Swannanoa

Hurricane Helene totally changed this run. All of the rapids are different and in different places, made of sharper rock, and of similar difficulty as before the storm. The river is a bit wider and more shallow, and way sunnier and more open. It feels like a bigger river than before, and more water will be better. The whitewater is less good than before the storm, but some time might help.

I got dropped off at Warren Wilson bridge after being surprised (and so disappointed) to find the Farm School Road blocked by a new guard rail. The destructive actions of the Army Corps of Engineers was evident, as I could see where trucks had entered the river, and see where they had cut down mature live trees, cleared vegetation, scraped banks, and scalped cobble bars. Who knows what damage they did to the riverbed. In the Warren Wilson property, where the riverside forest is protected, you can't even tell there was a flood. Downstreams where roads and houses had encroached on the river there were a lot of impacts.

I saw fish, an osprey, a kingfisher catch a fish, a little green heron, and a great blue heron. The native river cane was unfazed by the flood. Livestaked shrubs planted after the storm were growing well. The seedbank was producing lots of new plants. The river is pretty healthy and recovering well.

The destructive forces of the flood are very clear. All houses that had been built in the floodplain, including the handful built in the river channel itself, are entirely gone. A lot of new rock walls were exposed by the flood, and the scenery is very different. Along the roads at the bottom end nearly all the riparian trees are gone, and road reconstruction is evident.

I'm very interested to see how this river continues to recover, and if Buncombe County will ever do right by it.