October: A Cornucopia of Fall Images

Typically, October is one of the driest months in the southeast. But this year, we have been getting steady rains and the paddling has been fantastic. There has not been any one excursion that specifically has brought down the house, perhaps more of a slow whitewater marination in both the subtle and profound changes that take place this time of year. From the hints of greenish yellow to the post peak orange and brown, we have been out and about this month, harvesting all we can, to further our bellies in anticipation of leaner times, which El Nino threatens to bring this winter.

So here's a barrage of images depicting just some of the ways we have been participating in the changes this fall.

Abrams Creek, late September

Clear Creek Canyon, a few colors coming in

Same

Side Canyon to Clear Creek

Same

Brandon Hughett, Clear Creek Canyon

Brandon on Jack's Rock, Clear Creek Canyon

Brian Mills, Crooked Fork with proper flows

Nick Barron, Crooked Fork

Lower Potters

Upper Potters

Nick Barron stroking away from a disgusting hole on Crooked Fork

Nick charging down to the Emory

Some midget tried to peddle a windshield off on us at the Caney Fork put in.

Nate Helms boofing a ledge early on, Caney Fork

Byron Sambat taking water quality samples at Devil's Kitchen

Knoxville contingent, typical boogie on Caney Fork

Lots of scenic flatwater with mysterious springs bubbling in here and there

Looking under the couch cushions for a missing kayak

The rocks on the Caney Fork are hungrier than the holes

Nick Barron, why don't you show us the next item up for bids?

Playing hard!

Family trip to the little

Laura Eddlemon illustrates "the boof"

My wife is a badass.

Trey Coleman, the boofing banker

Smoky Mountain Scenery

One of the best things about fall boating is the leaves in the water.

Laura high on the Little

Tunnel Rapid on the Little River

Decisions, decisions

This shot is pretty corny

Tradition, from the earth to the next generation

Raisin 'em right

The highly coveted Linville-Copia. Paddling Linville during the fall colors is the ultimate sensory overload experience in the southeast!

The only thing better than Linville in the fall is high water Linville in the fall.

Eli jumping into Babel Tower's chaos shortly before deeming the level too high

Streamside scene

All colors great and small

Its always over too quick.

Satisfaction

Alexanders biggest vertical climb yet, 1750 feet to Rich Mountain.

Well, Daddy helped a little. The colors were epic this day.

East Rim Big South Fork overlook

Don't forget to stop and take in the little moments that come your way this fall.

Devils Postpile Cheat Codes Now Available!

Tired of being too big of a pussy to run the Middle Fork of the San Joaquin? Are you sick of hanging out at the Upper Tuolomne after your Upper Cherry run waiting for the Kings to drop down to saner flows? Fear not.

From the people who brought you the new independent kayakers manifesto, the people who told you "yes you can(with the proper planning and portaging)", and the persons responsible for the detested and quickly forgotten brief resurgence of the Chimp Method on the Green River in NC, yes yes yes....

We here at gorgedout would love to introduce to the loose and leary out there, The Devils Postpile for Pussies!

Now in all seriousness, the Middle Fork of the San Joaquin is one of the coolest places I have been. It is awesome and with proper planning and homework, it can be accessible to more than just the rockstars and athletes. Yes, that's right, even the slightly in shape nine to fivers can make an appearance with full intentions of coming out the other end, given a few simple precautionary measures are taken.

The origin of the methods described herein source from an ill fated attempt at booking flights for the Middle Kings 3 weeks in advance. Luckily, with some creativity, there is bona fide quality multiday whitewater available in California from May through July most years, with guarantee of said experience at least through the Middle Kings time frame. So while we blew it on the Kings this year (next year we will just eat it and book the flight 3 days in advance) we had to make the best of things. With word a week out that West Cherry was still going, we figured Upper Cherry would be about right upon arrival, but this would leave a serious void on the posterior portion of the trip. The Kings would be too high, and the North San Joaquin too low.

Now many a gnarly knight hath head into the postpile in the past few years during the flow gap between the Cherry and the Kings, but this has consistently led to terrified experiences staring death in the face due to the precariously sketchy confines of a few gorges on the run that do NOT handle high water well. However, the first half of the trip always ends up being optimum at high flows, excepting one little gorge. So when I was sitting on the computer a few days out, knowing that we needed to come up with a plan, I started investigating the idea of running the MF San Joaquin anyway, and just doing some creative avoidance techniques to bring the risk back down into the range of "wife and kids at home" territory.

First of all, I found out where all the water level sensitive gorges were, with there being two that were the real issue. The first is the boof-o-matic gorge on the upper part of the run, which we would have to find a way around. Though it contains one of the best drops in the sierra, it also has a tight succession of unscoutable and unportageable ledge holes that at high flows are hard and quite deadly. This first stretch of concern is only around 200 yards long and immediately dumps into a relatively open valley below, where Fish Creek drops in. But this gorge is some of the most walled in and sheer stuff in the sierra, so it looked like if we could just get over to Fish Creek, we could run the last mile of Fish, which is decent and would be a second descent of some fun drops.

Its amazing what you can do with Google Earth, USGS topo maps, and the blogosphere at large. Between these three resources, I have full confidence to drop into various entrenchments in the US with little to no personal experience. It is as close to exploring as I get. So using these tools, I discovered that around a mile or a little more above the Fish Creek confluence, there is what appears to be some type of fault related weak point that cuts through the mighty ridge separating the San Joaquin and Fish Creek. Not only that, the gradient gain from the river to the highest point on the cut through was only 250 feet, and it reached this somewhat gently, before flattening through some understory and tree growth and plopping out on the other side right at the beginning of the interesting stuff on Fish Creek. So this was to be our first bypass.

The second problem with running the Devils Postpile at 700-1000 cfs on Mammoth Pool Inflow was the crucible gorge. I fully believe that at 400-600(normal flows) this gorge would be quite reasonable, but from many accounts at high flows, it has become apparent that doing it high would be a risk and a mistake. Sure it would maybe work out, but it has become well known as an out of control and dubious undertaking for better boaters than I.

