Deluge Dampens Southeastern Drought

By Clay Wright

It finally rained! I got an early morning call from Chattanooga Creek Captain Bryce Evans letting me know there was some Sucking to be done and by the time I got there his crew was finishing a 3rd lap. Luckily for me, I had borrowed Stephen’s Punk Rocker over Thanksgiving so I was ready to go! As is common on this roadside gem, the shuttle trucks were making laps up n down the road ferrying boaters, drivers, and boats constantly – I hopped into the first available free spot in a pickup and was off like a tram-ride to the top of the mountain.

On this first run I was escorted down by Todd Graphe and numerous others. I didn’t quite know where our ‘group’ started and ended – as Bryce was already disappearing into the 3rd rapid as I was getting my skirt on – and the next truckload was on the beach by the time I shoved off.. But that’s just the way it goes when Suck runs after such a long dry spell. The low-water lines learned, I was ‘free-ranging’ after that – taking shuttles and pairing up with whoever was ready at the same time I was. I paddled 3 laps ranging from ‘low’ water (3.6") to ‘butt low’ (3.2" or so, some sharp rocks hits becoming mandatory) and then sat out for bit. Saw Javid Grubbs, Jonathan, Jeramy, Moe, Curt, Luke, and about 30 other boaters during my break, so hanging out at the take-out proved far more social than the paddling. The lappers continued on, but after examining a few newly cracked hulls I decided to call it a day.

The Punk Rocker proved a perfect choice for this low-volume, low level technical creek. While I’m sure I scraped a bit more than I would in my Rocker due to sitting a bit lower in the water, I was able to slowly pivot the 7’6” little spud around the rocks and drop into the deep spot on landings where others were overshooting into rocks. Love the ‘free’ feeling for tweaked grabs, rock 360’s, and just exaggerated ‘stomps’ off the big boofs at Slow n Low and Pinnacle. Once there’s a bit more water, I’ll be happy to have my Rocker back I’m sure, but for this low-volume stuff it’s a great feeling to paddle a short little boat again. Memories off Micro 230, Rocker, Method and Attack for sure.

What next? Headed back up to RI in hopes grabbing a Rocker for LRC the next day but the rains subsided and Rock Island was running till 10AM plus Daddy’s Creek was still pumping! After a lengthy surf session on Brave wave at 3600 followed by a 90 minute drive Stephen, Nick, Emily, Owen, and Hunter put on at 2.9 on the Antioch Bridge – most of us in our All-stars just in case there was some play. And there was! Most of it was just wave-wheel, kickflip, and macho move downstream action but there were tons of little cartwheel holes and waves to surf along the way. Rattlesnake required a quick scout, but the holes were mainly flushing so despite the incredibly pushy lead-in we all ran through fine. The section just downstream was one quality piece of whitewater at this level – pushy and continuous but the holes were all punchable and undercuts mainly off to the side. We hit DBT in about 2 hours.

Woke up yesterday thinking of a day off, but around 11 Stephen and I were driving back to Crossville for some more Daddy’s Creek at 1.8” – slower but more creeky and still fun. Another great day on the water in this short but sweet reprieve from the drought.