Jess' Trip Log 2004
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| # | Date | River/Location | Who | Notes |
| 1 | Wed, Jan 1 | Noli - Chestoa to JL | Matt Money | GF, Warmish weather for this time of year, no flips for me, Matt had one while running rapid below RT, so shallow it rolled him completely around and upright, I played at surf waves at top, one short surf at RT wave. Worked on Matt’s technical skills a little at Big Eddy, especially at rapid before Hi/Lo – eddy hopping. |
| 2 | Tue, Jan 6 | Pigeon | Bb, Matt Money | GF, High water, see Trip Report |
| 3 | Sun, Jan 11 | Noli - Chestoa to JL | Emily, Matt Money | Roughly 1000, GF, had a blast, ice below RT, Emily’s hands cold, Matt swam at RT, I played at Big Eddy and above, tried at RT, caught 10 eddies before Hi/Lo |
| 4, 5, 6 |
Sun, Jan 18 | Powell, VA | Beau (Huck), Beth (Mutant) | Mutant, 2 and a half short runs (second drop to Slam Dunk then above Table Rock to Slam Dunk) 40-some degrees. Beau – 2 good boofs, Beth – 1 or 2, Me – 0. |
| 7 | Sun, Feb 8 | Whitetop Laurel, VA | Beau (Huck), Beth (Mutant), Mike Morrow (Salto), Kevin (From Pool - Blunt), Jed (Gus), John Heffernan (long boat) | Mutant, ~2000cfs?, Long trip - 12 miles, temp in 30s, 1230? to 1700. Ran Slot for first time, not the correct line, took the "hero" route just to make it interesting for those watching. Ran rapid that Beau walked - Big Rock Falls! Everyone cold at takeout. |
| 8,9 | Sun, Feb 15 | Powell, VA | Beau (Huck), Beth (Mutant), John (Huka) | Mutant, Not too cold, about 2.65ft. One Full Lap, then one from Tablerock down. Decent boofs. No carnage. Beau pioneered right side slot line at Slam Dunk. Amazing snowstorm on way back – road went from black to white in 30 seconds. Snowed in at B&B’s overnight. Total 5 inches. |
| - | Sun, Feb 15 | Snow Covered Cow Field | Beau (RPM), Beth (AQII) | RPM, snowyaking, trying to avoid cowpond. I started sliding sideways down into the water, tried to flip and bail, foot stuck in boat. Had to get Beau to help get my foot out. Beau had similar line, jumped out before pond, boat floated into middle, had to use AQII to paddle out and rescue it. Large snowball fight before calling it a night. |
| 10 | Sun, Feb 22 | Wilson Creek, NC | Beau (Huck), John (Huka),
Kevin (Sniper) (Tech – Matt M, Beth, Robert, R’s Sis) |
Mutant, Awesome Creek, Amazing weather! Roughly -4 to -6 inches. Ran 10-ft backwards on purpose. Good lines on most everything else. Half flip at Razorback. Seal launch slides down rock at takeout!!! Pictures here. |
| 11 | Sat, Feb 28 | Little River, Maryville Below Sinks to Above Elbow |
Bb (Gradient) | Mutant, between 250 and 400cfs, Great weather. Felt good, decent lines. Had trouble ID'ing Elbow, finally turned to yell at Bb, then broached. Took a long time to get the boat free. Lost shim from hip pad. |
| - | Sun, Mar 7 | Little Stony Creek, VA | John (Huka), Alex (Micro), Beau (Huck) | Tech - Beth, Henry, Robert, Me. Hiked in, met up with John and Alex, took photos of them on the way down to the bridge, where Beau joined them. Then the tech crew continued to capture the trip on film. Photos here. |
| 12 | Sat, Mar 27 | French Broad, Sec 9 Barnard to Hot Springs |
Andy (Space Cadet), Katie (Big EZ), John (Gus), Bub (WhipIt), Andrew (RPM) | GF, around 1800 cfs, fun run, had forgotten the FB was that fun. Played every wave and hole I could reach through at least first half. Got two good (for me) surfs at Sandy Bottoms, one really long (for me) surf at little wave below that, one awesome pop-up/ender in nothing wave somewhere. Ran Needle Falls/Kayaker's Ledge 4 times. Flipped and rolled twice while playing at Sandy Bottoms, once at Kayaker's Ledge, once running bottom hole at Frank Bells. No one made it thru the bottom hole upright. But, no one swam there. It was so warm that we rolled like crazy in every flat section. Fun river, missed my normal crew. |
| 13 | Wed, Mar 31 | Lower Noli - Chestoa - JL |
