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

A little this a little that

Scott: "I think we are gonna go hit the upper Youghabezi instead today"

Curt: "That sounds like the upper Yough at high water"

Scott: "It is"

Curt: "Cool"

Unfortunately I forgot my camera for the Top Yough at 850 cfs and the upper Youghabezi at 3ft. But dang it was sweet. We had some good lines and 16 miles of great paddling. The 5 miles of flatish water between the Top and Upper Yough were an almost welcome rest from the raging pushy water in the rapids.

The next weekend, Feb. 15th-18th, I took Friday off of work and met Billy down at Old Rag for some climbing and camping. They were calling for nice weather and the mother nature delivered.

Nightime bouldering session

We packed up all of our gear at the Berry Hollow parking area and headed uphill with some heavy packs full of food, water, camping gear, a trad rack, a rope and other climbing gear. We ate a small snack at the top, Billy's sleeping pad blew off, he retrieved it from a tree in the gully below the summit. We eyed the guidebook for a while and decided on heading to the God's Area, in particular Oh my God Dihedral. What an amazing sight! The name only begins to describe this 50ft of rock. Determined to climb it, but not comfortable enough to lead the 5.10c dihedral, I did some bushwhacking to get a toprope setup on this beautiful piece of granite.



Billy and I did multiple laps on this route and marveled at our tattered forearms and hands from the course stone. By the time I did my third lap and cleaned the toprode it was starting to get late, so we packed up and headed for the hut on the other side of the summit. Making jokes the whole way about how Brett better have a fire waiting for us, it was a nice surprise when we saw his crashpad outside of the hut. Brett was already cold and working on a fire for us, what a guy. We made some dinner, drank some Nighttrain, did some headlamp bouldering, analyzed life and all its intricacies, enjoyed the fire and eventually slept. We were greeted with a beautiful sunny morning and headed for the crag after a few gallons of Mate made from melted ice out of potholes in the rocks.

Oh My God Dihedral

After the dose of morning mate we headed for the southeast facing Whale's Lip area to catch the morning sun. As with most climbs here, we got to the base of the climb only after a good amount of honing in and bushwhacking. I got geared up and led a route called "Crab Crawl." It was eerily similar to the route I injured myself on in NC...a slabby trad route with an unprotectable start and lots of footwork. But I stuck it out and it turned out to be a fun climb with a great view. Brett pointed out a bald eagle soaring below while I was belaying Billy up.

We topped out and headed towards the summit to get in some bouldering. It was nice and sunny at the top. We then headed back for our bags and decided to head down the mountain. We were all tired and wore out, my ankle was hurting especially bad from all the scrambling.


Brett and I headed back to Bethesda and Billy went home to C'ville. On the way home I was making plans for the next two days.

I met Scott, Tyler, and John Greer in Friendsville Sunday morning and we got a run on the Upper Yough in at 2.3ft. This was another first for me on the Upper. 2.3 proved to be a fun level also.

Scott at Swallow Falls, Top Yough

With the rain we were getting that evening we went to bed with hopes of some creeking on Monday. I dont think we got as much rain as we thought/hoped for, but we had a very low, boat abuse level run on Meadow Run into the lower Yough loop. We also found the put-in for Drakes run, which will be good to know for the future.

What a great 4 days of playing in the woods. By the time I got home Monday evening, I had driven 850 miles, my hands were shredded, i had two blisters from paddling and I smelled like I had been in the woods for 4 days.