Back to the Potomac for a little while...

 Me nailing the wheelie at Grace Under Pressure

Well the whirl-wind road trip is over for a little while.  Its time to earn some money and do some "on the couch" boating, or maybe its "off the couch", I don't know, but there is a couch in my life again and a roof over my head - many thanks to my good buddy Brett Mayer-Achoff. 

The wonderful thing about working and living in Bethesda is at least you know you can go paddle anytime.  Dawn Patrols, evening runs, and even the infamous lunch-break falls session...love it.

I've had the chance to get out on the Center Lines at Great Falls the last four days, and got some cool photos thanks to Brett.  Saturday I also got to take Fastlane down the fall for his first time.  A good time was had by all.  Grace has to be one of the best feeling boofs around, especially today as the water came up a bit to about 3.75 ft on the little falls gauge.

Fastlane strokin' it at Grace

Me about to stomp it down

 

Then you get this sweet drop

Life in the Fastlane

It was an awesome afternoon paddle and really cool light as we were taking out.  Its nice being back on the Potomac for a little while paddling with friends and enjoying the wonderful escape that Great Falls provides to the local paddling community. 

All photos from the Falls

Finally back home...a little boatin' in Virginia

The goods

After a few good weeks of paddling in the Southeast I thought it was all over. But low and behold it Hurricane Ida spread its rain all over North Carolina and Virginia. I considered heading back to NC, but waited a day with the hopes of doing some Blue Ridge Mountain creek boatin'.

After some phone calls it sounded like the Nelson County steeps were going to be going. One and a half hours later I arrived at the NF of the Tye takeout to find a solid crew consisting of just about every creek boater in Virginia. I think the added displacement brought the creek up just a bit. The rapids were good, it was a little scrappy in-between, but a good morning on a classic Blue Ridge Mtn boulder garden style run. Looking at the gauges it looked like the Paul's Creek drainage got more rain so we headed over there pumped to get on the steepest runnable half-mile in Virginia. After hiking in, I was concerned it might be too low but continued hiking after reassuring claims of "Oh I've done it lower than this" from some of the Paul's creek regulars. Just less padding I guess! So we headed on up and gave it a go. It was definitely steep and fast. There were some good lines and some good pitons, a sore elbow and a lot of laughs.

All photos from Pauls and NFT

Mase - NF Tye

Brandon on the first drop on Paul's

Trevar B taking flight near the top of Where's Hayne

Trevar B taking flight again near at the bottom of Where's Hayne

Thanks to the C'ville crew for showing me a good day in the Blue Ridge.

That evening Drew came up to my Mom's house in Roanoke to stay in anticipation of getting on a really classic steep creek just up the road. I checked the gauge the night before and it was way high. That morning we headed out there to find the water over the bridge footing about up to the "N" on a Werner Player paddle, which was about equal to 10" over the footing . Covering the footing is generally considered high, so we knew we were in for a big day - especially since it was Drew and my first time down. We had a good crew who knew the run well, Thanks to Harris Hayne and Eric O'Connell for some beta on the lines. As to be expected with a big crew and high water there was a little bit of excitement, fortunately nothing too bad. A blown skirt, a piton or two, a swim and a pin - it could have been much worse - but we got out in one piece and just before it got dark. This is an absolute classic run, with a portage or two or three, steep, continuous gradient, beautiful scenery, big rapids and the ability to run at a wide range of water levels. Please treat this run with the respect it deserves - it is a difficult run in a remote gorge with tenuous access issues...we dont want to loose this one!