As far as I can tell, without extensive climbing gear, there is no way to portage the crucible. Even wrapping around the lower back end of Balloon Dome brings you to big cliff bands before dropping into the South Fork. So given the situation and likely high flows, hiking out above the crucible seemed like the way to go. Luckily there is a trail crossing right above the first set of portages that lock you into the crucible, so this would prove a convenient exit, just when the fire starts getting too hot. In fact, most of the portages are in the stretch between this hike out and the South Fork, so energy expended on the hike out wouldn't totally trump schlepping boats around granite domes and through sketchy friction climb portages. We also decided that if the flows dropped below 600-700 and cool temps dominated the forecast, we could go all the way to the lake.

So the plan was established, and after a post Upper Cherry celebration in Groveland, we discussed our plan and made the call to do it. Amazingly, we half convinced Tim Kelton that we were in fact not misinformed and overzealous fools and that maybe this wouldn't be a complete portage-grovel fest. Afterall, the heresay on this run is thick and discouraging. Tom was convinced it would be misery, but humored the idea none the less. Jim trusts me, which may not be a good thing, and Tim was understandably skeptical that this would turn out to be anything resembling a quality experience. Yes, all the makings of an adventure. Uncertainty, vague maps and beta, stubborness, optimism, and finally, a shuttle driver. Because to do this run you gotta drive from one side of the mountains across Tioga Pass to the dry side and down, then back up through Mammoth to Devils Postpile National Monument.

Keith wasn't able to commit to the Kings trip, but had driven out to California anyway and was willing to run our shuttle on whatever trans-sierra run we ended up on. He drove up from L.A. and ran the heinous shuttle and then drove back. We really appreciated him doing this, and he has much goodness coming his way. We couldn't have done it without you Keith. Wish you could have been there man.

Hey, you guys wanna go kayaking? What, It's dark?

We rolled in to the monument around 8pm for a classic start. Keith was going to drive off the minute we were unloaded, so there was no point in hanging around. We got our gear loaded in about 15 minutes and began the easy 1.5 mile hike downhill through the monument to Rainbow Falls, our indicator of how things would be. Rainbow looked like it does in 7 rivers , but maybe a little higher than other recent runs.

Plenty of water

It was almost dark now, and we kept trudging down to lower falls and put in at the base, not wanting any moonlight class 5 action. We rolled around the bend and into Ansel Adams Wilderness and bedded down on a big bend in the river. We killed a bottle of wine I bought in Mammoth and went to sleep, waking frequently in the night to scrape frozen dew that clung to our bags. I woke up at one point with my hair froze to my drybag. I was using it for a makeshift pillow and it started collecting water and freezing. Needless to say, this was good for flows.

We awoke in the morning, cooked some oatmeal, and put on. We got a good 100 yards of class 2 under our belts before we reached what was obviously the sketchy gorges that people walk high on the right. The first one has been run with little success, and it had a morbid Black Canyon flavor, but with fewer eddies in it.

Looking upstream at the nasty first little gorge

A sidecreek came in 200 yards downstream on the right, allowing a brief drop down to river level before a second climb for the longer main slog along domes, with occasional forays into the manzanita.

Taking a break from the big portage

All in all, if I hadn't lost a drybag somewhere along the way and didn't have to retrace the entire mile I had just portaged to find it, this mile long portage only takes around an hour, and you can drop down relatively soon to start boating. You could drop in earlier than we did, or even go river level below the first gorgette, but it would take longer. We dropped in 2 or 3 rapids above the classic double drop, and got a long portageless stretch that lasted all the way to the next gorge. The first few rapids were pretty awesome, and there seemed to be plenty of water.

Golden Stroke Nominee?

Double drop is one of the signature rapids on the run, and it has all the makings of a full course drop. Aesthetic, classic crossgrain to boof move, serious hole below, and TIGHT!

Jim has a stomping problem

We all had different lines, but Tom's was the best for pictures.

Hmmmm...

OK, he lived. Moving on.

We almost wanted to hike back up again, but it seemed way too early to be getting cavalier at this point. Below here there were some slightly junky but challenging and fun mank for a good distance.

Random Boogie

At a sharp right bend the bottom appeared to drop out, and it was getting late. Tim and Tom scouted down the left while Jim and I checked the right. What we found was a long and committing gorge with hard rapids and one unrunnable drop near the top. Everything else looked awesome, and further down we came upon the pothole to slide rapid that is one of the many "Tommy Only" drops on the postpile, though one of the more doable. The seal launch to slide looked good, and the runout gorge was totally walled in and unscoutable from river level. The river left crew signalled the "better look from here", and with that we reconvened at the top. Since it was late, we decided it best to carry all our camping gear down to the bottom of the gorge, but leave our paddling gear at the top. This way we could scout it on the way down to camp, and then run ultralight in the morning.

From our little camping spot at the bottom, we cooked over an open fire and gazed up at the Milky Way though our little slit in the granite, and I couldn't stop thinking about how that gorge appeared in the evening light, and how quality and intense it looked. Upper Cherry was awesome, but this was what really got me fired up. Not all rivers have the coincidental permissiveness to paddling that Upper Cherry does, and sometimes the most valid river experiences and the ones that leave the longest lasting impressions, are those where the river is not always your friend. Rivers afterall, are in pure nature, indifferent to our preferences, and as such, can vary from brutally raw to iconically perfect, but only within the scope of the human construct. Ultimately, beyond the shallow classifications of man, the river just IS. And just as any other, the MF San Joaquin most certainly IS. To see such a quality and full scale paddling environment such as the gorge we were camping below, in contrast to the sieve piles above double drop we had toiled around, is to appreciate the privilege and honor that the earth gives that any of these steep terrains can be descended in a kayak, on and in the water. We went to sleep anticipating mission mode in the morning.

The next morning we got moving back up to the boats after a full river left scout of the gorge.

