Man ya'll, I was just thinking about how we were everywhere yesterday. We had a BIG group of us on the Cheoah yesterday, there was a BIG group of us over at the Green cheering on our BWA racers, the Rockcastle sounds like it was teeming with BWAers, and then here in Central Kentucky, sounds like we had another large BWA contingent on the Elkhorn. I just think that is so cool.

With that said, our day on the Cheoah was uneventful, but a complete blast. Our group was rather large, myself, Mark Singleton, Wes, J-bob, Elizabeth, Wavester, Justin B., Donny H., Chief, and sometimes Mark Dossett and another nonBWA buddy, Jason Dillow, (we will get him to join) who wisely stayed out of the throng we represented en masse going down river. Kinda weird as it started off on the low end of the CFS range at O'Henry's (5-600), but by the time we were sitting at the top of BCF preparing to huck off, it was a juicy 1100 +. The section below BCF was juicy and absolutely a blast! All in all, it was "another fine day of precision boating", even though I did get flipped twice, both times attributable to huge traffic jams in significant water. While that was more flips than the whole season on the RF, I had a fabulous day with a fabulous group of solid ass boaters! I certainly need to improve my familiarity with the lines on some of these stretches. I did like my line at BCF, but, Wes told me that I was to the left of where Jon Dale and Clay were hucking off in that video clip we have been discussing earlier. Anyway, there was so much water that everyone had soft landings running the main drop all over.

Great day. Can't wait to hear reports of others. Also, carnage reports are always appreciated. Any on any of the trips we all had yesterday? Cheoah crowd was very clean. Come on, day of "Precision Boating" or "Carnage King/Queen"? "Confess your Swims". Green? Rockcastle? Elkhorn? Other?

Brent



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/08/2009 01:03PM by brentaustin.

Checking the gauges, it looks more like we had over 1300 cfs in the Cheoah. Wow, no wonder it seemed juicy.

BTW, if you have not paid your AW dues, please do. It is thanks to AW that we even get to paddle the Cheoah. Check out the AW story on the Cheoah on the AW page where current BWA member, John Grace of LVM, interviews AW's Jeff Paine and Kevin Colburne on the whole process that got us those releases on the Cheoah in the first place.

[www.americanwhitewater.org]

Rejoin AW today if you have not done so. Take advantage of the AW Affiliate Club status that we have (another perk for being a member of the BWA) to get a discounted membership in AW. With numbers and support, we can address the many other river access issues we have, both near (eg. Russell Fork, Chattooga Headwaters) and far (eg. Rio Jondachi - Ecuador).

Please everyone, keep your BWA and AW memberships active. We need you to help keep our rivers accessible and clean for us and future generations to enjoy. Give back to the river. SYOTR,

Brent

The Elkhorn crowd was Lyle, Chris Schardl, Tim & Heather, Robert, Linda & Britt, Kim, and new BWA member, Ben. And someone in a Ducky whose name I don't know. Anyone else I missed?

Creek was around 600 cfs, so mostly a lazy trip with great weather. I saw Ben in the water a couple of times, but not at the rapids. Think a couple of eddy lines got him - alas, I missed the carnage. After a few roll sessions, he's ready for more cfs. Think Heather got flipped a couple of times surfing, but rolled. Britt flipped in flat water after throwing the nerf football (must have been a heck of a follow through), but rolled. Don't think I saw anything else exciting. Lyle didn't give us any entertainment - he's getting too good.

Don

The Green was AWESOME!!! It was my first Green River race, and there were TONS of people that hiked into Gorilla to watch! It was so impressive to see all the talent. Im new to all this, but decided to attempt to run the Upper Green today for my second time on the river. Somehow I swam on 2 small class II (this is where the roll sessions will come in handy), but made it down the 2 class III+ with no problems (thanks to my FABULOUS guide!!!). Absolutely amazing day in NC with the leaves and 72 degree weather!! Thanks to everyone in the BWA for a warm welcome!! I look forward to meeting yall and getting on the river with some new faces :-)
Aleighia

The Green was AWESOME!!! It was my first Green River race, and there were TONS of people that hiked into Gorilla to watch! It was so impressive to see all the talent. Im new to all this, but decided to attempt to run the Upper Green today for my second time on the river. Somehow I swam on 2 small class II (this is where the roll sessions will come in handy), but made it down the 2 class III+ with no problems (thanks to my FABULOUS guide!!!). Absolutely amazing day in NC with the leaves and 72 degree weather!! Thanks to everyone in the BWA for a warm welcome!! I look forward to meeting yall and getting on the river with some new faces :-)
Aleighia

"Everywhere" is a perfect description to the weekend....

