Cheoah 2010
| River: | Cheoah |
| Skill: | Intermediate+/Advanced |
| Trip Date: | 01/01/2010 |
Six paddlers met at O'Henry's put-in around 11 AM Saturday to take on the Cheoah. We had a good group – Chris Grindstaff, Eric Stuart, Matt Beauchamp, Jenis Grindstaff, Tim Tuttle, and myself. I had paddled with everyone except Tim before, and was really looking forward to a great day on a challenging river. This was to be Jenis's first time and my second down the Cheoah. The weather was great – sunny skies and warm temperatures.
After putting on and practicing a few strokes and rolls (water was COLD), we set off down the river. For those who haven't done this run yet, it starts off a lot like the Upper Ocoee. The riverbed has some random shrubs growing along the banks and even in the channel. Mixed in amongst the junk are some Class II-III rapids. The Cheoah is nice in that it gives you some time to warm up with some Class III rapids before you hit the harder stuff below.
I was feeling nervous and not completely settled as pipe appeared ahead. The pipe is a diversion pipe that runs from the dam up river to another reservoir miles away. This is where the water that should be in the river normally goes, but not today. The pipe crosses the river just before the first Class IV rapid, warning of what is coming. Just before the pipe, the action picked up with some big waves and many holes to dodge. We passed under the pipe and then passed under the swinging bridge.
After the swinging bridge we caught an eddy and got ready for God's Dam. God's Dam is a solid Class IV ledge that drops several feet into a substantial hole. There are pin rocks on the far right and left. I was advised to follow Chris over the curler and finish with a strong left stroke at the lip. A few seconds later I was past the rapid and into the eddy below. I breathed a sigh of relief that I had escaped the hole yet again.
Our entire group did well, and we powered on. At this point the river kind of goes through 3 miles that remind me of Roach Motel on the Upper Ocoee. Lots of big waves and plenty of munchy offset holes ready to invite you back for an extended stay. In this section, some of the tougher stuff has it's own names. The first long, hard stretch of the 3-mile Roach Motel is called Takeout. Most of the group went right here but I stayed a bit left of center. Sliding down, I hit a barely submerged rock that stopped me flat, spun me sideways, and then abruptly flipped me. I was thinking, "roll up, roll up, roll up". Thankfully, I rolled up a couple of seconds later, paddling like a madman to escape the hole I found myself in. As soon as I finished the rapid, I caught a micro-eddy amongst the shrubs and caught my breath.
We continued on through the Class III-IV boogie water, which gave me another roll somewhere along the way. I finally settled down and started to feel on my game as Yellow Creek came in on the right. More Class III-IV wave riding and hole dodging followed and we soon found ourselves at the Forest Service Bridge. We hooped out to take a quick break and read the USGS stick gauge. I crammed down a few calories to prevent a complete diabetic coma from setting in, and thought the rapids that awaited us just below.
Up to this point, the river is like the Upper Ocoee +. I would say if you do well on the Middle and Upper Ocoee, the Cheoah up to the forest service bridge is a great run to try with a strong group of friends. It is 7 miles from the first put-in to this point and almost 5 miles from where our group put-in at Joanne's grocery. After this point, though, the river starts to drop more quickly in a 2 mile rush rush toward the Little Tennessee river buried in the lake below.
We put back in and enjoyed a few more great rapids, culminating in a great rail slide rapid just above our next stopping point. Just after the rail slide we ferried hard toward river right to catch one of the micro eddies above Entrance rapid. We all got out and pulled our boats up to the side of the road. I grabbed my rope and headed down to scout the next section of river.
Entrance is a solid Class IV+ rapid. That wouldn't be too big of a deal except it is immediately above Bear Creek Falls, another Class IV+ rapid, which is immediately above more Class IV-IV+ rapids. The first time I ran this last year, we saw two people with bloody faces, and one person body boofing the falls just ahead of their boat while scouting this rapid. Thankfully, we saw no carnage this time. Just intimidating rapids. We talked about all the different options for the lead-in, and the three routes at the falls. We didn't talk about what to do after that, we would figure that out in the eddies below when we got to that point.