We almost ran the first series, which had a killer looking boxed in hole. The set looked sweet, but we conservatively portaged the top bulk and launched for the last pinch. Next was a quick portage around a sieve and then a big burly rapid that would have looked better with maybe a little less flow. Daniel Delavergne stomped this thing in Seven Rivers, but none of us were feeling like a rockstar. We did run a nice triple slide and then a folding drop before getting back out to mosey around the pothole section of the big slide.

Jim below the triple slide

At the big slide, we seal launched in on the right, and all had varying lines on the slide. Tim was last, which meant he had to make a little birds nest of sticks and such so as to not prematurely slide in. It was intense watching from below. What an awesome rapid though.

Sorting things out at the big slide

Jim sliding in

Things are getting interesting

Yes, its that good in here.

It dropped us into a vertical walled gorge and we all ran various lines that we had picked from the rim earlier in the morning.

Got everything we need here. Creamy.

We got out right above Clay Wright's rapid and walked around. This one looks innocuous, and makes you question your ability to spot hazards on a river. She's always in charge.

Right below was the series of chunky slides we slept next to the night before. While not seeming like a big deal that evening, the following morning they gave us a run for our money. But Tim and I being the cool cats we are, elected to run backwards, a hot new move that will gain popularity very soon.

Tom, running it regulars.

It is here that we began the approach to the first crack in the earth gorge. The approach consists of 3 really fun and low stress slides. The first was wide and slow, the second channellized into a fast and frumpy sluice, and the third appeared to go 300 yards before dropping out of sight near a tributary downstream.

Jim on low angle slide number two

Author on the same

Getting out above the long slide

Knowing that once we dropped the last slide we would be river level only, and then around the bend not able to get out, we hiked around the dome on the right and planned our routes and camera angles.

Even the scouting was a little scary

We spent a while doing this, and split into teams of two for the gorge. Below the most brainless and fun slide ever, we portaged a sketchy 20 footer into a little gorgette above the waterfall rapid.

Upper deck view of the long easy slide

Long slide from river level

Once again, a Tommy rapid here. It starts with a trib cascading in on the left, and ends with a second one coming in on the left, but it is the river in between these two features that is of concern.

Tim hovering upstream of the portage

We did what ended up being a stout little portage on the right over and through some convenient boulders that had slid into the canyon. After puting back in, we entered a completely scoured bedrock gorge with walls to the sky and turned around a bend to the right, totally walled in, no way out, with only mist and treetops downstream. You gotta love it.

Luckily we had scouted and found that it was all California class 4, with a few sliding drops ending in a sweet 22 foot off vertical waterfall.

Fun bedrock action leading into...

This ended the first crack in the earth and began a 2 mile stretch of stout but manageable class 4 boating through boulder fields and ledge gardens. After a few more bends we started getting curious about where exactly our cut over would come in, as we were hastily approaching the boof-o-matic gorge. After a few map sessions, we homed in on where we were, and ran some more fun class 4-4+ read and run before getting out on the left and beginning the Fish Creek bypass.

The first 150 feet of the route was open rock face with decent footing, but as we approached the little notch in the wall, the understory started closing in. Once flattened out in the gap, it got pretty thick for 10-15 minutes, but soon enough we were out the other side into the gently rolling fields that nestled us down to the banks of Fish Creek. The camping wasn't the greatest, but it was a scenic spot and we did a little fishing before calling it a day and saving Fish Creek for the morning.

At this point I was getting quite used to sleeping down in a gorge. I love it. In such a topographically dramatic place, the lighting is always changing, especially at night. Sometimes I would sit up and just look around, amazed that I could see so well with such contrast. And then I would lie down to sleep for a while, wake back up, and come to find that the moon had shifted and created an entirely new combination of shadows and light to take in. I miss those nights already. You only get so many of those.

We woke up in the morning to the usual routine of breakfast and slow moving. Why be in a hurry in places like this? Once geared up, we started taking apart the short and steep stretch on Fish Creek. It starts with a dechannellized waterfall before tightening up into a little gorge with a few good drops.

Fish Creek at fish flows

The first is a nice 10-15 foot sloper with a lip near the bottom, and then bottles down into some Colorado-esque "stuff" into the big triple drop rapid.

Nice 15 footer

This is the big one on the creek, and Jim was the only one feeling frisky this early in the morning. Watch out ladies! He greased the whitewater line, and I made a real loud ruckus seal launching the green pool below the drop.

We headed through some SE style (read low water) creeking before wrapping around the corner to the last drop/gorge on the run. This one was a great sliding entry to a 12 foot drop with a hole and a wall on the right. The creek then exited through a nice little mini gorge with laterals galore. The MF San Joaquin came back in around the corner, so we had successfully avoided getting our panties in a wad on the main stem.

Now we were on a river. The flow was ample, and between here and Cassidy Bridge we enjoyed 8+ miles of glorious class 4-5 boating. We portaged once out of fear, and twice out of neccesity, but other than those brief jaunts, the entire stretch was one quality rapid after another. Boofs, slots, holes, wavetrains, minigorges, boulder rapids, and all kinds of other features kept things fresh. None of it was fringe or scary, just consistently challenging and rewarding.

We all got trounced in this one, except Tim

Things calmed down for a while as we drifted a few calm miles though beautiful Pine Flats. The first gorges ended up being a warm up for what lay below the North Fork confluence. Here the river gained more flow before entering the "class 4" gorge of the run, or the "high water mark gorge" as it is also known. This stretch started with a totally walled in flat stretch before turning the bend and entering a series of hard to scout and likely unportageable rapids. But they weren't scary or hard enough to be fully stressfull. It was just what we were looking for. A few were a little intense, but mostly just lots of fun.

Entering the high water mark gorge

Catching an eddy above a big sieve

Below this gorge things opened back up at Miller's Crossing, where a long flat pool and a cabin marked the crossing. This would be a great spot to camp, but we rolled on a few miles down to our takeout at Cassidy Bridge. These few miles had a few class 4+ suprises, but for the most part, was just a great float trip through epic scenery.

