and went on my way.

Next was Hell's Half Mile, where you normally dodge rocks and holes. There was a lot more water, so there were no rocks, just holes and even bigger holes. It was a fun, wild wet ride. I punched through quite a few holes and was stern squirted a couple of times.

We came up to tablesaw, and it was huge. It was a big water roller coaster where you went up on the huge waves. John said there was a displacement wave since it moved him several feet to the side.

Hell Hole was quite big, so I only clipped it. Below Hell Hole was a wave train of large waves, guiding you more to the center of the river and into a big hole in the center of the next rapid, powerhouse. I love wave trains, so I rode them too far. I ended up in the big hole, flipped, was chundered awhile, then was let go. I rolled and went on my way.

After doing the long flat water lake paddle at the end, we loaded up gear to do a second run. We stopped at Go Forth creek for lunch since it had shade.

Run Number Two
The water level did go down slightly for our second run. We again were lucky and didn't have to contend with rafts on the ramp at the start. I ran the entrance rapid, but this time I was a little too far out into the current. I made the ferry, but wasn't quite where I wanted to be.

In the second run, I only had two combat rolls. The second combat roll was the important one since it was in a clutch situation. I somehow managed to flip while entering the eddy above tablesaw. I didn't have my nose plugs on, so I got a full nasal flush. I KNEW I HAD to roll, so I blew first attempt because I rushed it. I rolled up on the second attempt and could see I was already in tablesaw, but not on the correct line! John apparently was yelling something like "Run it", but I never heard it. I got to the right where I needed to be and ran it fine. But it was an "oh sh*t" moment when I rolled up and realized where I was.

I decided not to ride the wave train this time above powerhouse, and got to the right. This kept me out of the big hole.

After loading up gear and changing into dry clothes, we headed to dinner in Murphy. We went to Brothers, which serves up everything from steaks to pork chops. Many paddlers shun it because they can't serve alcohol (Cherokee may be a dry county), but that's not a deal breaker for me. I'm more concerned about the food. I had one of the specials: a bacon wrapped fillet, baked potato, and lemon cake for dessert.

We made the trip back to the campground. The switch backs up the mountain are a lot easier in the daylight.

Did You Know That There's a Large Hole in the Center of Powerhouse Rapid?

Paul from Atlanta joined our intrepid group on Sunday. We wanted to get on the road as soon as we could, so we met at 9 am (ungodly early for many paddlers). He came with a play boat even though we told him how big the river was. He ended up having a few rolls and one swim for the day.
I made it through the big waves at double trouble with no problems. But I managed to flip and roll in a hole below the rapid.

John attempted a move called the Wautauga Move. He didn't have enough speed, so he flipped. He blew at least one, maybe two, roll attempts, then rolled up. I asked him if was adding a "swim" element to the move. He gave me a sour look, insulted that I would suggest that he would swim. Note: everyone swims at some point. It's just a matter of time. The better you get, the longer the time between swims. But it DOES happen eventually.

In tablesaw, the waves spun me around so I ran half the rapid backwards. John said I was showing off. I turned around before I hit the rock at the bottom of the rapid.

The eddy normally above diamond splitter wasn't really there, so I ran through diamond splitter. Paddlers weren't allowed to hang out below diamond splitter. The TVA was blasting and inserting bolts to stabilize the mountain near where the flume was damaged by a rock slide. They had nets up to try and stop rocks, but it wasn't a place you wanted to stay. I went though the next rapid and waited for John and Paul.

We had a running joke over the weekend, which was "Hey, did you know that there's a huge hole in the center of power house rapid"? Every time we drove past the rapid on the highway, we would say that. We told Paul about the hole. And of course, he went into that hole, flipped, and rolled. We warned you Paul!

Paul took us back to the put in and we were on our way by 1:00. Should we stop for lunch, or have a snack and go to the popular Chinese buffet in Asheville? Herbs BBQ was on the way, but were they open on Sunday? We came to Herbs, and not only were they open, they were jam packed. We were hungry, so we stopped. Herbs is listed in Our State Magazine as THE place to eat in Cherokee county. When we got the menus, the Sunday special included: THREE main course entrees, three sides, AND dessert. This was WAY too much food. I looked around and could see many of the regulars may have had the special too many times.

