Watauga

(10/03/2024) Kayaking Watauga 2.0. The Watauga River Gorge also experienced changes from Hurricane Helene. The gauge did seem to still be accurate. It was around 300 cfs and it felt like it on the river. Regarding Changes to the Rapids…

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Cabin: The rocks shifted around a bit but it’s still pretty much the same.

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Bump and Grind: It is now a right to left move running the left channel. The right channel looks to be blocked now.

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Shit Kicker: It seems to channelize the water a bit more towards the top. Cutting over to the left side as you get to the bottom was a bit sketch. There’s more rocks at the bottom now which could be a problem at lower water. I think cutting over to the right side towards the bottom is the better move.

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Hydro: basically the same but there is less water going on the rock for the beginning move now.

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Split Decision: It is way more open now

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Vernon’s Folly: It is still the same move. The main hole isn’t as big and the eddies towards the top are smaller.

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Rapid leading into Edge of the World: The left channel is completely blocked off and all the water goes through the right channel. As a result, a powerful curler forms in the turn to the left and it will typewriter you into an eddy on river left. Then you ferry across the strong current to the right

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Edge of the World: Still pretty similar

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Heavy Water: The entrance is more technical now but the main part of the rapid is less rowdy now

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Knuckles: The move is still the same of driving to the right but now the pool at the bottom dropped a bit so now you hook back to the left.

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Diana’s ledge: Not sure about the left line but the boof line is still the same.

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Stateline: The lead-in is more technical now and then the main drop is a bit more of a notch now. There is a really good flake on the right side and if you hit it, you can get a massive boof off of.

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Boof Falls: Main line is still the same. Linville Boof is gone.

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Last Hair: It has opened up more and is a bit easier now.

A video of everything can be found here: https://youtu.be/KWlj9D3\_xGs?si=FWY1sgpzl\_qo\_WiM