Nolichucky River

Hurricane Helene Search and Rescue 10/2/2024

The First Descent of the New Nolichucky Gorge

Raft Team: Patrick Mannion (rafting lead), Bert Stirton, Jes Paulino, Justin Wills, Nathan Rakestraw, Jacob Hauser, Wik Ingle, Thomas Martin, Patrick Toups

Kayak Support: Scott Fisher (kayaking lead), Dennis Ashford, Elijah White, Trey Moore (Team Lead)

Medical certifications: Nathan Rakestraw A-EMT, Trey Moore and Scott Fisher WFR. All Raft Guides have WFA training.

Rescue certifications: All Raft Guides have SWR training annually, Trey Moore ACA SWR Instructor, Scott Fisher ACA SWR Instructor Trainer

Guide and Instruction Companies Represented; Osprey Whitewater, NOLI - Nolichucky Learning Institute, and the Eddyhopper Workshop

On Monday afternoon September 30th, 2024, Trey Moore reached out to the Hurricane Helene response command center at The Unicoi Middle School in Erwin, TN to offer and coordinate professional river rescue resources to the response efforts.

On Tuesday evening October 1st, 2024, the team was mobilized for a search and rescue effort into the “new” Nolichucky Gorge. The target was a white Mazda sedan, believed to have a family of 4, two adults and two children that were known to have washed into the gorge from the upstream communities and neither the vehicle or the people had been seen or found downstream.

The team assembled overnight and crafted an expedition style plan to run the river as a self contained group with an abundance of medical supplies, rescue gear, food, water, overnight options and extra pfd’s and helmets to retrieve and transport any survivors. We had 4 rafts, each manned by two highly experienced guides from the professional Nolichucky outfitter community. The rafts carried extra gear and had space for survivors, yet remained light enough should we have to portage around any unknown debris or new found river hazards. Our team of kayak safety boaters included some of the most experienced Nolichucky instructors and boaters in the area.

On Wednesday October 2nd, 2024 we met at Osprey Whitewater in Erwin, TN to discuss our plan for the day, possible scouting locations and search protocols. It was explained by members of Unicoi County EMA that any human remains in a disaster zone would be considered a federal crime scene until the National Guard could come and conduct an investigation to clear the scene, identify and remove the remains and notify next of kin. Our instructions were to take photos of any identifying features; medical alert tags, shoes, etc., mark GPS coordinates and leave in place for the investigation to take place.

At the put in we met another SAR team dispatched by Mitchell county to search for the same vehicle and family. We notified them that we would also be on the water and would also be conducting a search, but due to the traffic jam at the railroad construction site we launched before them.

We launched at 11am and floated into the gorge through the railroad construction site. The level was difficult to assess, it felt strong on your paddle and pushy. Estimates varied from 5,000 cfs to 10,000+ cfs from different members of the group. The kayaks would lead boat scouts through the first rapids while the rafts received paddle signals and followed. We floated through a new class II rapid directly across from the former home site of Patrick Toups. He suggested “House Rapid” as a name for this new rapid, in honor of the home he lost in the flood to the Nolichucky River.

There is significant railroad debris throughout the Nolichucky Gorge; rails and ties as well as large pieces of the Poplar trestle. The flow has changed at the trestle and will continue to change as rail construction moves along. We entered on river left through a set of standing waves and moved to the center of the river to avoid a large piece of trestle in the flow. At this point we encountered the “Entrance” rapid also known as “Last Chance.” This rapid had a similar right of center entrance. The majority of the flow continues down the right side now, but still retains its character of the Last Chance rapid.

In between rapids we all took turns blowing one long blast on whistles to alert possible survivors, scanning the banks for signs of life, shouting up the mountains to anyone that could be there. We all agreed to this use of whistles and reserved 3 short blasts for any on water emergency with our team that needed immediate attention.

The kayakers bumped ahead to the eddy on river left above “On the Rocks.” Again this rapid retained its character, but many things have changed on river right. At normal flows it will be quite the slalom course in the future. At the higher flows of this descent we simply stayed in the wave train headed left and cut back to the right for a traditional entrance to “Jaws.”

The kayakers cruised ahead again and found a much larger, deeper and more powerful “Jaws” wave that was difficult to skirt without being pulled out into the hole. We signaled the rafts to run left and sneak around the big rock on river left. Following the flow into what was once “Snappy’s” we found a series of standing waves and holes, which were once read and run splashes, on our way to our first land scout on river right above “The Pearly Gates” also known as “Canyon Doors.”

