Catawba, North Fork

In the the early 1980s, (84?) David Huntley and I (Gary Mims) paddled most of this section. I was in a Perception Mirage. On the day of our run Wilson Creek was running 3 feet plus on the old metal bridge. We wanted to do Lost Cove, but couldn't figure out a put-in. We looked at a topo map & decided to give N-Fork Catawba headwaters a shot. It was steep and gnarly, more trouble than fun, and I never figured anyone would ever go in there again. I do remember running a few high clean drops and a stair-steps type rapid. I don't consider the runs in those days real 'first decents,' because we usually portaged everything that at the time looked class V. Similarly, we ran Upper Green back then, and portaged/cheated about all the 'Dirty Dozen' rapids in the Narrows except Frankenstein (unamed then and easier because you could paddle through the cave, right of the undercut, the area now clogged with deadfall.) and Hammer Factor. At that time HF was called 'Fish Top Falls,' and had been run by numerous kayakers who carried up from the lower green put-in. Things do change.