Tallulah River Photos and Fun

November 14, 2005

With no water at all here in Rock Island, Clay and
I decided to drive the 5 hours south east to the world-class Tallulah
Gorge. We met-up with 05 Keener, Woody Austin, who wanted to run the river
for his first time. After 2 runs, a million stairs, and paddling with
lots of new (and not so new) friends, and more lake-paddling than most
recreational boaters log in 3 weeks, THIS is what I’ve concluded: Tallulah
rocks! I mean, it’s REALLY fun. Where else can can a kayaker run a 50′
cascade in a playboat, narrowly avoiding slamming into a terrifying 15′
mountain of billowing white spray coming off a 1 1/2′ ledge? Where else
can a kayaker find this kind of quality non-stop class 4 excitement below
Oceana? Where else is there a beautiful gorge run where someone else runs
your shuttle for you? Where else can you experience really sore calf-muscles
from a day on the river (the stairs revenge)? This is THE place to be
this time of year!

Things to do for added excitement: -rock spin on the
top left of Oceana and Bridal veil before accelerating to Mach 5! Clay
recommended this move, just be sure to get your bow back left before hitting
The Thing. -if you’re comfortable on the Tallulah in your creekboat, bring
a playboat next time–You’ll enjoy lots of little freewheel/wavewheel/macho
move/kickflip/splat wheels and other downriver, mid-rapid fun. You’ll
also get to rock-out the hole below Oceana, which is a great place to
work on spins, cartwheels, loops (but it’s kinda shallow unless you’re
just river left of center), orbits, phonix monkeys, tricky wu’s, Mcnastys,
and getting worked with style. You’ll also get to rock-out the wave at
Amphitheater and enjoy the new-and-improved depth there–try blunts, back
blunts, spins, cartwheels, mcnastys, and careful loops. -participate in
Chris Gragtman’s mass-start Tallulah Race, which starts just below Oceana
(playhole eddy), and finishes at the lake: 12 minutes of Lactic excitement!
-Starting at the top of the stairs, simply place your boat up on the hand-rails,
scream, "look out below!", and let your boat go careening down
the stairs–a great way to loose friends, make enemies, and endanger the
general public with your reckless abandonment of good judgment (PLEASE
DON’T DO THIS!).

Anyway, Clay and I paddled our Super Heros on Saturday,
with the new boat-armor outfitting. I’ve found it to be SUPER easy to
paddle, and I didn’t feel any rock-hits to the butt through the new awesome
seat. These boats are going to be rock solid! I LOVE THAT! The All-Stars
were great on Sunday, enjoying the deeper water and bigger waves. Woody
learned TONS, and rocked-out the Tallulah for his first two runs. Enjoy
the pics!

Live from somewhere near Clayton, GA,
Stephen Wright