Members of the team irrigated their eyes with fresh potable water if they took splashes, some wore gloves. Everyone had dry tops and dry suits to protect themselves as much as possible from water contact. After the destruction of the river corridor, the water carried known and unknown pollutants; sewage, chemicals, organic remains, and possibly heavy metals. The team knew about this risk and took every precaution, including a decontamination rinse of gear and a vinegar bath as well as updated vaccines which were offered for free at the Unicoi High School which was acting as a hurricane relief shelter.

The old “Quarter Mile” rapid is gone and deserving of a new name, and her features will most assuredly each gain new names as time goes on. We believe new names will alert boaters to the new challenges that await them on the New Nolichucky. At the flows of this descent this rapid joins with the Pearly Gates and forms one long powerful rapid.

The river is now constricted by cobble bars and boulders on both sides of the rapid. A large section of railroad is overturned on on river right, partially covered in cobble bars, partially exposed and extending into the river right side of the rapid. At the flows of this descent, after the first drop at Canyon Entrance the current moved swiftly through large standing waves into the first main drop. Dubbed “Helene’s (Hole/Drop/Ledge) by Dennis Ashford. This drop is split by a large boulder believed to possibly be the old “BFR” rock rolled downstream and onto its side. The left side pours over a ledge and into a powerful horseshoe shaped hole, (Helene’s?). While the right ride features a steep and fast ramp reminiscent of “Soc em Dog,” into a burst of energetic waves.

Not far downstream, the next significant drop was also split by another large boulder, which the group believes to be the “Tennessee” rock ripped and rolled from its old position. Water poured over this ledge creating what was jokingly dubbed, “Hungrier Jack.” Just downstream from there is the old “Copper” rock. We believe this rock to have stood its ground in the middle of the torrential flows, possibly protected by the collapse of all the old second drop features of Quarter Mile. “Copper” rock is river center and deeper in the water due to the constriction on both sides. Below Copper, the river widens again into a series of large ledges and waves and continues down through the old “Murphy’s Ledge.” This seemed to be somewhat tamed by the extreme flooding, at least at these higher flows. Murphy’s ledge was largely unrecognizable and is no longer the same definitive end to Quarter Mile.

Our group carefully scouted what was once “Quarter Mile” rapid for approximately half an hour. Patrick Toups elected to portage the main drops, putting back on at the “Copper” rock. On our way back to our boats we continued to blow whistles and shout, searching for survivors and other signs of people.

The kayakers would lead the rapid in groups of two. Trey and Scott got out above Copper rock to set bank safety and hold rope for the rafts, while Dennis and Elijah would stay in boats to chase gear if needed. The team took what was considered a sneak line hugging the right bank. Once safety was set, the all clear signal was sent upstream to dispatch the rafts. Once the rafts came through, they leapfrogged the kayaks and led the remainder of the rapid into the calm section below.

We continued blowing whistles and searching the banks for survivors. We were awestruck by the power and devastation we saw. Rails twisted like spaghetti, all the riprap, dirt and gravel of the railbed had been stripped and scoured clean, the new high water mark was in the trees of the Pisgah National Forest. All the new rocks on the river were freshly broken and sharp. Our once old friend, the Nolichucky, the one we had known for years, a wise old river that knew where to send her waters and had a strong sediment bed smoothing out her energy was gone. The new Nolichucky was presenting as a baby river, a young and energetic beast that we knew would be throwing all kinds of tantrums while she decided what to do with her energy, rolling rocks around, bouncing off of bedrock and slipping through abundant sieves and siphons in every boulder pile.

As we approached the site of the old “Roostertail” rapid, we pulled out on river left to scout. Here we found the new rapid has moved upstream of the old rapid, and is now nearly half the length of the original rapid. The bottom section of Roostertail was blown clean and into the next rapid, while large boulders created new ledges in what used to be the lead-in to the old rapid. Three powerful ledges created large waves and one incredible curler wave left of center. Energy poured through the rapid which now ended at the piece of bedrock extending into the river that created the old “Pop-Up Hole” feature.

When discussing what we might find as far as new rapids the discussion came down to new names. Elijah had strong feelings that no matter what, we would not name a rapid triple drop, as there were far too many in the whitewater world. However when he approached the rapid and found Trey scouting from a rock along the left bank, Trey turned around and shrugged his shoulders and said, “triple drop?,” which they both laughed at. It sparked Elijah’s creativity, when he then suggested, “Tres Ledges” (pronounced like tres leches) the group laughed and has enjoyed that name for now.

