A paddler was evacuated from the Watauga today (4/4/2017)at Skicker. He had a neck injury. He tipped over and hit some rocks pretty hard. He was not in my group.The paddler was with a very, experienced group, who had WFR, and he was was on the second lap.About 30ish volunteers (firemen, rescue squads, etc) from two counties showed up and stabilized the paddler and helped carry him out.
Take this as a lesson. Today was 65+ and sunny and by the end he was shivering. The accident happened at about 3:30 and blankets, help, etc didn't arrive until about 5:30. He wasn't out until after 7pm I think. His group had a space blanket and training. They took a lot of pretty decisive steps to make this go quickly and smoothly.
This was a relatively easy place to access as far as Watauga and many other creeks go. About a 7 min walk without a boat or body. Report is that the paddler is home and doing well.