Kelly Milligan (My Mutant) | GF, around 1600cfs, cold, rainy. Tried playing at Big Eddy, not very nice at this level, flipped and rolled once - brain freeze. We worked a little on peelouts. Both made it thru RT ok. Tried surfing wave, not a great level for it. Kelly flipped trying to peelout below there. Self rescued herself and boat. I grabbed paddle below. Tried for popups near ledge below RT, only a few ok ones. Flipped once, it was cold there too. Got decent squirt at rapid before Hi/Lo. Boofed into hole off of Hi Rd. Glad we did a short trip, was getting fairly cold. |
| 14 | Sat, Apr 3 | Lower Ocoee - Below Double Suck to private takeout AW Description | Andy Travis (Space Cadet), Katie Prince (Big EZ) | GF, first kayak trip on Ocoee for me and Katie, I flipped at Double Trouble - caught crease on right of first wave, had to wait through wave train before rolling; at some small ledge, and one or two other places. Also flipped a lot playing, but that's to be expected. Katie did great. Nervous, but upright the whole way. There are some massive waves on this river. |
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Had choice of 4 diff trips this weekend! How often does that happen? |
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| 15 | Sat, Apr 3 | Ocoee - Putin to below Powerhouse | Andy Travis (Space Cadet) | GF, I ran everything cleanly except Tablesaw. Several squirts, surfs, my first 360, etc. A very good day. Had vertical pirouette into surf at Double Trouble. Unintentionally cool. Awesome day! |
| 16 | Sun, Apr 4 |
Ocoee - Putin to just below commercial takeout |
Andy Travis, Katie (for second "half") | GF, ran the whole river without flipping while running a rapid. Only while playing. We played down first "half". Pretty sure there were pros at "second helping" where I managed not to look stupid through first surf, carved several times. Attempted a loop the second time and just smacked my face with my paddle. Short surf the third try. Played a few other spots. Barely boofed hole at Broken Nose. (It was a good boof, and good thing cuz I was off line). Very glad I'm a creek boater! Met up with Katie after Double Suck. She flipped and ROLLED at Double Trouble. I got knocked sideways by first wave and side surfed the third for a few seconds. Unintentionally surfed really mean looking hole in Cat's Pajamas. Luckily, it wasn't as mean as it looked. We all ran meat of Hell Hole. A fun line - up huge wave down, down into deep hole and up again. Nice. Katie took a hero route through Powerhouse. Clipped the edges of two holes, stayed upright all the way down. Wind was fierce, held my paddle up and it blew me upstream with speed into Katie, while sitting in an eddy. A great day in all. Stopped at Rock/Creek then headed home. |
| 17 | Sat, Apr 10 |
French Broad - Barnard to Stackhouse |
Bb (GF), Katie (Big EZ), Kevin (Zip?), John Heffernan (WS Y), 2 others (Lil Joe's) | GF, around 1600. 1 combat roll. Some ok stern squirts. Some surfs. Some rolls while playing. Back in time for church. |
| 18 | Wed, Apr 14 | Big Stony | Beau (Huck), John King (Huka) | Mutant, Clinch @Shreveport - 14,400, 1st run good. My first time in Mutant in awhile. Not a great river to readjust. Also, first time paddling in glasses. Beau had to leave (he's not a bum like us). 2nd attempt at a run not so good. Within first little section, John got stuck on a boulder and I couldn't avoid him, I thought I leaned into the boulder, but it flipped me anyway. Underwater, I tried to set up, but my paddle was ripped out of my hands. So, I reached up and handrolled. Then, a perpendicular seam of current grabbed me and I was upside down again. This time I was in shallow water and felt the rock scrape down the back of my PFD and helmet. I tried to brace up, but think I finally got deep enough to hand roll. Then scrambled, bare handed into an eddy. John paddled on down, then hiked back up when he realized he didn't have keys to my truck. Then, he found my paddle stuck under the rock that caused me to flip in the first place. Yay! |
| 19 | Sat, Apr 17 | Big Cedar Creek, VA into Clinch River |