Once at camp, we set up and checked out the footbridge where the trail crosses. Standing on the bridge, you can look downstream and peer into the enticingly stunning entrance to the Balloon Dome gorges. A mile down is the crucible, and it starts it's walled in nature here, right below our exit. It was hard looking down in there and not continuing, but this further affirmed my conviction to come back at a lower flow one day and do the whole thing.

They all float down here

We enjoyed triple portions of food, killing off any unwanted weight in consideration of the hike out in the morning, and stayed up late reflecting on the trip up to this point.

We got moving a little quicker than usual in the morning, not wanting the heat of the day to beat down on the majority of our hike. I was prepared for absolute hell, but after the Upper Cherry hike in, and several days of exercise, the hike went well, and was much more scenic than the Upper Cherry hike. We made it up in 4 hours, and it was not a bad hike. I would do it again for sure.

View of the river from the hike out, around a mile and a half in.

Balloon Dome, Jim's Dome

Balloon Dome towering over the Crucible Gorge

The prominent brow in the distance is below the South Fork confluence

After chilling our wrecked bodies in Granite Creek for an hour, we loaded up and headed back to Groveland, saying goodbye to Tim, who was due back in Santa Fe. That night we ate well, drank a bit, and fell asleep with plans for a rendezvous with some of Jim's friends for a morning run on Cherry Creek section of the Tuolomne before our flight back home. The Tuolomne was a world class stretch of class 4-5, and it had plenty of flow and was very continuous. What an awesome staple to have in California. It was also nice to boat without weight in the kayak.

Looking back, the run we did on the MF San Joaquin was anything but a portage fest, and all said, we spent almost 4 days enjoying this place. It has some of the best whitewater I have run, both steep river, and steep creek style, and the scenery and dynamics of the place is second to none. I can only imagine what it is like to continue through the Great Corridor around Balloon Dome and through the crucible. Maybe next year. After the Middle Kings of course. God that hike would have just murdered me.

Back home the whole trip seems like it went by so quick. They go by quicker every year. It has been 2 weeks since I got back and I still am not inclined to paddle. Still just marinating in the past experience. Who knows where we will go next year, but it will be good once again, and hopefully another life changing experience as well.

Finally, I would like to extend a huge THANKS to Tim Kelton and Tom Janney for giving me permission to use their photos on this blog. I doubt it would have been worth writing anything at all without the top notch photos they gave me to use. Thanks again guys.

Upper Cherry Creek: Is Disneyland Really This Scary?

That's what I am pondering when staring down the barrell of THE signature California granite gorge, recalling that more than a few people out there had used the "Disneyland" comparison when attempting to paint the picture of Upper Cherry Creek. While the run is just laced with relatively brainless bedrock goodness and drops, there is a bit of "real deal" in there too.

I haven't been to Disneyland, but if it is anything like this place, then I can see the reference much more clearly. From the brink, it looks like the shelf tilts a little to the pocket side of things, and my lower level scout on the right wall confirms this to a greater degree. Well, this is what we do. We didn't fly across the continent and endure all the logistical and physical burdens neccesary to just skip the main event, the big golden feather. Plus, it looks alot easier to float downstream than it is to portage back up to the top of the gorge and around.

No need to watch everyone else's lines. The line is obvious. Left. Preferably without any flipping, hole surfing, pocket loitering, or other even less recommended activities. In the boat now. Go Rolf, I can't wait any longer.............is he good?....... OK. Here we go.....Boof...Sliding, don't lean upstream....Uh Oh, leaned upstream....Flying through the air hairy side down....How did we end up in this mess? ....................

It all started with plans for Middle Kings that were pacted in a Nashville Airport bar awaiting our flight to BC last summer. Flows ended up being higher than we wanted upon arrival, and Upper Cherry was just coming in. No small consolation here. Everyone knows Upper Cherry is the most quality creeking on the planet. We'll just make it a mellow trip instead. Tom Janney, Jim Janney and I rolled up to the takeout and met up with Will Rawstrom from Vail, Tim Kelton from New Mexico, and cutting edge tuber Rolf Kelly, also from New Mexico.

The hike is rough. Maybe it was coming off of 3 weeks of the couch. Maybe I was out of shape. Maybe I got too hasty of a start and then bonked. OK, it was all of the above. It took 6 hours to get to the top, and I was feeling it.

Jim, all too casual.

Needless to say, as we dropped through Styx Pass and down to Lord Meadow, the exhileration and anticipation of what lay downstream quickly whisped away any pain and discomfort. Luckily everyone waited for me.

We threw our gear on and ran down the first long set of slides to our camp. Oh yeah, it felt good sliding down smooth granite with cold refreshing water splashing you in the face. This was how it was going to be. Fine by me.

Slip Sliding Away

Jared Johnson joined us that evening, and would be instrumental in our expedient travel through the bowels of the run the next morning. He has done the creek a whole lot, and assured us a "mellow" loaded boat cruise through the Cherry Bomb.

Moon Camp

Sunset

The first many miles of the run were a blurr of sometimes manky, sometimes not, bedrock slides. Some that went for really long distances.

Morning Meditation

We all portaged the Gorilla drop, not wanting to dash our chances at the more classic drops downstream. The Class 4 Gorge was totally not class 4, but what do you expect? If it had been class 4, that would have been a big let down.

Class 4

Rolf on the same

Below here was our little break before committing to the Cherry Bomb series below. We scouted the long gradient filled rapid below and then hopped in, running some great drops into the big pond above Cherry Bomb Falls.

Chunky double ledge

Tom, writing a check his butt ended up cashing downstream.

No turning back now

And now we are back to where we left off at the beginning of the story. Let's see, as I recall, I was flying through the air on a serious edge. Landing upside down, I finally got to test my eskimo roll I had been working on all summer at the local club pool session. While rolling up, I remember the ecstatic inner dialogue of "Yay! Not in the pocket". With the clearing of the water from my eyes and vision returning came the sharp reallity that I would be dropping into the weir sideways with no forward drive in approximately one second. After a brute left sweep off the drop and a flutter of right strokes, I worked out of the hole, into the eddy, and was happy to be below this thing. It wasn't pretty, and I was pretty pissed I botched the line.

