Cahulawassee – Jim Wei
| River: | Other |
| Skill: | All |
| Trip Date: | 04/01/2009 |
I arrived at WOR on Thursday night riding with Russ, hoping to paddle something for the last two days.
Woke up Friday morning and found Cahulawassee was holding steady at 1.5'. Figured it was a good low level, better than the crowd on Ocoee. Ken has a big group of OC's going down and invited me to provide the entertainment. But I'm like the stinking pile of turd that attracted flies and soon I told Ken I have five more people wanting to go. The group is getting big at this point so Ken and I agreed it's best to split up with him taking the original group and I'll lead our group of five. We headed out leaving the camp drama of the previous night behind us.
Diesel fuel in GA is just way too cheap to buy so we gassed up in NC just before the state line to contribute to Exxon's bottom line. Since I'm the only one that knows the shuttle route, I had to drive the big red truck that I'm woefully unqualified to operate, with Paul following me. Things were going fine until I got stuck behind a rafting bus. The big red truck became the big brown truck when I arrived at the take out boat ramp.
Back to the put in, we shouldered the boat up the trail to Bull Sluice. Memories of previous carnage filled runs fill my head and I soon froze in my boat in the staging eddy. Chris decided to do the double drop, while Russ, Paul, Fran and I took the less scary slide on the left. I never knew what this side is called, South Carolina Slide or Squeal Slide? Anyone?
We make our way down to Woodall's Shoal. Chris was very interested in exploring the hole there, so I explained to him in detail what playboating moves are possible and which part of the hole to focus on to avoid flushing and stay retentive. Realizing there are still a long way to go to the take out, Chris decided to save the playboating to another trip. I set safety and prayed while Chris and Fran ran the right side of the hole and Russ and Paul went to the far right slot. Things got peaceful at the pool below Woodall's and once again memories of previous trips filled my head, especially the one where Milton and Theresa towed me and my boat back upstream to the Woodall's takeout. I said a silent prayer that no towing will be needed for this trip.
A few more rapids later we found ourselves sitting in the last two eddies staring down at 7 Foot. I explained to Fran and Chris about the intricate nature of the drop since this was their first time here. Paul decided to go first and demo the line. Sitting in the RL eddy, I could only see Paul going down the drop heading left, which isn't exactly fun but very survivable. After counting five, I peeled out and shot across the top to the right side when I saw Paul rolling up against the left wall. He seemed fine as I landed so I turned around to signal to the rest of the group to go. Chris and Fran followed my line, while Russ threw down a mystery move in his 80 gallon boat. It's truly impressive to see that big of a boat completely disappear, followed by a second of calmness, then the whole boat breaks the surface like a Polaris missile going for Moscow.
With all five of us at bottom, we head downstream. Two little drops later Paul complained that his left shoulder is bothering him so we take lunch stop on a rock on the RR. Soon Paul loses most of range of motion in his left arm. Having been there before multiple times, I was worried that his Humerus bone have strayed from its home. After a quick visit to the Cahulawassee Orthopedic Clinic, it was decided all the bones were where they belonged and he most likely suffered some sort of muscular injury.
Across and downstream, we could see a couple tubers heading downstream from what looks like a trail on the RL. We figured the trail offered the best option for evacuation. Upon arriving at the trail, we discovered a camp with two tents and a couple coolers and a whole lot beer cans. There was a trail heading up the hill into the deep woods toward Aintry. Fran decided to help Paul hiking out and we briefed the two of them on the proper squeal technique for banjo boy encounters.
Down to just the three of us, we quickens our pace and passed Sodomy Beach. Soon I started flashing five fingers to Russ and Chris to signal the arrival of Five Falls. We blue angeled through Entrance Rapid and found Ken's group spread out through Corkscrew. They had just finished running the rapid as we got out to scout. Ken gracefully kept the safeties in place for us. My big boat saved my day when it didn't even wiggle smacking through the big rooster stack that have knocked me around so many times before.
Most of us decided Crack wasn't fun to run and portaged on the RR. But when Chris heard about the deep hole in the bottom of Middle Crack, he couldn't resist and gunned it. At Jawbone, I pointed out to Russ and Chris where the undercuts are and made sure they know about Hydro. When I peeled off I really wasn't sure if they understood me, so my big boat found a really really fast wave that's right in between the two undercuts. Normally I would never consider the wave catchable or surfable in any other boats. But 12 ft of boat does do things other boats don't. So here I'm carving a wave, something that I love to do, and in between two undercuts, which I loathe immensely. All the surfing practices in my bathtub shines through and I manage to flush from the wave and eddy out above Hydro. Both groups came through without any troubles and we congregated below Hydro to breathe a sigh of relieve.
Ken informed me Launch Pad at the Dog is covered by a few inches of water. So it's all good to go. Both Chris and Russ had a great lines. Great line at the Dog is any lines that didn't result in hole surfing. We watched in amazement as the open boaters explored new river running freestyle moves such as rock spin into ender. I flip my open boat in the lake if I reach for a water bottle, so the balance demonstrated by these superb canoers were simply beyond my feeble imagination.
Finally, we come upon the rapid that made fighting my big boat all day worth it. Tugaloo Rapid is the reward for lugging this monstrosity of boat through six miles of rapid. The most dangerous and most demanding rapid of the entire Cahulawassee watershed, this rapid tests a paddler's strength, skill and endurance. After battling the intense environment for thirty minutes, we finally arrived at the take out boat ramp with limping arms.
The voice mail on Russ's phone informed us Paul and Fran had survived their trek through the woods and arrived safely at Aintry.
Some people mocks low water run on the Cahulawassee, but the truth is any day on the Cahulawassee is a great day.
Jim Wei