Beau (Huck), Beth (Mutant), John (Huka) | Mutant, Clinch @ Cleveland - roughly 2000. Temp almost 80! I wore swimsuit, shorts, thinnest rash guard I have, and a drytop. It was great! I even went swimming (on purpose to access the middle of the falls...and because I wanted to swim. Also to throw Beth in the water at the takeout). Lots of flat shallow water. A few small ledges. And a 16-ft waterfall that makes it all worth it! We ran the right line first, then scouted the left (middle) line. John pointed out the diff. features. Beau kept commenting on how ugly it was. I was thinking, "I'll run it." So I did. It wasn't the prettiest line ever. The second hole threw me up and sideways, so I went over the steepest part of the drop sideways...which actually helped me avoid hitting the bottom as Beau did. Then, we all ran the right line some more. I got another 3 runs in, for a total of 5 trips down the falls. Once the Big Cedar dumped into the Clinch, the volume picked up and we found a few spots to surf. In one hole, I got a 360 in my creek boat! Beau and I played there for a long time. Down below, there was a great wave in the center of the river. I never managed to get back out to it from the eddy. Beau surfed a few times. I just wore myself out some more trying. Then, Beau endered his Huck twice in the wave train next to the eddy. The second time, he managed to get completely vertical! We saw lots of wildlife on the bottom part - beaver, turtles, hawks. It was a good day. My shoulders are sore, but it was good. |
| 20 | Wed, Apr 21 | Little R below WW | Mike Snow and a teacher in a canoe, 6 kids in minnows, 2 kids in a canoe | GF, this was basically a stretch of flatwater with a few places that had some current. Also, a low head dam that required portaging. Good for kids in a boat for the first time. Had 2 swimmers right before the takeout. A large boulder with some water pouring over was the culprit. This was my first trip of the season without a drytop. |
| 21 | Sun, Apr 25 | Lower Noli - Chestoa to Sawmill/County Line | Beau (Pop), Beth (GF) | GF, fun trip, trashed in Big Eddy hole, Industrial Strength, and hole below ISW. Used "pass paddle over boat" roll to get out of hole below ISW. Beau eddied beside the hole and pointed to it, so that's where I went. It grabbed me, flipped me over. I was set up on the upstream side with my paddle caught between a rock and the hole and me. Couldn't get it under the boat, so I managed to pass it over the top and set up on the other side. Harder in a hole than in the pool. Beau and I ended up swimming a little below Hi/Lo because we flipped and swamped each other, Beth was about as far away as she could get from us. |
| 22 | Wed, Apr 28 | Little R below WW | Mike Snow, total of 2 canoes, 8 minnows | Canoed for the first time ever in moving water. Didn't tell anyone it was my first time, but fooled them all. It was fun, same concepts, different strokes. |
| 23 | Thurs, Apr 29 | Little R below WW | Dula, 3 canoes, 7 minnows | GF, forgot sunscreen. Dula had trailer-backing issues. I didn't try. Teacher did it for us. 2 flipped, one in flat at top, one in flat at bottom. |
| 24 | Thurs, Apr 29 | Little R below WW | Dula, 3 canoes, ~7 minnows | Canoed, I successfully backed trailer out of dead end put-in road. Did wear sunscreen, altho I apparently missed the back of my left shoulder. 4-5 accidental flips, mostly in flatwater. 3 by same kid. |
| 25 | Wed, May 5 | Little R below WW | Michael Stohler (Transition) | Canoed, early thunderstorm, 12 kids swim, late for lunch |
| 26 | Wed, May 5 | Little R below WW | Michael Stohler (Transition) | Mutant, 1 swim, lots of extra time, played in water at end. Back for supper. |
| 27 | Thurs, May 6 | Noli - Emb - BR | Matt Money (Whiplash), Andy Trent, (Ripper SOT), Jason Phipps (SOT), Matt's Mom (Torrent), her friend Beth (Torrent) | GF, I managed to get three injuries in a simple, short trip. SW Entry onto a rock - seriously bruised left hip. Tripped walking back to my boat after assisting with a surf - semi-scraped left knee, just annoying. Afterwards, ripped my right knee on the trailer hitch. Very nice avulsion. Will have a scar. Back to camp, cleaned my knee, went back to the river. |