Doesn't look so horrible in the picture. Why did I say anything?

About this time, Jim came down with a great line, so I dropped down a few ledges to make room for the others.

Smartass Flight 413 coming in for landing.

The other interesting line of the group came from Tom, who also flipped upon landing the main drop. The best part was his decision to get stuck in the weir with his visor completely folded down on his face. This, now that all is well, is most hilarious. At the time however, I can't imagine that anyone thought it was going to go well. Once he finally surfed out, it was the most crucial game of Marco Polo I had ever seen. Good stuff, this Tom Janney. All I could hear was "Where do I go?" accompanied with blind swiping of blades, followed by Jim and Rolf beckoning for Tom to paddle to his left into the eddy they shouted from.

Rolf in the "runout"

Once reassembled, we began routing down the runout, trying to remember which step of the Middle-Middle-Middle-Left-Left-Left-RIGHT! sequence Jared had given us we were blundering into. It went well for us, excepting a few cartwheel sessions by some of the guys. Then we ran down the big slide to teacups warmdown into Flintstone Lake. It was noon, so we had plenty of time to get more laps on the teacups, which combined with napping and squeezing water bottle filters, is what the rest of the day consisted of.

God's Country

On a technical note, having a water bottle filter as your sole source of water purification guarantees yellow piss for the whole trip. I will bring an MSR pump filter in the future, a little more weight, hours less of squeezing.

Following are some teacup shots from the afternoon and following morning:

Rolf on a late afternoon stroll down memory lane.

The next morning, we sorted out the Double Pothole Gorge, which to me, just wasn't looking appetizing. We ran the Grove Tube, then the "20 footer" and I hiked the dome on the left and set safety for the rest of the crew on the main drop.

Tim Kelton submitting to gravity

Expecting to Fly

Exiting the "20 footer" that I swear, is a 30 footer.

Stalling above the unavoidable entrance to Double Pothole

Everyone greased it, leaving me with that familiar feeling. Yes you know what I mean. Next time. But off to the waterfall gorge next. This was a tighter stacked and more walled in version of the teacups upstream, and is truly the epitome of what I look for in boating.

Heaven on Earth?

Loving it, but not enough to go really big, most of us portaged around Kiwi and Deadbear. Rolf was on fire, and decided that portaging was not what Upper Cherry was all about. He ran Kiwi before commencing a long scout of the Dead Bear.

Rolf "I'm normally in a tube" Kelly

Preferring water in his lines, he opted out of the seal launch on the right and bossed his way down the left side all the way from the top, before fading off the high side back down and to the right into a perfect pitched melt into the flow on the right. This was one of the more impressive things done in a boat that I have seen.

From here down to West Cherry the run was really scenic class 3-4, with amazingly clear and deep pools, alternating with granite domes and huge stands of trees. The most subtle, yet commanding contrast between the east and the west is the size of the trees. Don't get me wrong, I love our trees back home, but there is nothing like staring 150 feet up at the tops of giant trees. Big place, big experience. After West Cherry snuck in on the right, things got more interesting with a sizable drop followed by a cool but manky gorge. This gorge opened up into the home stretch to the lake, which had 2 excellent minigorges, the second of which ended up being pretty stout. Upper Cherry Creek is truly good to the last drop.

From the top of the class 4 gorge to the bottom of Dead Bear Falls is 2 miles. This is most assuredly the highest quality and most amazing stretch of creek I have ever paddled. To run everything in it must be a truly satisfying "full circle" type of experience. Paddling with the guys from the Rockies really enriched the experience, and after pounding a few beers, we all reconvened in Groveland to discuss the next move over some raw buffalo steaks. California really is so good.

Will and Rolf, conveying the vibe of the run.

From left to right, Tim, Tom, Jim, Rolf, Will, author.

Finally, I didn't have a camera on this trip, and am completely bogarting off of Tim Kelton and Tom Janney for all pics posted on this post. Without them, the trip would be alot harder to remember in the years to come. Thanks so much for letting me use these pictures guys.

Exploring the Hidden Gorges of the Linville Wilderness

Out of all the places in the southeast that have been on the list to explore in a kayak, none have been as high priority as a small creek hidden from view, yet a stone's throw from one of the more popular mountain temples in the region. Linville Gorge is truly the standout locale in the area for west-esque grandeur and scale, and being protected and laced with outdoor opportunities, it is a mecca for climbers, kayakers, hikers, and fishermen. If you want to get "down in it" in the south, the 'Ville is the place to be immersed.

While hikers/grovellers have truly scoured the main gorge, and paddlers frequent the Linville River at the bottom, the east flanks of Table Rock and Hawksbill, which bring up the river left side of the gorge, have remained relatively untapped from a paddling perspective. While all the creeks to the east of NC181 have been thoroughly explored, Upper, Harper, Lost Cove, Gragg, and Wilson, the headwaters of Upper Steels Creek have been sitting right in the shadow of Table Rock all this time. A new world lies within the shadows here, in the way of two incredibly steep and impressive gorges.

We found out about this place the same way we have found out about most other remote pockets in North Carolina. Rich Stevenson's awesome website, http://www.ncwaterfalls.com/, is no secret around here, and is probably the number one tool I have used to locate many of the obscure places I have explored in the mountains of Western North Carolina. There is a picture on this site of the last falls in the lower gorge of Upper Steels Creek, and immediately upon seeing this update, we headed over shortly thereafter to scope the whole scene out.

When we hiked in one winter, what we found was a double scoop of some of the steepest and most fringe drops in the southeast. There are two gorges separated by a few hundred yards of flatwater. The first one was really awesome looking and seemed to be the more reasonable of the two. The second one is like a direct product of what would happen if Caveman on the Raven Fork and Landbridge on the Toxaway were to procreate. Both gorges are steep, with the first one dropping around 100 feet in a few hundred yards. But the second gorge, what we are referring to as "The Kamikaze" gorge, must drop that gradient in 100 yards. To take it in is quite overwhelming. If it wasn't runnable, the whole scene would be easier to swallow, but the runnability tempts your stomache with the nauseatingly compulsive emotions of "what if?" and "I got this".

