Thursday, September 18, 2008
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Wilson Creek @ 26" !!!!
Thank you T.S. Fay!!!
After 3 people dropped out due to various reasons, it came down to just Will Berkeley and I. We got to the bridge around 11:30 and found 3 guys there deciding what to do. A few minutes later a few more showed and most of that crew decided they were going to have a look at the Gragg Prong. They all said 2ft. on WC was a little too high. Gragg was out for Will and I, as I had to be back in Charlotte for work that evening.
After standing around in the rain for about thirty mins., Will and I decided to do a little road scouting. Everything was HUGE!!! We got a decent look at most of the ledges on the bottom half of the gorge. There were river wide holes and ledges I had never seen before. The whole place looked unfamiliar. We walked down the trail to have a look at Boatbuster/Thunderhole. The boof at Boatbuster was gone, leaving only a wide tongue on the left and Thunderhole was washed out as well. All that was left of TH was a large diagonal reactionary wave. We continued on up and saw a few from the other group at the parking area at 10 Foot Falls, so we pulled over to have a look for ourselves. Ten Foot was crazy looking. Most of the river was slamming into the RR wall and then dropping into the nasty looking hole at the bottom. After brief discussion, we decided to head up to the bridge and paddle down to the put-in for the gorge, and then decide what to do . We had one of the other group (Keith) join us and the three of us ran the upper section in about 15 minutes. When we got to the regular put-in there was a group of three putting on. Keith, being in a playboat, decided he was through so Will and I joined up with the other guys and headed on down!
I expected to be scared shitless, knowing that I was paddling WC at a level that, not only had I never seen, but a level that was higher than just about anyone I knew had ever seen. But I was feeling confident and comfortable. This was good, because I was in for quite an undertaking.
For the most part everything was pretty smooth. I was told that I took a fairly sketchy line at Little Woodall (I was too far left) but things turned out fine. When we made it to 10 Ft, we got out on RL to scout. Unlike usual, the right side was the wrong side. Too far right would put you into the wall on the bottom right and and directly into the hole at the bottom. Instead there was a 5-6 foot boof in the middle that set you up to run the far left side, just skirting the hole. Everyone styled it. Some chose to try the boof at Broken Toilet with success for all. I ran the right-side creak/sneak with ease. Next up was Boatbuster/Thunderhole. Everyone took the leftside tongue except for Will, who ran to the right of the big square rock that sits just next to the boof. He later said that that was a mistake because he wasn't able to get set up properly for TH. All of the eddies that are usually between BB and TH were gone so I just charged on through with a little left angle and handled the diagonal reactionary with no problem. Just below TH were some of the biggest, stickiest holes on the whole creek at that level. They were all offset and dodging them was tricky. Once I got below them, I turned and looked upstream and saw that Will was stuck. Not in a hole, but rather in some weird wave thingy. Kinda hard to describe what it was, but he was stuck there for a minute or more. Then came Triple Drop. At that level, there is a whole channel that opens up on RR. We got out to scout on the island in the middle of the creek that is created at that level. The bottom hole at TD was SCARY!!! It was, by far, the BIGGEST, NASTIEST hole on the river that day. I think it would be safe to say that a VW Bug would disappear in it. Only one in our group chose to run it. He started out on RL at the regular entrance and worked hard to get right, JUST kissing the right side of the hole. He made it look easy. The rest of us walked it. Will and I both said later that we momentarily considered running it, but common sense quickly took over. More ledges and boofs and hole dodging followed. Ran to the left of the undercut rock that creates the hole at Maytag. Billboard and Razorback went smoothly. Billboard = RL. Razorback = standard line with no left turn at the bottom (didn't need it). Saw a different line at BitchSlap. Ran a RR line at Unrunnable Rock Jumble. When we made it to Huntley's Retreat I got flipped in some hole, rolled up, and ended up in an eddy on RL. Will, from downstream, was telling me that I HAD to get all the way RIGHT, due to the river-wide ledge hole at the bottom. Well, by now, I was pretty tired and I just couldn't make the ferry, so I had to punch the hole on the RL side. It was a little scary, but turned out OK. Next up was the take-out and the end of an incredible run. I couldn't believe that I had just run Wilson Creek at 2feet. It was an awesome experience!!!