| 28 | Thurs, May 6 | Noli - Big Rock | Me (David White and friends were around.) | GF, was supposed to meet Katie and friends, was there from 1730 to 1830, but somehow missed them. Tried a few squirts, waited awhile, left. |
| - | Sun, May 9 | Big Rock - SWR | Mike Morrow, Jim McCool, John Heffernan, Jed Mallard, Brandon, Emily, Matt, Kelly, Tanner, Chuck, Josh, Dusty, Matt Nolan, Adam | Great class, everyone should take swiftwater rescue. |
| 29 | Thur, May 20 | Noli - Emb to BR | Bb (GF), Matt Money (Whiplash), Mike Mould (Sitontop), half the camp staff that were there (tubes) | Mutant, around 850ish, ok trip. Slow start from trying to get back in the groove. Forgot a paddle for Mike so I used Bb's webbed gloves to lead. Managed to get a few 360s (or close) in Tongue-n-Cheek. Finished a little early to play at Chip's. |
| 30 | Fri, May 21 | Noli - Emb to BR | Bb (GF), Matt Money (Whiplash), Mike Mould (Sitontop), the other half the camp staff that were there (tubes) | Mutant, 750ish, good trip. Things went smoother. We prepped earlier. Played in flat sections. Had several swimmers at Big Rock :-) Phillip was on the rocks taking pictures. Finished quite a bit early, played at Chip's and still back at camp around 1630. |
| 31 | Sun, May 23 | Noli - Big Rock | Bb (GF), Karoline (XL15) | GF, supposed to meet Katie and friends, somehow missed...again. 's ok, tho, I took people with me! I surfed through main hole once or twice successfully. Occasionally leaned upstream - not a good thing to do in Big Rock. Rolled up at the bottom. Karoline did awesome for her first time in a canoe in WW. She did a few small-ish ferries/peelouts. Then ferried across the flow below Big Rock and later peeled out! She borrowed the camp's XL15 because her XL13 has not yet been repaired. |
| 32 | Mon, June 7 | Noli - Chip's to STurn | waterfun tube | Mutant, first real camp trip of the year, interesting because mine and Brandon's trips (on diff sections) shared a shuttle. My trip got started late because I first showed Phillip where the takeout was. But, I kept the kids moving and we got down early. Played in the water. |
| 33 | Tue, June 8 | Noli - Emb to BR | Emily S (RPM), Bb, waterfun tube | Mutant, combined two tube trips on this section, Eagle's Nest and WaterFun. I got my no-hands roll back! |
| 34 | Wed, June 9 | Noli - Chip's to S-Turn | waterfun minnow | Mutant, hard to lead a minnow trip by myself, but worked out ok. Kids did well, a few swims in flats, Ryan (staff) swam through second big rapid. We played at caves for a while. Ryan paddled swamped boat through last rapid and to shore. |
| 35 | Thu, June 10 | Noli - Emb to BR | Matt M (Whiplash), waterfun minnow | Mutant, hard trip for me. I was tired. Little things made me frustrated. Got stung by a sweat bee during my safety speech, etc. Tried paddling a swamped minnow (felt like a freight train) upriver. Towed a kid from rock to beach at Chip's. Spent most of the flat section upside down trying to de-stress. Went with Matt to gas station afterward for caffeine. Had to sub into a group of older elementary girls later that night. |
| 36 | Sat, June 12 | Noli - Chestoa to JL | Bb (GF), Matt M
(Airhead) tech-KSue, Carrie, Isaac, Hannah |
GF, 800ish?, 1630-1805 at Big Eddy, takeout around 2000. 150+ pictures, also some video clips. Too much fun. Pictures here. |
| 37 | Mon, June 14 | Noli- Chip's to STurn | waterfun tube, | 1300ish, rough trip, too spread out, I was only boater. Bb also had a worse trip on Emb - BR. Zach, Laura |
| 38 | Tue, June 15 | Noli - Emb to BR | waterfun tube, Bb, Emily | 1060ish, combined trip, several swimmers at BR |
| 39 | Wed, June 16 | Noli - Emb to BR | waterfun minnow, OP tube, Matt M, Bb | 1960, chocolate milk colored river, big!, encounter w/ bee's nest below Tongue n' Cheek. Kris, Zach, Laura |