Fast forward a few years to now. We had knocked off many of the explorations we had on the list, but Upper Steels had been knawing at us for years. It always ran on a weekday, it was always too far for the time we had, and on top of that, I had oversold it as such a scary place that volunteers were few and far between.

Finally, I had a day to burn, and though water levels had already peaked in the area, I suspected that due to the channellized nature of the creek, and the fact that everything else had been blown out the day before, we would be able to at least see it with some flow and get a better idea of what the feasibility of a full flow run would be. Keith Sprinkle was, is, and will always be in for some out of the box thinking and was more than interested in soaking in a new sense of place.

Keith, rock, water

I will say this. If the paddle in at the top is a good flow, ie what you normally would expect to have for a good paddle on a creek, stop. Get out of your boat and hike back to your car and go run the Gragg Prong! This run takes much less water than the other creeks that flow into Wilson Creek. Our paddle in was NOT encouraging. But as soon as we rounded the bend to the entrance of the first gorge, the cobbles disappeared, welcoming a fairyland of channelized granite.

The first gorge starts with an awesome set of little teacups that then fan out onto a fun 20 foot slide with a nice kick at the bottom. The view from the top was perfection. It was the river bed of South Silver amidst the lush and humid setting of the high mountain southeast.

Teacups

Slide below Teacups

The yellow dot is Keith

After boofing and sliding down this sweet start, we ran another nice boof to slide and then got out at the big drop of the top gorge.

Nice boof to slide

The view was for sure epic. A tight, calm corridor led into a crack of 15 feet that then roared right into a stout bedrock series before disappearing around a twisting precarious turn.

Inspecting the crack rapid.

Beyond, all that could be seen was distant granite walls, and tree tops. With only two people, we skipped the crack and slid in carefully for the bedrock entrance to what was to be the highlight drop of our run that day.

Entrance to "The Beverly Hillbilly"

After speeding way too fast down the entrance into a microeddy at the lip, I took a deep breath and then paddled off of a 30-35 foot steep sliding drop that landed in a wall. The room from the landing to the wall was barely enough for a tight airplane turn upon impact, and it went just as I had dreamed it would for so many seasons. It feels so good to find something, plan it out, do the homework, wait for the timing, mobilize, assess, and pull the trigger.

Note to self, turn right at the intersection!

The drop was very similar to Wall Drug on Tatlow Creek, except you don't have to run it if you don't want to, and it may have been a little tighter.

Keith in the runout

After paddling down the lazy river hallway below the drop, we exited the first gorge and began banging down low water to the next pitch. We eddied out on the right and got out at the top of The Kamikaze Gorge. Keith's expression tells the whole story.

Epic.

There are two rapids in this gorge separated by a completely walled out giant pool. The first drop is a vision quest of moves and features, and is most certainly runnable. It starts with a 10 foot boof and a must make turn in the air to 8 foot clap. Then the bedrock rushes into the final tier, where the flow breaks right into the inside of the turn where potholes await. A crisp popping drive over the left brim will deliver the crazy person who is first to run this down a nice 20-25 foot slide into the halfway pool above the next huge drop, The Fringe.

Looking down, down, down, into Kamikaze Gorge

Entrance move

We are calling the next drop "The fringe" quite simply because it is. This drop didn't look good years ago at base flow, as it slides steeply and chaotically down into a wall, with no crossgrain options to remove one's self from harm. In the flow is the only place to go.

The Fringe from the base on river right

With even the small volume of water we had, this lower gorge was stout, with The Fringe building a nice cushiony boil on the wall, and a raised pool level. It goes! Sitting below this gorge is, along with sitting at the top of Windy Falls, and in between Landbridge and Wintergreen, the most epic of spots in this quadrant of the country.

The overwhelmingly impressive "Kamikaze Gorge" from the bottom

Stacked and jacked, this gorge needs to be paddled. But with dinner plans, being short staffed, and not feeling so "fringe", we took the Mountains to Sea trail around and then dropped to the base of The Fringe.

Below The Fringe, the creek still had one more long set of solid goodness. It starts right up with a nice series of stacked ledges amidst an intense backdrop.

Seems like he is always waving to the camera. Showoff.

Breathing it in

Then after a short pool there was a nice and fluffy 10-12 foot waterfall.

Keith at the base of the waterfall

This waterfall then led into a football field length slide in the wall kind of affair, with some interesting features at the bottom. We performed the volleyball net maneuver right above the last short stretch, which looked a little abusive, but the rest was "right proper" as some would put it.

Coming into the last tier

Raincheck

This butt crack of a canyon dropped us into an immeasurably deep pool, where we exited the hidden confines from above into the more open and typical nature of the lower.

This pool is at least 30-40 feet deep!

There was still one good long, blind slide that was fun, before the creek gentled to Wilson Creek type boogie to the takeout.

Looking back, this place is a must see for any paddler or hiker that doesn't mind a little bit of work for a seldom seen reward. The section we paddled was right up there with the more substantial places in North Carolina. Also, while we did walk the bottom stretch of insanity, it is certainly runnable, and considering people have run Garden of the Gods, this stretch is much more appealing, satisfying, and runnable for that matter. With a solid crew, unlimited time, and the right attitude, I am interested in going back and running the rest. Everything on the run is runnable, and if the whole thing was run top to bottom, I would say that it is maybe the hardest and most impressive creekboating in the southeast.

Mission accomplished, but there are still scraps left on this dinner table. Big, full course, where are the tums kinda scraps.

Can't wait to go back in!

First Descent! Jennings Creek

We all thought that the spring rains were coming to an end. The leaves were out, it was 80 degrees everyday, and hope for any more good storm systems dropped out along with the watertable. But just when it seemed that the sweltering valley summer had arrived, yet another system, bigger than any this year, got churning in the gulf plains. What followed was 3 days straight of solid rains, lighting the Tennessee Valley afire with floodwaters, providing more amazing flows. Main stems hit levels not reached in more than three years.