Vice Sqd?! Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?!

We drove through rain almost continuously from Asheville to Winston Salem, sometimes in downpours. There were many accidents, so traffic was bumper to bumper most of the way. We still managed somehow to make decent time.

While sitting in the bump and grind, I noticed some really stupid vanity plates. A mini van had "vice sqd"? WTF (or Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. All weekend John was using military call signs for letters in acronyms)? "We're L8", again on a mini van. Well, so are WE!

I had a great time on the Ocoee. Since I was comfortable running it at a high level, the normal releases shouldn't be a big deal.

Click here for additional photos. I didn't take very may photos since I was busy most of the time.

Week of Rivers 2010 - Days 7 - 9

The Nantahala - It's so Cute

At the 8:30 club meeting on Friday, we were introduced to Aidan and Mary, who were from New Zealand (Mary is originally from Florida, so she has an American accent). They were going to be he Jackson Kayak reps for New Zealand. They were in the US for a few weeks and were traveling around the east coast. Before coming to week of rivers, they went to the Jackson factory to pick up a couple of kayaks. They had small play boats since they had to fit inside the rental car.

My plan was to run the Nantahala on Friday. From 6 to 8 pm Friday evening, there would be a big sale at the NOC store and it was only open to Carolina Canoe Club members. All core paddling gear was at least 20% off. I wasn't going to miss it.

Aidan and Mary decided to join the Nantahala trip. I had room for two more kayaks and people, so they would ride with me. The trip was led by Bob, who has a teen age son Bob who would be in the group (the Bobs). There were at least 12 people in the group, which consisted of open boaters and kayakers.

We got to the put in, and I realized that we didn't get river passes for Aidan and Mary. I explained to them that the Nantahala is the only river in the area where you have to pay for a pass. If a ranger stopped them, they needed to act innocent (and Aidan would need to use his Kiwi accent). I just assumed that by July, everyone would already HAVE a Nantahala pass. When we stopped for lunch at Ferebee Park, park rangers came by checking passes. I have never seen rangers check! While the rangers were talking to Bob Sr., I signaled to Aidan and Mary that we needed to leave NOW. We were able to discreetly get in our boats and head out.

When we getting ready to start at the put in, it took awhile to herd the cats. I quickly saw that this trip could end up being a fuster cluck. Bob Jr. had a habit of cutting you off and not paying attention to other people. One of the open boaters T boned me, and yelled "watch out" only a second before hitting me. And when you have a large group, people that want to play boat (like Aidan and Mary), would get very little time to do that.

I talked to Bob Sr., and said we would peel off from the group and to not worry about us. That was a great decision since I could show Aidan and Mary many of the play spots on the river. The Nanty is a read and run class II-III river, but it is still good to know where you can make some fun moves and where the play waves are located. The only rapid we got out to scout was Nantahala Falls, but even that may not have been necessary since Aidan and Mary are very skilled boaters.

I did run the falls without being flipped, but as is usual for me, I didn't get quite close enough to the top hole and ended up in part of the bottom hole. My bow came up a bit, but I could paddle through it.

The rest of the group we were in had passed us, so I assumed that I would have to find my own way to get back to my car at the put in. You can usually get a ride, but it gets more difficult later in the day. When we realized how late it was getting, we started moving quickly down the river. Luckily we caught up with the big group, so I could use their shuttle. Whew.

Six of us needed to load into Ruth's Lexus SUV. Three people were crammed into the back seat and they had to sit on a plastic camp table cloth to keep water off of the leather seats (which is why I always have a lot of clean towels in my car). I had to share the front seat with Bob Sr. AND three canoe paddles, which prompted the following:

• Me: Is that a paddle or are you happy to see me?
• Bob: I am NOT happy to see you.

I only had half a seat to sit on, so I had to put my left arm behind the driver's seat:

• Me: I'm not getting fresh.
• From the back in unison: We are WAY beyond being fresh.

While we were heading up to get the cars at the put in, the skies opened up and it poured. Bob dead pans "I'm glad we didn't bother getting into our DRY clothes". I said "Oh, I see you have a dry sense of humor". This elicited a groan from everyone and I expected to be let out for punning.