| 40 | Thu, June 17 | Noli - Chip's to STurn | waterfun minnow, Emily (two person boat) | 1330, played at caves for a long time, really enjoyed that. |
| 41 | Sat, June 19 | Noli - Emb to BR | Sarah R (RPM), Dusty (RPM), Joel (RPM), Zach (RPM), Brooke (RPM), Bb (GF), Mike (Whiplash), Tyler (my PZ), Matt M (Airhead), Karoline (XL 15) | Staff boating intro. 9:30-18:30 with lunch break. Worked at Chip's for long time, then ran Emb to BR. Dog followed us through Emb, wanted to sit on the boats. Everyone did great. Zach and Dusty got rescues while trying to ferry below Embreeville. Brooke swam at TnC. Sarah R dropped into BR sideways, turned around, BR almost sucked her back in, fought through. Karoline flipped at BR in canoe. Worked with Brooke some on rolling, needs some visuals - watch video. Good day. |
| 42 | Tue, June 22 | Noli - Emb - BR | Emily, Kayak Camp, Zach, Sarah R | 2.04, Loretta lost paddle at Embreeville, tossed her mine, dug out handpaddles for rest of trip, Kayla swam at Tongue and Cheek, drug her to the island, chased and emptied boat, then let Emily tow it up. I paddled to river right to get paddle, used it to ferry over to Kayla. Several swimmers at Big Rock. |
| 43 | Tue, June 22 | Noli - Emb - BR | Phillip (Probe 14) | Immediately after dropping kids at camp, Phillip and I went back out to search for lost paddle. Had Emily describe location to me. Walked back up first section of rapid, looking carefully. Got back in w/o skirt, eddied behind rock, noticed water piling behind rock. Took three tries to get out of boat and onto slick rock. Reached back, first thing I felt was paddle shaft. Yelled at Phillip, excited. Put paddle in his canoe, went on down to Chip's, picked up his truck, drove to Erwin McDonald's for supper. Drove through police checkpoint in camp van, watched girl slide across floor in McD's, random ice dumping. Just fun. |
| 44 | Wed, June 23 | Noli - Chestoa to Sawmill/County Line | Lawrence (TopoDuo w/ Angel then Stasha), Zach, Sarah R. | 1300ish, Mutant, Matt, Stasha, Samantha, others? swam at RT, Alli didn't come out, I got to her and flipped her upright - she was a bit scared. Matt tried and almost got into Hi Rd, hit rock in between, leaned hard into it. Zach got in and loved it. Samantha lost paddle at Devil's Looking Glass, handpaddled through most of rapid. I tossed her my paddle, then waited until hers floated down. We paddled hard through Ledges and ISW. Tired/hungry kids and weather getting worse. Lunch at 1430 while Lawrence and I ran shuttle. Decided to go back to camp. |
| 45 | Thu, June 24 | Noli - Big Rock | Matt M (Airhead), Zach, Sarah | 1300ish, TopoDuo with Angel, worked on ferries and peelouts, got video, played one game of polo, eat lunch. Interesting trying to figure out the TopoDuo. |
| 46 | Thu, June 24 | Noli - Chestoa to JL | Matt M (Airhead), Zach, Sarah R | 1300ish, Mutant, Sunny! First time all week it hasn't rained, met some cool people at Chestoa who took pics and emailed them to me by Fri morning. I got trashed at Big Eddy, surfed forever (wouldn't let me out), kids peeled out. Stasha and Sarah R flipped at RT. Stasha scared, took awhile to get her to talk to me. Zach aced his first ever attempt at a roll. Most kids did Hi Rd, no one flipped there. |
| 47 | Fri, June 25 | Ramsey Creek - Fire circle to Parking Lot | Bb (Gradient), (Phillip - photo) | Mutant, big rains brought the camp creek up to runnable levels. Not as high as I've seen, but absolutely runnable. Bb and I started planning at Morning Watch. Phillip and I scouted a few sections during breakfast. Keeping the whole thing quiet, we ran it right after breakfast. Put in was a 7ish foot slide down into creek, followed by a scramble into an eddy. The rest was not steep, but fast and some technical. The worst part was the rhododendron tree below the shack. Felt myself slowing down, hoping I would make it out of the tree. Took out at the parking lot. Too short, but adrenaline pounding anyway. Wow. |
