FB9 Mar 21-22 2026
| River: | French Broad |
| Skill: | Novice+/Intermediate |
| Trip Date: | 03/21/2026 |
Combine 2 sunny warm mid-March days and a spirited gang of paddlers with good flow on the French Broad River and you have a terrific time! Both days saw a crew with a wide range of skill levels and around 1650 cfs of flow for each day, which was perfect for working the intermediate features on the river. Outside of my local run the Haw River, French Broad Section 9 is certainly my most paddled river, and great for building confidence with manageable consequences for mistakes. The standard run is to Stackhouse, which we did both days, with a crew of 14 on Saturday and 11 on Sunday. Saturday traffic on the river was a little lighter than I expected, but it was packed on Sunday. Big Pillow, the biggest rapid, was an absolute playground on Sunday, with a lot of vertical action and some pro boaters doing attainments both at Big Pillow and S-Turn. It was impressive and beautiful. What a great place to be. Thanks to everyone and I hope to see my old friends and my new friends again soon.
Wayne Jones
Carol Berry
Dave Johnson
Bill Moore
Bill Goodnight
Steven Tucker
Charles Lockett
Grace Baldridge
Shane Brown
Jim Wendling
Martha Mount
Morton Barlaz
Alton Chewning
Ari Zitin
Don Beland
Holly Whitley