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