Last Blast of 07

By Clay Wright

So 2007 will go down as one of the driest years on record for the Southeast, but at least it went out with a bang! Rains fell Dec 28th, 29th, and 30th resulting in several good days of paddling across this drought-stricken region and boaters sprung up like mushrooms to take advantage. While most scrambled for the Smokies, where West Prong was kickin, Terry Smith, Chan Jones and I opted for a Suck / LRC day which proved a great combo.

Suck was 3.8, a low level where we spend most of our time helping our friend Chip recover a badly pinned boat. That’s just part of boating – anytime you can help recover a pinned boat is a chance to improve your rescue skills, a critical part of the game. Anyway – we continued down testing our hulls and I took advantage of the edge-less hull on my Rocker to hit a few rock-spins along the way. Suck was the classic ‘scrape n plop’ style run where speed is the enemy and you rarely take a forward stroke. On these low-volume technical rapids I often just ride a bit of momentum and a rudder stroke till a boof is needed and back-stroke or grab a rock with my hand to slow down between moves. One run was enough today, as there were bigger fish to fry down in Alabama.

With the Little River at Blue Pond gage reading 1800, we had Little River Canyon Falls in our sights. This 30′ drop is most frequently run on the river left side where it falls in two stages: a 10′ drop onto a flat rock shelf followed immediately by a 20′ ‘Plunge’ into the pool below. Accordingly, it takes a good bit of water to cushion the impact of the first drop and soften the pool below the second. While frequently run at 6” on the Hwy 35 gage, our 9.5” level was a welcome sight not just for the paddling the extra flow provided, but also for the extra ‘punch’ all those rapids below would be packing.

Chan Jones and I dropped in and the careful scouting paid off. Both of us carried a 50 degree angle off the 10’er onto the well-padded shelf for a soft, glancing blow and both of us managed a steep plunge and tuck off the 20’er into the pool below. Smooth sailing! Meanwhile, Terry not only got a few shots, but also managed to snag us a shuttle from some of our most enthusiastic spectators (I took their photo in case we never saw them again). Too bad it’s tough to hike back up for another round, because that is one fun drop!

The rest of the run was such a difference from our morning run on Suck. We were greeted with big waves, crashing curlers, and some stomping holes between the house sized rocks that always decorate this amazing gorge. Terminal Eddy was packin some punch and the normal set-up eddy at Pinball was feeding a seive, but the normal lines were all good to go and the fluffy ‘push’ was a welcome switch from the low-volume technical paddling the rest of the region was experiencing. We dug deep and squared up to curler after curler, read our way across boils, and plugged into a few holes for good measure. Like every run, it makes you want even more water next time. Of course any paddling is much appreciated after the 2007 we’ve just endured! All too soon we were at the chair lift – time to ‘pay the piper’ for our day of LRC fun by hiking 1/4 mile up hill to the rim-road above. And thankfully, Terry’s car was right where it was supposed to be.

Here’s to a wetter, warmer Winter 2008!

Safe lines …

Clay Wright