I got my car and headed back to NOC. We loaded up gear in the rain, which of course stopped when we had everything loaded. We finally changed into dry clothes.

We were all very hungry, but didn't want to go far since the NOC sale would be starting soon. We went to the River's End restaurant for dinner and had pizza and beer. I introduced Aidan to Fat Tire and Highland's Oatmeal Porter and Gaelic Ale. Highlands is a local brewery in Asheville, and all of their beers are great. Aidan discovered that there actually ARE good beers in America! Aidan and Mary paid for dinner as a thank you for me being a river guide and for shuttling them around.

The sale at the NOC was a huge success. The place was swarming with CCC members and things were flying off of the shelves. I bought a new spray skirt since my current one leaks a bit. You want the skirt to be as tight as possible in order to be water proof and they do stretch over time. I got a small waist size, so I can't gain weight.

Middle Ocoee - Super Sized Hell Hole
On Saturday the upper and middle Ocoee were releasing water, so the middle would have even more water. I convinced Aidan and Mary that they HAD to run the Ocoee to experience some big water. Our friend Rick would be in our group, and he runs the middle Ocoee several times in a single day. Rick was a great guide since he was able to give great advice to Aidan and Mary. We had several flips and rolls in the group, but no one swam.

I was very happy being in my larger river runner kayak, a Liquid Logic Lil Joe. It saved my bacon numerous times since I could punch through a lot of the holes and waves.

The waves in Table Saw were MUCH larger. A wave towards the end essentially flung me into the eddy on the left.

Hell Hole was huge. I was flipped and rolled, but by the time I rolled back up, I was already in the next rapid: power house. The waves there were also huge, so I flipped and rolled again. At least I was to the right and avoided the largest holes.

We parked the take out vehicles along the highway to avoid having to do over a half mile of flat water kayaking in the lake that forms after the power house rapid. We were parked on a narrow shoulder, the river down below (I had visions of the CR-V tumbling into the river). We appreciated missing the flat water, but loading gear along a busy two lane highway was a bit tricky.

When you drive back to the campground from the Ocoee, you drive through the Nantahala gorge and along the Nantahala river. After running the much larger Ocoee, Aidan looked at the Nantahala and proclaimed "The Nantahala is so cute". Aidan and Mary had big smiles on their faces all day, so they were very glad that they had the opportunity to run the Ocoee.

Mandolin Orange
The Carolina Canoe Club arranged for Mandolin Orange to perform Saturday night. Mandolin Orange is a folk duo from Carrboro North Carolina and they are incredible. Mandolin Orange normally performs at music festivals and in concert halls, so it was amazing that they came to our intimate setting under the club's tent (with no microphones, which they loved). They performed at week of rivers the previous year and were thrilled to come back. Just like the previous year, they performed many new songs for the first time. They are in the process of recording a new CD. It was funny to hear how excited they were to now have a mini van to tour around in. Saturday night after the concert would be the first time they were going to try sleeping in it.

The club couldn't afford to pay them very much, so we passed a basket around. I put in $10 and also bought their current CD.


Heading Out
Saturday night I loaded up all of the gear I could so that I could get on the road quickly the next morning. Since we were back to the campground late in the afternoon on Saturday, I was able to get most of the gear dry. That would make for a much more pleasant drive home!

I set my alarm for 5:15 am, which was actually before the butt crack of dawn. I packed up the remaining gear and took down the tent in the dark, shaking off as much of the mountain dew I could. I was quiet, but didn't stress too much about it since some yahoos were making a racket well past 2 am (and "quiet " time is 10:00 pm).

On my way out of the campground, I saw that Ian was also packing up. He waved as I went by.

I made good time, and was greeted at home by Janyne and our two dogs Hannah and Emma. The funny thing is, Hannah, a 15 year old lab, knew I was home long before our 8 year old Golden Emma did.

It was a wonderful week of paddling and getting together with paddling friends. I met/exceeded all of my goals which included:

• Become comfortable with the middle Ocoee. Since I ran it three times, I now know the important sneaks and the lines through most of the rapids.
  
• Run Nantahala Falls and not get flipped in the bottom hole. I never get close enough to the top hole, which had given me a beat down in the past. So I end up in the bottom hole and flip.