Our first trip out led us to the swollen Sequatchie Valley, in search of more obscure fruits. With some creeks being flooded and others being too low, we found a perfect flow on Stone Coalbank Creek, which flows into Hicks Creek south of Dunlap, TN. The run basically has one really long and very steep set of big time class 5+ drops that had ultra severe consequences. We ran the first drop and portaged the rest, not wanting to pay up just yet. Unfortunately, that was the end of the bigger drops, but a decent paddle out followed, with some good water boofs and hole punching, as well as some interesting tree encounters. Overall, I wouldn't go back, but it was great to do once!

Later during the storm, an overnight downpour north of town focused attention to an anticipated first descent we had been scouting and eyeing for many years. Jennings Creek is in Royal Blue WMA, and not a place where one would expect class 5 creeks to reside, but alas, there is a full on stacked up juicy series of slides and drops set in this tight little watershed, and if you know how to get in there, it is well worth the effort, assuming the required deluge of rainfall is met with equally precise timing.

Tony on the flats up top

The hike in is around a mile and a half, and you end up puting in above or below a massive landslide/sieve combination. There is one good drop above here, but it barrels right into the portage.

Lead in to Landslide

The Landslide is just around this corner

Below the portage were 6 quality and sizable rapids. It starts with a sweet boof through a hemlock studded corner.

Hemlock Boof

Next was a blind and nasty boulder rapid with some serious gradient. Tony opted for the no scout first descent here. After Blind Tony we came up to the two big drops on the run, back to back big slides with tight lines and little slack in between. The first had a scary slot on the bottom left to avoid.

Entrance to Split Personality with Blind Tony in the background

Coming down the big slide

Ducking out to the right to avoid the slot

The second big slide had a juicy entrance to center clap onto a long slide that hit a big hole at the bottom. The water then broke left into a nasty rock so a hard drive to river right was neccesary.

Tony peering into Adult World

Tony, Adult World

Melting the hole

Meltdown #2

Around the bend from Adult World was a great little boof into a hallway, a smaller version of Midnight Hole, if you will.

The final drop into the confluence with Meadow Creek is a very tight undercut finesse move. Classic plateau servings here.

Running the Chunnell

Even though I had scouted it years ago and thought it would be hard, we were pleasantly suprised to find it hard and fun as well. All drops were run, and once at the confluence, we commenced militant bombing down an excellent mile plus of class 4-4+ boulder rapids, with boofs, holes, curls, a few undercuts, and a few sketchy log moves, Johnson City style. The pace was quick and continuous, and felt alot like a smaller version of Big Creek in the smokies. Other than the 2 barbed wire fences in the paddle out, the run was chilled out below the boogie stretch.

All in all, I think Jennings is a pretty good run, but there are some complicating factors that will never make it a regular classic. First of all, it takes alot of rain to run. You need a few inches to get good flows. And you don't want it too low or too high either. Tolerances are narrow. Finally, it just feels weird and wrong to drive north on I75 towards Kentucky when often other more high density and quality watersheds are blowing up to the south and west. But when the rains fall north and nowhere else, there is yet another fun creek with some sickness to pluck off north of town. Stay tuned for more updates.

The New Chattanooga Classic: Rock Creek

About a year ago, most Chattanooga boaters I talked to hadn't even heard of Rock Creek. If so, they were confusing it with the easy class 4 run up towards Dayton. But this is the Rock Creek that falls off of Lookout Mountain. A few guys knew of it and that it had been done, but other than that, there was nothing. Once again, another run that never got the full attention of boaters in Tennessee.

Access has been an issue since the run first started being picked off, as the land surrounding the creek is managed by the Lula Lake Land Trust. It hadn't been run in years, but while working in the area 2 years ago, I ventured into the canyon to find a beautiful and steep creek with many big rapids and drops. It was hard to tell how runnable it would be with flow, but from that moment on, I couldn't get Rock Creek out of my head.

About a year ago, it rained in Chattanooga around an inch or more. The Bear didn't come up, but Lookout Creek, which is the barometer for water conditions on the north side of the mountain, came up to 500 cfs. This was during a substantial drought, so a spike like that meant water was flowing on the surface and fast. Not being able to free anyone up for a run, I decided to go in solo, and take my time feeling out the place.

Since my first run, which was at a minimal flow, we sorted things out and came back a year later with medium-high flows. This level turned out to be even better, and I venture to say that 4-6 inches higher than this and every drop will be runnable. All of the pictures in this post are from the later high water trip.

There are two big drops at the top, the first one is around 25 feet and has a shallow landing, but can be run.

The second one is a 100 foot waterfall that is not good to go. The run starts below this big drop.

Puting in below the big drop is like riding the maid of the mist at Niagara. You can put your paddle in the air and sail across the pool from the downdraft. The run immediately kicks into 5th gear with the very first drop, which is one of the better rapids on the plateau. A double drop going into a low angle slide where a planing, hole punching turn is required halfway down before ducking under and through an undercut sliding corridor. The second drop of the double drop is an excellent 10 foot shoulder boof. What an awesome set.

Next is a section that will likely have some portages, but it could all be run with the right flows. First is a 15 foot jumble that is not runnable on the right, and dry on the left. You can wheelchair it, or do a slightly moving glorified seal launch. Next is a slot on the right where all the flow drives left into a horrible undercut. It currently has wood, making the line thinner than thin. The next drop is commonly run. The whole left side of the creek is no man's land, with sieves galore. Driving right through a crucial notch move puts you into a hanging eddy above a 15 foot drop that throws left onto a rock.

Driving right and dropping angle will yield a scary but tightly clean line. The next drop I ran the first time but no one ran the second. The creek runs down a broad low angle shelf and claps down a 15 foot waterfall, with the right and center being totally class 6. The only line is to drive hard left and further left still, being careful about not letting the clap throw you right into the center tombstone rock. The portage is on the right.