All photos from this run

Drew at the first rapid

Harris lovin' the steepness

John feeling small in the heart of the waterfall section

Harris hookin' it up with the beta

To round it all off I got to head out on Saturday with beautiful blue skies with my Dad to the also classic Maury River. I remember hearing my Dad talk about Devil's Kitchen all the time when I was young as the most daunting stretch of river. Well at one point it was quite daunting for me as well, those days are over, but it is a great boulder garden in a very pretty setting. I ran back p and ran it a few times catching different eddies and taking other lines. After it let up a bit I met my Dad just downstream of the pass, and he put on with the 20 year-old 14.5' Old Town Camper. We continued downstream through some more boulder gardens and wave trains with more water than we had run this section the many times before as kids. Dad did a great job negotiating the rapids in what was probably a less than ideal watercraft.

Pops given 'er in the longboat of choice

Southeast Update...good fall to be boatin' in the SE

As I was driving back from Washington I wasn't sure what the next few months were gonna hold. I was planning on a few weeks of fun paddling on the classics East Coast dam releases.....but got a whole lot more.

I paddled a day and worked a day on the Gauley. Catching the best of the fall foliage in WV was awesome. Rachel and I then headed to the Russell Fork for some high quality big, steep water. From there it was home to drop off some gear and down to the Green River in Saluda, NC. Rachel and I got to weather the rains at Devin and Lindsay's place in Brevard, NC while paddling the Green as well as some classic natural flow runs including: North Fork French Broad, Section 4 of the Chattooga, the Horsepasture River and Overflow Creek. With all the rain, we had options and had to make our decisions based on how we were feeling for the day...epic drops and hikes vs. fun class IV/V with easy logistics....life is tough.

The next week leading up to the Green race brought beautiful weather. Blue skies and warm during the day and cold and clear nights...autumn at its best. This week we spent camping a mile downstream from the Green takeout with good friends: some old and some new. All we really had to worry about was when to wake up and paddle the Green again, and one lap or two.

As the race neared the anticipation grew. I found myself feeling gripped on a river I had become relatively comfortable with over the last few weeks. The anticipation grew into anxiousness as I sat at the first rapid awaiting my starting time on race day, November 7th.

My stomach grew more and more unsettled, then finally it was time: I was in my boat and before I knew it I was off, charging down over a half mile of class five rapids dropping over 200 vertical feet.

I knew there were tons of people littering the rocks lining the creek, but in my tunnel vision the masses were just dots of color like a strange fall foliage yelling at you as you pulled on stroke after labored stroke downstream.

Then the finish line, what a glorious feeling! A cathartic relief, all that preparation and anticipation suddenly gone....I made it, it was over. At least next year it won't be so new, but from hearing the chatter around the river that day, likely just as all consuming as 6 minutes of your life could possibly be. The Green Race is awesome.

Here are some photos from the last few weeks of paddling around the East coast.

The Wet Planet boys gettin' some on the Russell Fork:

Tyler aka Fastlane layin down a Boof at El Horrendo

Dave at Climax

The Horsepasture: Absolutely stunning from put-in to take-out:

The ground had already been saturated before it started raining on Oct. 27th, but it rained nice and hard so we considered the options and picked a good one. The level on Wednesday the 28th was right at .4 on the bridge gauge on Upper Whitewater Road, a great level it turned out. The day could not have been better, blue bird skies and good water, creekin' at its best. The hike in and hike out made you have to want this run, but it was manageable and we took turns scouting most of the big horizon lines.

Rainbow Falls: the Put-in

Scouting Staircase (aka Stairmaster) awesome horizon line #1

Half-way down Stairmaster

Rachel Boofin'!

Jeff eying his next move

Eric flying off one of the big rapids in the middle

The last part of the last biggie Highway to Heaven...a very rad rapid.

The take-out. It feels like the edge of the Earth.

Dave took Rachel and I down his old home run, the SE Classic Section IV of the Chattooga

Dave having a Zen moment

The fall colors reflecting off of Tugaloo Lake on the paddle out

Overflow Creek, in the headwaters of the Chattooga

The Green River:

Rachel dialing in her race line at Frankenstein


Andy charging the Notch

Drew spankin' the monkey

Andy at Sunshine

Curt at Sunshine photo: Chris Baer

Looking downstream from Sunshine at Drew