My heart was racing as I got back in to my boat. I could see most of the group just ahead of me navigating through Entrance. They all disappeared as I entered the rapid and focused only on where I was, where I wanted to go, and how to get there. As I slid through the first rapid a hole grabbed me in an attempt to power flip me. "NO!" I thought as I braced HARD right to stay up. Emerging from that rapid I paddled hard right to hit the tongue of the next rapid. I hit the tongue a little off-center and had to throw another hard brace to stay in an oxygen-rich environment. As I exited the end of Entrance, I paddled hard to river left to catch the eddy above the falls. I caught the eddy and got a rest while those ahead of me peeled out one-by-one to run their chosen lines. Before I knew it my turn had come and I was peeling out to run the single drop on the left. Stroke-stroke-stroke up to the lip and then one last stroke on the left and I was trying to boof. I landed mostly upright, "success," I thought for a half second before I was again paddling with great focus to find an eddy to wait on the rest of our group.
We had two more group members to come, and we waited quite a while. I wondered if someone was in trouble above out of my sight, but hoped for the best. I then remembered I had a camera in my pfd. I had so far taken a grand total of ZERO pictures. I can often rate rivers by the number of pictures I take from my boat, the fewer the harder it was. By that scale, the Cheoah is pretty darn difficult. Anyhow, I got my camera out just in time to snap shots of Eric's descent of the single drop. After Eric eddied out, we found out one guy had decided to call it a day instead of negotiating the last stretch. Can't say I blame him – I was close to the same decision myself.
Soon Chris was peeling out river left of the island below the falls. I followed him thinking, "never been this way before, hope it's fun." I followed and soon saw Chris and another member of our group in a small eddy river left. I quickly decided it would be hard to fit another boat in that eddy and turned my attention downstream to a horizon line. I ran the next drop only to see another horizon line a few yards below. I somehow got sideways on the next drop and got power flipped HARD into a rock. I rolled up thinking "OW!" and booked it to the next available eddy. From a micro eddy on river left just above an ugly looking drop I looked up at a picturesque creek falling off a mountain into the river, and waited for my group to catch up, gladly willing to give up the lead to someone who had run this line before. I watched as another member of our group had an "adventure" in the second drop. A few seconds later he was waiting across from me in a micro eddy on river right of the channel. Soon Chris passed by, gracefully boofing the ugly drop just ahead. I wish I could say I did the same, but a few seconds later I was exiting the rapid, executing roll #4.
We then rejoined the main channel, where I discovered that Eric had made the sensible choice and ran river right instead of the "West Prong Line" we had run on river left. Given the choice again, I'm not sure which I'd choose, but if I did the "West Prong Line", I'd make sure to catch that first eddy!
More Class III-IV boogie water awaited below as we made our way to Tapoco lodge. We were soon crashing through the massive play waves by the lodge, and catching the eddy before the last major rapid on the run. From above the bridge we could see a group before us roping a boat out of the last major rapid, Yard Sale. I was feeling pretty pooped at this point and briefly considered climbing the steep slope to the road and calling it a day. I decided that I had enough energy for just one more, and proceeded onward.
From the last eddy above Yard Sale I watched our group driving right and then dropping off of the ledge. Eric asked me if I remembered the rapid and I replied "Stay right". He reaffirmed this message and added that a good left stroke at the last moment would help straighten the boat out. I was soon driving right, and in my enthusiasm I went so far right I dried out on the rock and dropped in with ZERO speed into the giant hole waiting below. I planted a massive brace to flatten myself back out and drove hard out of the hole. It was at this point that I face something I had forgotten, the MASSIVE second hole that immediately follows the first one. I paddled hard right, just clipping the edge of the hole, safely escaping in to the eddy below.
From here a bit more Class III boogie water followed, and then we were in Lake Calderwood, paddling for the takeout. At the takeout I hauled up to the ramp and dumped my boat into the truck, ready to blissfully collapse. When Chris rallied the group for a second lap I was more than happy to provide shuttle service and photography support!
Today I'm sore all over, and still on a high from all the great paddling I did yesterday. I give special thanks to that wonderful rock that loved up on my right shoulder in the West Prong Line. Thanks also to Chris, Eric, Matt, Jenis, and Tim for allowing me to tag along – it was a great time! Six paddlers, and zero swims on the Cheaoh is a definitive win in my book. Can't wait to do it again – hopefully in April! Garrick Taylor