| 48 | Fri, June 25 | Noli - Chestoa to JL | Beau (Pop), Beth (GF), John (S7), Brooke (RPM), Bill (Booster55), Phillip (Probe 14) | 2500 and rising, GF, met at Chestoa at 7, trashed while running hole at Big Eddy, tried squirt, cheated RT with Brooke, Bill, John. Phillip ran RT fine. had one awesome surf on wave, some ok ones, one AWESOME pop up below, one great squirt, before bridge, ran Hi Rd with Brooke, Bill, Phillip. No flips for the beginners, great trip!!! Almost worn out. Interesting shuttle. |
| 49 | Sun, June 27 | Noli - Big Rock | Lawrence, Matt, Zach, Joey, Justin, Clay, Bill, Sam, Jay, Don Nation - Kayak II | 2200ish, great kids, worked on ferries, peel outs, eddy turns, tied surfing in Oatmeal, Bb took video. |
| 50 | Wed, June 30 | French Broad - playspot by campsite | some kayak II kids, Matt, Mike | Mutant, before breakfast, unable to play much in the creeker, had fun boof off ledge. |
| 51 | Wed, June 30 | French Broad - Barnard to Hot Springs | Kayak II kids, Matt M, Mike, Lawrence, Will, Don, Zach | Mutant, 1130 to 1800. Lunch at 1500. Long trip, but lots of fun. Some carnage-full rapids. flat section wiped me out. Clay and I cheated Frank Bells on far left. Bill swam two holes, Jay stayed under for a long time, popped up 30 yards below big hole. Several others out. |
| 52 | Thu, July 1 | Pigeon | Kayak II kids, Don, Will, Matt M, Zach | 2 generators, Zach swam bottom of first - 3 total combat rolls for trip, tho. No one swam Lost Guide. A few in Accelerator and Double Reactionary. Joey had several great surfs at Rollercoaster. Had an interesting time hiking Bill's paddle back to him once. I think everyone had a great time. |
| 53 | Fri, July 9 | Noli - JL to Sawmill/County Line | Brooke (Mutant), Kristin (Whiplash) | GF, 800ish, Brooke out at Devil's Looking Glass, I swam down after bringing her boat to her at the top. Paddled through Ledges, everyone missing ISW. Walked up California Creek, jumped in for an hour or so. I jumped from high one...twice! Both Kristin and Brooke flipped on ferry across - tired, I think. Ate at Sonic later. |
| 54 | Tue, July 13 | Noli - Emb to BR | Bb, Camp tube w/ Treehouse | Mutant, 1000ish, easy trip...luckily. I was exhausted. The kids paddled hard, the whole time, actually had to tell them to slow down once. Most were able to stand on their tubes at least briefly. I just floated. |
| 55 | Thu, July 15 | Noli - Emb to BR | Bb, Camp tube w/ GHP | Mutant, 600ish, easy but slow trip until Big Rock. I was sweep boater. Tube stuck in hole, I tried to ring/spear it. Did. Flipped. Felt myself still in hole, rolled anyway, flipped again, rolled. Sidesurfed awhile, windowshaded several times, sidesurfed again, finally back-endered out of hole, flipped, rolled, finally breathed. Bb laughed. Playboaters sitting nearby laughed. Andy Frost says he rolled a tube, I believe it. That hole rolled me around several times. Wow. I was beat down, trashed in that hole. |
| - | July 18-23? | Any tubing trips here? | ||
| 56 | Mon, July 26 | Noli - Emb to BR | Bb, Camp tube w/ 14 Deersiders | Mutant, 1100ish, Counselors Jarrod and Jessica F. |
| 57 | Wed, July 28 | Noli - Emb to BR | Bb, Camp tube w/ GHP | Mutant, 2.36, 2000ish, Counselors Ryan, Sarah H, Danielle. Rough trip, whiny kids who wouldn't follow directions. Danielle screams when splashed or flipped. :-) |
| 58 | Mon, Aug 2 | Noli - Emb to BR | Matt (Airhead), Beth (GF), Schuyler, Tube w/ Mo' Water | GF?, 900ish, Schuyler with camper Jason in canoe, they have banded water snake drop into canoe with them. Sky trapped it with paddle, Beth threw it out. Their canoe flipped at BR, Jason freaked on me. Was ok in end. |
| 59 | Wed, Sep 1 | Noli - Chestoa to JL | Matt (Airhead), Brooke (Mutant) | GF, 550ish?, Brooke was accidentally flipped at pop up spot as we played, I rolled up to find her upside down. She hung in for a rescue, but had knee out of brace. We floated to a spot where Matt could get behind and do H-O-G rescue. Matt and I squirted at Big Eddy, Brooke practiced rolls. RT uneventful. More rolls for Brooke below. A few squirts at rapid before bridge, Matt ran Hi/Lo with my handpaddles, I double-paddled. Brooke aced it. A few more rolls at takeout to end with Brooke's total 11 for day, 21 since night before. |