As we got back into our boats, we planned for Trey to run and set kayak safety on the left, Dennis would run and set kayak safety on the right and Elijah ran to the bottom. Patrick Toups and Scott Fisher elected to portage and set safety on the left bank. Once the rafts came through the rapid Trey and Dennis followed them to the bottom.

We found at these high water levels that Pop-Up hole remains a supreme play feature, perhaps improved by the slow and calm eddy below it, allowing for unlimited tries to figure it out. Still providing plenty of pop, Elijah sent his boat flying more than once. Trey was able to melt down in this feature and mystery his full sized creek boat. This could also become a good raft surf in the future because of the longer recovery eddy.

The search continued downstream into what was once “Roly-Poly” rapid, this was a straight forward read and run romp through big standing waves. Many of these will be excellent kayak surfs on future play runs, but our mission was to search for any survivors, so we continued on.

Feeling like we were running well with boat scouting we entered the site of the old “Rollercoater” rapids; upper and lower. What we didn’t expect was that these two rapids had now combined to become what Trey dubbed, the “Rolling Riddle” rapid. Kayaks in the lead caught some slack water on river right to try and gain some bearings, Scott entered the rapid center going right, Trey dropped in moving left and both found challenging currents, boiling eddies and steep pour overs. Dennis followed Trey with Elijah following Scott. We signaled the rafts to follow Scott’s center to right line. As the first rafts approached slowly, they came through the rapid to find a triangle shaped pour over that led to a chain surf of three rafts which was one of the more exciting moments of the day. Boaters threw to the high side and each surfed out clean. This sequence is arguably one of the longest rapids on the stretch now, and has undeniably increased in difficulty and class. There is a large sized boulder hazard on the bottom river right that is currently undercut.

Whistles continued to blast, shouts rang out and echoed off the walls of the Nolichucky gorge. The old “Cliff Side” rapid was an easy read and run through waves that took us to the lunch counter. Patrick commented that it was nice to see something reminiscent of the old Nolichcuky. The team took a short break to eat and regroup. Jes commented on the heightened feelings of a search and rescue mixed with emotions of a brand new run. It was a tough balance to strike for our group. We were each deeply impacted by the Nolichucky. All of us had built homes, businesses and lives around this perfect little stretch of southeastern whitewater. And now, while looking for survivors of the flood, we were also looking to see if our river and livelihoods would survive as well. Jacob made the comment that he had felt, “like he was mourning the loss of the riverbed, as a young man mourns the loss of his first love”, due to the major changes the flood made. He then gestured to the river with a wry smile and simply said, “but then you meet the new Lady…” Which brought some much needed levity to our group and the full spectrum of emotions our team was experiencing.

We launched from the lunch counter and resumed the search. We ran through “Pinball” and the “Surprise” ledge, running the classic left side affectionately called “Doo-doo’s.” There is a dangerous, underwater piece of rail in the drop of Doo-doos that forms a highly consequential pin spot. We suggest running the far right “Surprise Ledge” for the time being. Passing into the section known as “Sycamore Shoals,” we noticed that here was the first place where the energy of the flood slowed down enough to deposit all the rip rap rock from the rail bed. “Rip-Rap Bend” now extends as a large deposit of cracked and sharp gray rock and litters the left back through Sycamore Shoals and into the “Rock Garden” downstream.

Here we got out and searched the shore for about an hour. We climbed high to the railbed and found tracks lifted and bent like an amusement park ride. We looked for any signs of life. We were surprised by the lack of vehicle and construction debris. Natural debris littered the high water line, with only hints of vehicles or houses. We whistled and shouted, we wandered through a wasteland of logjams heaved high onto the banks. Elijah found a driver’s license.

We got back into boats and headed into the “Rock Garden.” There are a few new landslides on river right, and here is the biggest deposit of silt, sediment, rocks and boulders spread wide across the river bed. Rock Garden is still there, although very different and much steeper. We will have to see how it develops and channelizes in the future.

Passing another large cobble bar on river left we decided to get out again for a quick search. Nathan found footprints. Our hopes heightened with the possibility of survivors, we began chasing these prints in both directions, only to find out that Scott had actually walked this far down the bank on our previous search. The footprints belonged to him. The reality of the situation was setting in. Railroad workers were hiking in and out of the gorge from the top and the bottom. Helicopters were out in full force bringing supplies and supporting our efforts. And we were on the river filling the blanks in between. It was a beautiful sunny day and we all agreed that if any of us had been surviving alone for days in the gorge we would have made ourselves known. And yet we still pressed on, blowing whistles and shouting up the hillsides and mountains.