PRAY FOR RAIN!!!
After 3 people dropped out due to various reasons, it came down to just Will Berkeley and I. We got to the bridge around 11:30 and found 3 guys there deciding what to do. A few minutes later a few more showed and most of that crew decided they were going to have a look at the Gragg Prong. They all said 2ft. on WC was a little too high. Gragg was out for Will and I, as I had to be back in Charlotte for work that evening.
After standing around in the rain for about thirty mins., Will and I decided to do a little road scouting. Everything was HUGE!!! We got a decent look at most of the ledges on the bottom half of the gorge. There were river wide holes and ledges I had never seen before. The whole place looked unfamiliar. We walked down the trail to have a look at Boatbuster/Thunderhole. The boof at Boatbuster was gone, leaving only a wide tongue on the left and Thunderhole was washed out as well. All that was left of TH was a large diagonal reactionary wave. We continued on up and saw a few from the other group at the parking area at 10 Foot Falls, so we pulled over to have a look for ourselves. Ten Foot was crazy looking. Most of the river was slamming into the RR wall and then dropping into the nasty looking hole at the bottom. After brief discussion, we decided to head up to the bridge and paddle down to the put-in for the gorge, and then decide what to do . We had one of the other group (Keith) join us and the three of us ran the upper section in about 15 minutes. When we got to the regular put-in there was a group of three putting on. Keith, being in a playboat, decided he was through so Will and I joined up with the other guys and headed on down!
I expected to be scared shitless, knowing that I was paddling WC at a level that, not only had I never seen, but a level that was higher than just about anyone I knew had ever seen. But I was feeling confident and comfortable. This was good, because I was in for quite an undertaking.
For the most part everything was pretty smooth. I was told that I took a fairly sketchy line at Little Woodall (I was too far left) but things turned out fine. When we made it to 10 Ft, we got out on RL to scout. Unlike usual, the right side was the wrong side. Too far right would put you into the wall on the bottom right and and directly into the hole at the bottom. Instead there was a 5-6 foot boof in the middle that set you up to run the far left side, just skirting the hole. Everyone styled it. Some chose to try the boof at Broken Toilet with success for all. I ran the right-side creak/sneak with ease. Next up was Boatbuster/Thunderhole. Everyone took the leftside tongue except for Will, who ran to the right of the big square rock that sits just next to the boof. He later said that that was a mistake because he wasn't able to get set up properly for TH. All of the eddies that are usually between BB and TH were gone so I just charged on through with a little left angle and handled the diagonal reactionary with no problem. Just below TH were some of the biggest, stickiest holes on the whole creek at that level. They were all offset and dodging them was tricky. Once I got below them, I turned and looked upstream and saw that Will was stuck. Not in a hole, but rather in some weird wave thingy. Kinda hard to describe what it was, but he was stuck there for a minute or more. Then came Triple Drop. At that level, there is a whole channel that opens up on RR. We got out to scout on the island in the middle of the creek that is created at that level. The bottom hole at TD was SCARY!!! It was, by far, the BIGGEST, NASTIEST hole on the river that day. I think it would be safe to say that a VW Bug would disappear in it. Only one in our group chose to run it. He started out on RL at the regular entrance and worked hard to get right, JUST kissing the right side of the hole. He made it look easy. The rest of us walked it. Will and I both said later that we momentarily considered running it, but common sense quickly took over. More ledges and boofs and hole dodging followed. Ran to the left of the undercut rock that creates the hole at Maytag. Billboard and Razorback went smoothly. Billboard = RL. Razorback = standard line with no left turn at the bottom (didn't need it). Saw a different line at BitchSlap. Ran a RR line at Unrunnable Rock Jumble. When we made it to Huntley's Retreat I got flipped in some hole, rolled up, and ended up in an eddy on RL. Will, from downstream, was telling me that I HAD to get all the way RIGHT, due to the river-wide ledge hole at the bottom. Well, by now, I was pretty tired and I just couldn't make the ferry, so I had to punch the hole on the RL side. It was a little scary, but turned out OK. Next up was the take-out and the end of an incredible run. I couldn't believe that I had just run Wilson Creek at 2feet. It was an awesome experience!!!
PRAY FOR RAIN!!!
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
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