Little Eastoe, June 26, 2006

On Monday we got a ton of rain during the morning to mid. afternoon hours. With flooding going on around us Dad and I decided we should go after he gets off from work. At this point in the day most of the rivers had already spiked and where coming down but were still really high. When we got to Pickens some of the roads where closed off from Twelve Mile being flooded, so we took an alternate route which had a few other flooded rivers but they were not on the road. There is a possible first descent on Meece Mill road which is a broken dam/slide thing. When we got to Little Eastoe it was at the highest water level we had ever seen it, the water also smelled of poop. There was a bit of water going in the small usually dry far river right channel. We scouted and looked at the river for a while then set up the shuttle (Dad running the shuttle). We got down the steep trail to the river, just passed the guard rail and just keep going straight to the river. We put in and ran the first drop, Chelie, in the middle, also can be run left, caught an eddy and the moved on to drop number two. The second drop, Face Crusher, we ran middle but probably be funner left or middle left, caught another eddy then headed down the river again. There is a bit of class II boogie between here and Truck Stop. Truck stop is 4 stage narrow channel, fast moving drop. The first drop of Truck Stop is best run on right. The next S turn drop should be run right, to avoid pinning on rocks on left, with forward momentum and a right hand stroke to keep from getting pushed into the river right rock, pretty much just keep on going straight because the channel takes a right hand turn. The next drop of Truck Stop can be run any where. The next drop after that is an S turn at low level but today you could just run river right over a straight slide, if you run on far right have some left angle so you don't pin on the river right rock, but don't run to far in the middle because there is another rock to pin into. At this point I caught a small eddy on river right and made sure my dad was ok, he was but almost flipped under the overhang rock (drop #3). There is some class III- boogie between Truck Stop and Green Wave. Green Wave has a few curlers that keep you away from the river left undercut. With a few correctional strokes, to keep you from getting side ways, and a strong stroke to get you over the hole you should be fine. My dad ended up getting sideways the hole stuck him for a few seconds flipped him and ended up swimming because he thought threw the rest of the river it's shallow and you should just pull your skirt instead of trying a roll because the river is shallow and you may hit your head, but where he actually did flip he was in deep water. We ran Green Wave 3 more times each with clean lines before going home. At that point the water was going down fast and the hole at the bottom of Green Wave started to look less scary.

Chelie: III
Face Crusher:III
Truck Stop:IV
Green Wave:IV

Level: Medium-high
3-4 in. in the morning
The river was much higher in the morning-noon but was coming down pretty fast at the time we got there.

Nantahala River, June 23-25, 2006

Went camping with my mom, dad, and little sister at Tsali. Rained a bit on the way up but not much. When we past by the Chattooga it looked pretty dry. Got there Fri. night and set up camp and went to sleep.
The next morning we woke up ate breakfast and all. We randomly saw a guy walking past our camp with a Wren soccer shirt (the school I go to). It turned out to be Coach Anh which we knew mostly by connections of friends. He had moved up to Boone and was taking down some students of his. He lives near us now and we'll have to go paddling with him. He invited us to come along on the trip, we did. Some of the people from Boone new the Pepers and the Rubacars (hopefully that's their names), friends of my sisters. We headed down the river with Steve Anh, Skyler, Kyle, Ginnet, John, and my dad. I caught as many eddies as I could and played on quite a few waves. Kyle did his first whitewater roll. Dad and I ran Lesser Wesser first while they watched. The we watched while they ran it. Kyle stern squirted flipped and swam, Ginnet swam and hit her head on some rocks (she was under water for quite a while), Skyler didn't swimming, John swam the whole rapid, and Steve ran the rapid right. I picked up Johns paddle and started paddling next to him in the shallow rocky part below Lesser Wesser. At one place he let his feet drop and his foot got trapped and his head was pushed under water, luckily I was right next to him and was able to just hold on to his PFD and keep his head above water and after a few seconds he was released with scraped up legs. I don't know what would've happened if I wasn't there. Steve grabbed his boat and pulled it to shore while I towed John to shore. That was a scary moment. Everyone else was ok.
Later that day Mom, Dad, Alli, and I checked out White Oak Falls. This is how I would run the rapid. The first drop I would run on right with a left stroke the second section I would run on right with a left stroke and some right angle to get to the right side of the final drop which is more like a big slide on right. If I couldn't get right I would just line up straight and try to put in a good boof stroke. I checked out the rest of the cascades which looked low but Big Kahuna would still be good to go.It rained quite a bit Sat. night.
On Sun. Morning we packed up to leave, ate breakfast at NOC and headed home. On our way home we passed by the Cascades and they looks a bit higher and good to go, I moaned and groaned as we passed because I was not able to boat the. When we passed over the Chattooga it Looked a lot higher.

The levels were: (show beginning of day end of day and changes in flow)
Chattooga: 1.08-1.1*Ft
1.1-1.27 Ft
1.27-2.00*-1.91 Ft
Cascades: 45-125 cfs
125-70*-55 cfs
55-125*-200-125 cfs
Nantahala: 640 cfs
645* cfs
665-742 cfs
* means I was on or at the river

Chattooga Sect. IV PFD, May 30, 2006

Ran Chattooga from the Bull to the Lake for my first time, with my dad, Mike, and Jeremy Sanders. I wanted to use my big blue hurricane today, just for fun. Ran the middle line at The Bull. Surf Rapid went as usual Jeremy caught 3 eddies in that rapid. Screaming Left as usual it can be fun to end this rapid on left with a little boof. Ran Rock Jumble on the Wautaga Rout and went just to the right of the rock that splits the Wautaga Rout. Dad pitoned for a sec with the center rout. I ran Woodall skirting the main hole on right (this line is good up to about 1.2) Jeremy and Mike took the Rooster Tail line which looked fun, and my dad took the sneak which barely has any water in it. Ran threw Bob's Hole, almost flipped below there somewhere but I braced. Scouted and ran 7 Foot Falls set up on the left side of 7 foot right side with an ok boof a little bit higher water level. And the boof would of been better. On this rapid you have to make sure to get away from the wall right after seven foot because it can flip but is not undercut. Stekoa Creek Rapid is a fun slide/boof that is ran on the right after Stekoa Creek comes in. It can either be boofed right into an eddy or left into a little slot move. Ravens Chute be run on river left with a nice chute moving right. Their are other lines at higher levels but they are undercut. Ran Little Woodall on river left threw a slot the main line would of been funner at this level. Ran Entrance in the middle with a little finger boof on middle left there is a rock underwater so a boof is necesary. My dad and Mike ran on the right which is an easier line. Walked half of Corkscrew on right and put in to run the last hole. Ran Crack In The Rock threw middle which is the only line at this level. Have to boof a log in the left of the crack I didn't really with my 10 Ft boat and didn't quite punch the hole ended up on the right side of the crack against the wall held the by the boil and the back flow scraping at the wall to get a hand hold with none to be found. Couldn't dig in with my paddle because I would flip if I did. Ended up upside down and then I was flushed threw and handrolled up. At Jawbone I caught the eddy on the left and scouted. Ran from the left side of the eddy and down the left of hydro electric rock. Ran Sock em Dog just to the left of the lauch pad which was not runable at this level. Ran shoulder bone on the left with no problems. Paddled 2 miles to the take out and ended the day. A fun day.

The levels were:
1 Ft at the bridge
1.26 on the internet