The concrete wall at “Hole in the Wall” rapid remained, but the tracks were torn off and twisted. We half expected a large amount of debris in the “Lost Cove” pool, but we found very little, the vast majority of debris in the river being from the railroad. As we entered “Souse Hole” rapid we found “Maggie’s Rock” to be gone, a large cobble bar had been pushed up on river right and the main flow had moved into the center channel. This is a new read and run rapid and will likely get a new name in the future.

Downstream we encountered railroad workers at Devil’s Creek. They informed us that the rail trestle was a half a mile down river in the middle of the flow and to beware. At this point we directed our search to river right as the workers were in force on river left. “Stateline Shoals” remains, but the lines and features are most assuredly different. We floated through the old “Zig-Zag” rapid and found the rail trestle above “Twin Eddies.” This rapid also remains and should keep its name, but the lines and features will be different as the water drops.

We pulled off the river at Twin Eddies and the SAR team dispatched from Mitchell County caught up to us. They had been dispatched in a single raft with four paddlers and support from above via a military blackhawk helicopter. They were visibly shaken and requested a light from our group to smoke a cigarette. They told us they were very happy to see us. They ran in a single boat, without scouting and knew they had gotten lucky. They were able to see where the last of our group entered some rapids and followed as best they could.

We debriefed and discussed what we learned from our trips with each other. We talked about ways to improve our spacing, communication and searching for future on water missions. We made a list of hotspots that we thought could benefit from a recovery team with cadaver dogs. We passed off the driver’s license Elijah found. After being a part of our debrief and seeing how thoughtful our approach had been they reached out to their dispatch and told them the gorge was too dangerous for them to return without professional escort from our group of experienced Nolichucky guides. It was an intentional decision to debrief here so we could be quick at the take out and not impede ongoing relief and recovery efforts. A group photo was taken here.

From here we floated past the Nolichucky Campground and USA Raft Resort. These properties were heavily impacted, with buildings floating away, large pieces of land ripped into the river and huge sand deposits over the grounds as the water dropped. Jones Branch and Unaka Springs roads were washed away, making access very difficult. Luckily everyone in these two properties has been accounted for in the days after the flood.

The “Slide” and “Cowbell” rapids were buried underneath a large cobble bar which now pushes the flow to river right along the bank below USA Raft. Here there is a stompy and splashy rapid, dubbed “Jack’s Rapid” in honor of Rick Murray’s son Jack and the island formerly known as “Jack’s Island,” which no longer exists. An unexpected hazard emerged as we exited the rapid and found a powerline dangling across the river. Our team had to work hard to find flow over the lowest hanging part of the power line.

From here on out we ran through a series of standing waves until we found a place to take out in the rubble that was once the Chestoa Recreation Area.

While the hurricane has forever changed our rivers, it has not dampened our spirits. Within hours of the flood we witnessed paddlers coming together and adopting river communities across the southeast. Paddlers created supply lines and made access to these communities. We did wellness checks, hiked supplies in. We worked hand in hand with local survivors and government officials. We became trusted and respected response organizations literally overnight. We sourced funds, supplies and manpower and helped bring stability to the people we used to just drive past on our way to the put in. We learned their names and faces. We played with their children, and listened to the stories of their grandparents. We organized distribution centers, built shelves, opened driveways and split wood for winter with the locals. Paddlers played a huge role in the rescue and recovery efforts. For that we should be very proud.

As we return to paddling these rivers we should all understand the risks; known and unknown. The water and soils need continued testing to determine a trend line to see if they are cleaning themselves. Everyone running these rivers should be updated on their vaccinations like Tetanus and Hepatitis. Beware of debris in the water. As the levels have dropped we have found the railroad tracks cross the entire river in at least two places on the Nolichucky, which could require portages. And as construction projects get into full swing these rivers will continue to change. Truck loads of fill rock, dirt and gravel will push flows around. Rocks are already observed to be moving and settling into new places. Every boulder pile should be approached with extreme caution. Many hazards we will not know about until an unsuspecting boater interacts with them.

It is indeed a new era of river running and exploration in the southeast. We are known worldwide for having some of the best and most accomplished boaters out there. We are also known for having many cavalier groups of “beaters” who are more interested in firing up challenging rapids and filming it, than developing their basic river running and rescue skills. We are all going to have to improve our risk assessments and risk management techniques. We will all need to improve our scouting and spacing as the river beds continue to move and settle with each high flow event. This is an opportunity for us all to practice having tough conversations with ourselves and our friends about our skills which are not only physical, but the mental game of sound judgment and decision making. We should also prepare our spirits for the emotional impact of the loss of many of our favorite places, balanced by the excitement and draw of this new era of exploration and adventure.