Then after a difficult boogie rapid you come to the steepest set on the run. Here is a sweet 10 foot sloper through a 2 foot wide slot in the middle of the creek.

This slot leads into the next and biggest drop on the run, Wet Dreams May Come. If you run it correctly, it is a no brainer, but if you somehow go down the right side, you will never be seen again, as this channel flows into the biggest sieve I have ever seen in person. Scraping down the left side to line it up safe is the way to go, and then all you lack is dropping 3 feet down a slab into the main drop, which is a 20-25 foot sliding waterfall that is just too much fun. A stout class 4 exit keeps you focused.

Below the big one, there is a nice garden leading into a bedrock ledge that you have to run right to left. You have to be real aggresive to avoid getting thrown right into a bad pin rock which has already seen some action just in the past month the creek has been seeing use.

Below here is a little portage that can be wheelchaired on the far left. After this, there are some nice ledges and boulder rapids before the final big one, Downward Spiral. This awesome ledge garden is almost like a spiral staircase winding clockwise from left to right.

It has 5 drops on it, with the first 2 being the more intense ones. This rapid is good ole fashioned boofing fun!

From here down the run calms, but not before a final slot that the creek channels into on the right. If it was 3 inches tighter no one would run it. But, as is, this slot is the perfect last drop. Below the last slot the run chills to class 3 and passes some nice homes on the left. Be quiet and move quickly, boofing a few dams and other drops. Then it is a mile paddle out down to Chattanooga Valley Road. Watch for a big logjam at the rail bridge.

Rock Creek is a great run. It has a solid half mile of class 5-5+, and some of the best scenery in the area. The rapids are similar to Morgan Creek, or a toned down Middle Creek. Moreover, the creek has a sizable watershed and is 10 minutes out of downtown Chattanooga. When the Bear is on the low to too low end, Rock will usually be at a perfect level.

The most important thing to remember about Rock Creek is that access is impermanent and delicate. For detailed info about access protocol, check http://www.waldensridgewhitewater.com/ . Here are some general guidelines:

The Land Trust is open the first and last Saturday of each month. DON'T run it on these days.

Don't run the 25 footer at the top, it is off limits.

Clean out trash in the gorge and pack it out if possible.

Don't be seen by ANYONE, other than fellow paddlers, in the gorge at all!

Be smart and considerate about shuttling, parking, and noise. Don't screw it up for everyone else.

Avoid leaving ANY cars on top of the mountain. Be low key.

The manager of the land who works for the trust is a really cool guy and wants us to be able to paddle in there. But it only takes a few assholes to ruin it for everyone. Follow the instructions on Waldens Ridge Whitewater for access. This involves notifying the caretaker a day or days in advance, filling out a waiver, and following all rules.

This ain't Suck Creek, in any way shape or form. Serious skills and a covert mindset are both mandatory. Enjoy the run for now.

Blue Ridge Mountains Finally Get Some Water!

Robert Bone, true spirit.

It must not be easy living in Asheville these days, well there is the Green, but mostly North Carolinians had been missing out on the seemingly weekly deluges that were gracing the TN/AL area for much of the new year. Finally things started getting pumped up, and with all the sandstone we had been paddling, it was decided that a week of paddling in North Carolina was just what would hit the spot.

A beautiful Sunday and everything on the AW page for North Carolina was blue and green. Choices are difficult during these circumstances. Ultimately it always get narrowed down to Linville or Raven Fork, with Jocassee sometimes mixing into the final group. Since Jim had never done Jocassee and Keith had never done Overflow, we settled on a double play down in the highlands.

We hit Overflow at a nice low level, and narrowly squeezed ahead of the hugest crowd I have ever seen on a creek like that. There must have been a hundred people out there.

Anyway, Overflow is one of the best creeks in the southeast, and could be the prettiest. We had ample time to hitch back up to the car and then work our way over to the Horsepasture.

With a flow of 0.3 on the gauge, the Horsepasture was at a good medium low level. We put on at 4pm at an undisclosed location that allowed passage over the sweet and oh so fast Bust Yer Butt falls, and then knocked the run out in an hour and a half. We hiked out in the dark, totally beat. We saw some other people looking for a certain member of the West Asheville 84 Lumber Contingent, who was reportedly missing in action on the hike out. Seems like everytime I am over there someone loses the way!

Later in the week I managed to get a solo Linville run at low water, which was a great workout. 3.5 miles of jogging, 1 mile hike in, 5 miles of boating and 1.5 miles of hike out in 3 1/2 hours. I was beat. It was 1.8 feet, which was minimal flow. I think 2.0 is a better low end, with 2.3 being solid and anything over 2.5 high water.

Finally, the next weekend, we opted to just settle on running the Raven Fork, which always seems like an easy and obvious option, but every time ends up being an unbelievable day. The cat is out of the bag and has been for some time, but I have to say again, Raven Fork is the best creek in the east.

We hiked in at a new location, spurring off of the Enloe Creek trail to put on half a mile upstream of the iron bridge. You get a little class 3-4 warm up for the stouts right below the bridge and more great scenery.

The Raven Fork from Enloe bridge down to Lord of the Rings is fantastic boating and great scenery. The first drop, I think it is called "All Riled Up" is a great rapid.

A sequence of shots of the 3 drops of Riled Up, from one vantage point

There is one portage due to wood being in there as long as I can remember, but otherwise the rapids are a delightful mix of boofs, sliding ledges, and boulder drops.

A fun slot drive

One of the best boofs in the SE!

Jim ran Fluffy, which is for sure one of the sickest drops on the whole river.

We always knew Jim was a fluffer.

Things got interesting at Anaconda, and while the video doesn't indicate this, there was an inaugural "sans boat" run of Headless. Note to self, always keep the camera running, even if you ARE worried someone is going to die! (Joke)

Here is some video from a few of these runs. Enjoy!

Overflow / Raven Fork from Kirk Eddlemon on Vimeo.