Who: Bert, Hunter
Where: LRC Chairlift, ~400 CFS
When: March 7, 2009
Hunter texted me this week saying he was going to be in Rome, and wanted to paddle. I said sure thing, and so Saturday we went. All the guys couldn;t come, since they had other plans, but they missed out. It was one really pretty day on the river. It got to be about 70 degrees in the canyon, and it was perfectly sunny. Just about the perfect spring day for paddling. It doesn't beat a sunny mid summer day on the Ocoee (when no dry-top or anything is required, only a rash guard if you really want it) but it was amazing.
On to the river...Blue Hole memorial was a joke at this level. Previously, there was a hole all the way accross the river, and you had to be careful. now there was a shoot on the right side of the middle and no hole at all.
Bottleneck was much smaller, of course, than what I saw it at 3000+ CFS, but is was relatively similar to the 1200 from my previous trip. I would have run the rappid this time, but with only 2 of us, it would have taken much time to have safety set for both of us.
The rest of the river was pretty dang easy, with rock gardens that would be great to teach newer paddlers how to ferry, catch eddies, and work down a rappid instead of simply bombing down it as fast as possible.
As far as the new boat goes, I'm still having problems adjusting to the speed of the boat, and therefore catching eddies without overshooting them, which is a skill I need to develop. There are small eddies on the rivers I want to run, and I need to be able to catch them to succeed.
Hunter went to my high school, graduated with me, and is a solid paddler, I hope he can go with me again, and proly will this summer to the Ocoee and stuff.
After the river, I met Adam G, a paddler from Alabama who I saw on some video or something, and hes a great paddler. Always cool to meet someone who you've seen thier blogs, videos, etc.
2009 Stats
Days Paddled: 6
Rivers Paddled: 5
Cartecay, Tellico, Little River (Chairlift), Nantahala Cascades, Nantahala River
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