Asheville Area – Dealer's choice weekend Oct 27 & 28
Rain had brought changing water levels and several choices. On Saturday, the group divided between the “regular” Pigeon Gorge (2 turbine release) and the Hepco section of the Pigeon (at 1,000 cfs). I was the trip coordinator for the Hepco trip.
Four boaters Cyndy Rentz Falgout (from Durham), Scott Cole (From Birmingham, AL) Tom “Week of Rivers Chair” Womble (from Bryson City and I (from Chapel Hill) set forth on Saturday, November 3, from Ferebe’s to the Falls. It was Tom’s and mine first time paddling with Cyndy and Scott.
Novice Trip on the Dan! What a blast for new boaters to be able to paddle with experienced folks like Bob and Elliot, Vince, Nate,Joe, Dan, Lorraine, Ken. The group also had moptop Lucy as mascot. The morning rain and cool temps didn’t hurt the fun at all. Fourteen boaters with differing skill levels were generous with each other and offered helpful hints and instruction. “Keep your feet in the trough to surf correctly” and “what’s the difference between a C to C vs a Sweep roll?”.
On Friday 10-19-18 Tom Womble and I paddled the Nantahala from Ferebee's down to the NOC for part one of the two part trip. We met in the parking lot of NOC and proceeded to transfer Tom's boat over to my car. As we were loading Tom's boat a guy, Dougie from New Zealand, came up and asked if we were running the river and if we were if he could join us.
We had unseasonably warm temperatures at the Russell Fork in beautiful Haysi, VA/Elkhorn City, KY. I believe it was the first time when drysuits nor neoprene were necessary. Some of us camped, others roughed it at the Gateway Motel.
We had 12 on the Upper on Saturday (myself, Greg, Delane, Joe, John, Trent, Joel, Andy, Mort, Chris, Ed, and Johnson)
5 of us continued to do the Lower (myself, Greg, Mort, Chris, and Johnson)
Drawdown Day 0
Showed up at Thunder Rock at 9 pm, later than desired but with my oil changed. Campground about 25% full, but Dead Quiet.
Set up camp at the group site, alone and feeling like I'd rented a full suite at a hotel, my tent alone.
Drawdown Day 1
Jim arrived around 8 this morning. He set up camp before we headed out. A dreary drizzly day, yet with warm weather. Ran into the Texas crew at the crack of noon as we put on for a second run.
Participants: Bob Brueckner (C-1), Morgan Randall (K-1), Brenda Randall (K-1) and Keith Chilton (K-1)
Level: 1140 cfs or 4.81 feet on USGS Bynum gauge.
After a week of high water, access closures and numerous reports of Florence's many miseries down east, it was good to escape to the Middle Haw for a pleasant trip on Saturday.
With the Eno dropping rapidly, I posted a trip to Facebook last night. By today I had six people (evolving to seven). Meeting up at West Point, we had one person running late. Late. With the schduled run already tight, what I should have done was abbreviate the trip by cutting off one of the (Pleasant Green/Cole Mill/Guess/Roxboro) sections to turn it into a shorter run.
John's flight in Charlotte was delayed, and he didn't get in until late Saturday. Late enough I managed to convince him to not leave at the crack of dawn. We left at 8:30 am for a couple of days on the Noli. We arrived at the Noli Campground to find a Labor Day Celebration with live music in full swing. We asked about a shuttle driver from someone at the entrance, and one was sitting right there – how convenient! We quickly set up camp and were on our way, putting on around 3 pm with plenty of time.
Nice day on the water among CCC friends and we may have even seen the birth of another addict to the sport.
We had 1 novice, couple intermediates, and some advanced paddlers along with a couple instructors and an instructor educator. Hmm, great opportunity for some newer paddlers. Decent weather and good conditions for a better than average wave shape for surfing (pool level around 19.3' with flow of 2600cfs).
