Dane and Jez write in from Camp Arrowhead, NC- Dane Runs the Green Narrows yesterday

July 28, 2005

Hey guys, the summer is going amazingly well Dane’s
having a blast.

Thought you would like to know about Dane’s Green River
Experience and something for your website.

Dane Jackson on the Green River

Well it was a huge day on the river, a small but dedicated
group of us took on the Green with Dane. This would be his first time
on the ‘Narrows’ and from our understanding the youngest person to run
this classic creek. We took it very slow and scouted everything before
running it, taking some video footage as well on the way. It was clear
that this river, being extremely tough and technical was going to test
us all. Dane has been paddling with us for quite a few weeks now so we
were confident of our ability to work together. Prior, we had hit up the
North Fork of the French Broad, the Tellico, Section 9 of the FB, and
the upper Green at 250+. We started with a warm up on the Upper and straight
into Bride of Frankenstein. All Dane’s lines were right on and he nailed
every boof. More very technical rapids were hit up, again with great lines
by most. We came to Big Monkey (Gorilla) and this was our first walk,
Dane had already decided not to run it along with Sunshine, a good call.
It was a little embarrassing getting worked in Speed Trap while Dane styled
his way down the river. The rest of the river was amazing, perfect conditions
great water, and an absolutely sensational river. We finished the river
with a bunch of friends waiting for us at Hammer Factor, where we started
celebrations. Dane mentioned that this was very close to, if not his favorite
paddling day of his life. Something we are going to remember for a long
time. Apparently Pat was the youngest to run Gorilla at 13 years old,
with another year under his belt, Dane could get very close to beating
this record.

Here’s what Dane said about the river.

I’m on the "Narrows of the Green River"!

Today I ran the narrows of the green river on the DA
(day away) for counselors of Camp Arrowhead. We started off by running
the upper green. There were six of us. One of them broke their boat and
he had to hike out. Two others took out at the put in of the Narrows.
The three of us (Jez Blanchard, Daniel White and I) took on the Narrows.
We started off by running bride of Frankenstein where Jez pitoned. Then
we came up to Frankenstein where we filmed our runs. All three of us had
good runs. Then we had some easy stuff until we came to Boof or Consequence.
All of us had good lines, I flipped over at the bottom but reacte quickly.
Next after some other easy stuff was Zwicks Backender where we had to
boof, then punch a hole, then hit a horseshoe drop which had a hole at
the bottom. That’s when we came to Chief where you have to boof on top
of a pining rock. After that was the big monkey where we had to catch
an eddy before it. Gorilla looked like fun, but my dad and I thought that
we should probably wait a bit for this. We seal launched in right next
to speed trap and had to ferry behind it to get across to river right
which we had to boof into a rock and run river right to avoid a few slides.
Jez got worked in speed trap, Daniel and I didn’t see it but we heard
about it later. After that was Rapid Transit which was a very fun slide
which lead into Power Slide which was twice as long and real fast. Right
after the Power Slide there was Groove Tube where I didn’t get the auto
boof and hit a rock, and got vertical and did a cartwheel at the end.
This is where we had to eddy out right above Sunshine and portage around.
Then after that there was some easy class three and then we finished with
Toilet Bowl and Hammer Factor. Then class two to the take out.