Plans started off as a friday arrival on the Cheoah, get ready to step it up and run the upper section...and then Bethany somehow plants the Upper Nanty seed. Todd H. calls, wants to go this weekend...so plans have changed, its now Kris, B, Todd and myself meeting at NOC saturday morning for some rare Upper Nanty action.
After picking up the playboating Columbian in Knoxville, we head east...
We should have paid more attention to the road closures...get to the Newport exit in TN, realize I-40 is closed at state line...damnit. its almost 11, and at best a 2-3 hour haul to our destination.
But plans are made to be broken...we rendevous, stare at the map, and decide to go check out the Little, maybe we can scrape down something close and make it back to Knoxville at a decent hour. After crossing the French Broad twice it hits me......what about the French Broad? Oh yeah...and its running at 2500cfs. We turn around once more and head to Hot Springs, run shuttle, and put in at Barnard. Finally, water. Beautiful, clear water and a perfect day with not another soul on the river.
Kris bails out less than a mile downriver and decides to hike the tracks back after feeling sick, Bethany joins her and they hike back to Barnard as I lead Todd and Johnathon down the FB for their virgin run...Bethany meets up at Stackhouse and we run down to Hot Springs, thanks to our shuttle bunny Kris.
Kayakers Ledge...we scout, try different lines, and things are running smoothly...until Bethany dislocates her thumb at the top from a violent sprayskirt scuffle, yet boldly runs the middle line and then laughs off the pain...I would have cried. Burly! You are my hero.
Paddle out, eat and drink in Hot Springs, head to Knoxville for a small gathering of boaters and Hilltoppers. Good times abound. Whew what a day!

Sunday...Bethany, Kris and Johnathon are out, so Wavey Davey (thanks!) plants that damn Nanty seed again...so we decide to skip the Big South Fork and meet up with Elizabeth , JBob and Adam Trunnell, run laps on the Upper and call it a weekend. That was my first experience on the Dragons Tail, we were lucky with very little traffic and a picture perfect day.
What fun!!!! Wow, if you get the chance while its running go hit this section!
ran the first mile, went back up and ran all the way down to the regular put-in.
Great class II-III read and run, we had at least 600cfs we think. The gauges were wrong, it was rockin'. Only a handful of crews braved the Cascades this weekend.

It seemed every wrong turn eventually put us in the right place. Attitude and perspective go a long way, and helped make this weekend one of the best. That, and copious amounts of beer and junk food. Thanks to the team for being so cool.

Sounds like a great weekend all around, all smiles. Strong work people!

The person in the ducky whose name we don't know, was a treat to watch. He was, almost entirely, a stand up paddler. At one point he found a five foot stalk of corn with one ear of shucked corn hanging at the top. He attached it to the stern as his boat flag. When we got to the takeout, the chickens had an awesome treat.

The takeout chickens are becoming increasingly friendly. The deepest red-colored one told me her name is Lucille. She doesn't like protein bars.

Thanks to all the Deathcastle paddle hunters for at least looking for Emily's paddle and sorry we could not join you but speaking of the BWA being everywhere this weekend C6 and I were in MO visiting with Bill Eades and family and attending their annual "FilmyFest" bash which is sort of like a big, 24 hr, NPFF Midwest Roadshow. The BWA has lots of fans and even some members in the Missouri Whitewater Association and they send their greetings and felicitations to everyone here in KY. I think there will once again be a large contingent of MWA folks attending the 2010 NPFF and as many of you already know, these folks really know how to party!
barryg

Thanks to Heather and Emma for Elkhorn shuttle services. Me and Jodi showed up at the take out around 1PM not sure if we were going to run from Sofflee's down or run from the forks down. We did the forks down. Jodi was a little nervous since the last time we ran it it was 200 cfs and yesterday it just dropped below 500 cfs. We survived without incident. All smiles, water a little too cold to swim. Did not see a soul except to wading fishermen, the creek was ours. We saw: hawks, blue herons, cardinals, king fishers, 1 deer, fish, and plenty of turtles. What a wonderful way to spend a 70 degree November Sunday, just Dad and his little girl. ;~)

Sounds like good times all around! Lots of BWA boatin' going on; I love it!

Brandon summed it all up nicely. Our crew had a great time. The water was lovely, the weather was perfect, and the beer was cold. I am going to have to order a new thumb, but these things happen............I never really did like skirts......
Sorry I had to miss the Upper Nanty. Gonna try to make that happen in a couple of weeks.
Keep those trip reports coming in!

-bo