| 60 | Sat, Sep 11 | Noli - Chestoa to Big Rock | Bb (GF) | GF, 4000-3600cfs, felt bigger. Karoline ran shuttle, brought lunch. Handpaddled. Ran whole 12 miles in 2 hours plus lunch time. That's a 6mph trip. Love this level. Highlights were RT - huge waves in long wave train (6ft haystack, 4 more 4-5footers), big wave at Hi/Lo Rd (One Rd), Bb's stern STALL in hole in Ledges, Blevins waves (1 roll for me thru train - biggest wave crested as I was going up), AWESOME surf for me just below Blevin's (carved at least 6 times, fast enough to bounce, O yeah), good size waves through normal line at Big Rock. Evidence of previous week's flood - Frances - was amazing. Waterline seemed to be 10 ft over current level, huge trash piles, sandbar at Chip's was gone, seemingly replaced with a great sloping beach. Wonder how Ivan has changed things? |
| 61 | Sat, Oct 9 | Nantahala - Patton's Run to NOC | Bb (GF), Will (Ego), Tech - Kristin | GF, standard release level. First drytop run of the season. Realized that the Nanty doesn't have the fun factor for me that it used to. Surfer's Wave was fun. We actually had it to ourselves occasionally, rare on a Saturday. Lesser Wesser (the falls) was harder than I remember it, or at least the line I always attempt was harder. I came so close to having my line, instead, I hit the edge of the bottom hole sideways and flipped - rolled. My first roll while running a rapid that day, rolled several times while playing - mostly squirting, I don't flip as much surfing. |
| 62 | Sun, Oct 31 | Noli - Chestoa to JL | Beau (Pop), Beth (GF) | GF, 1200ish. My first lower Noli run since Ivan came through. Many things had changed. Had a good squirt at rapid above Chestoa. A few small surf holes in ledges before the bridge, almost let me spin on them. The hole at Big Eddy had changed, deeper, fun but still intimidating, not because of size, but the steepness of the green water. The RR squirt line there isn't as good, current seems faster, Beau says it's much shallower now. RT was 'trashed'. The entry was scrapy even at today's level, it might be unrunnable much lower. I wasn't at all thrilled with the many changes there. Seems like the river just dumped a bunch of rock in it. Next rapid, no big changes, seems a little longer, bottom more bouncy. Rapid before Hi/Lo, also trashed in my opinion - left line no longer an option, far right available but not great, squirt line gone, maybe one new squirt option. Hi/Lo - not *too* many changes here. The tree that slammed the bridge is impressive. The rapid itself is similar, maybe a few more waves down the right line. Hi Rd's drop line is the same, although make sure you boof hard if you go for the boof move. If running the main line, there's a "ditch" 1' wide by 1.5' deep between you and the rock wall. It's odd, and not too appealing. Lots of scenery changes. Takeout still ok. |
| 63 | Sat, Dec 4 | Big Pigeon - Waterville to Hartford | Bruce (IT, Redline), Randy (S6), Jo (Stubby), Don (4Fun) | GF, higher water, 6.39ft when we passed the gauge. Temp: low 50s? ACA Instructor update course, discussion session night before at P Patch. Ate at Wally's. Each taught small section before putting on around 1230. Off around 1430. A little pushier, but not bad. River had changed a good bit in floods. Lost Guide line still the same, I actually got the line I've always wanted! I didn't play much, not very aggressive. No flips. Not even a practice roll. La Caretta afterward. |
| 64 | Fri, Dec 31 | Atlantic Ocean (Kill Devil Hills, NC) | Phillip (rented SOT) Support Crew: Tiffany, Brooke |
GF, Ocean Bay Beach Access, Short session, my first ocean surfing. Some surfs, no flips for me, not enough clothing for either of us even though the air temp was fairly warm (low 60s). Water temp was cold. Got some Dr. Enuf ad-type pictures. Phillip got dumped once; very cold and he was done for the day. |
| 64 Trips | 18 Diff. Locations | 50? Diff. Companions | Life is Good! | |