Ocoee Drawdown 2022
| River: | Ocoee |
| Skill: | Intermediate |
| Trip Date: | 09/24/2022 |
The last week of September is Ocoee Drawdown, where the Ocoee runs the entire week. During the week of Drawdown the Ocoee has little to no raft traffic (literally a couple of rafts here and there). You can paddle the entire Middle Ocoee and see no other groups on the water. Great for trying out lines or coordinating larger groups (not as good if you’re hoping someone rescues your gear!)
This year was slightly cooler than other recent years. While mornings were generally in the 40s, by the time we had shuttle set, temps were back in the 70s with bright sunny days. Adding to the life’s uncertainty was Hurricane Ian. We experienced torrential rains the first couple of nights. A few people bailed (or left early) due to the early forecast for the next Saturday—rain from 1 am to 10 pm! But the forecast waned with the week, slowly migrating away from rain. On Saturday we still had clear skies and great paddling. For us the worst impact of the storm was Brian’s early return to Florida, with his home to be in the eye of the storm. [Brian and his family weathered the storm OK, with some damage but were fortunate to have power].
The Middle Ocoee is a Class III/III+ river with 20+ named rapids packed almost back-to-back for five miles. I camp at Thunder Rock for Drawdown, and paddle with those who join me. That lends itself to groups of various size and composition across the nine days—this year we had 17 different people and 92 person/trips (one person running the river one time, on one day, would be one person-trip). In the 9 days I ran the Ocoee 19 times (slowing down a bit in my old age). Group size ranged from 2 to 14, with the most paddlers on Monday and Tuesday. Experience levels ranged from PFDs (and/or people with only a couple of runs) to those who drove down to the Ocoee after a weekend on the Lower Gauley. With 92 descents, we had the usual roll here or there, but only a few noteworthy events.
Worth noting the major carnage spots: Entrance, with eventful rolls; Broken Nose (etc.) with four swims and multiple rolls; Slice ‘n Dice prompted a number of rolls. Normally Tablesaw ranks high in that list, but while we had a number of rolls there (Jim taking the crown at 4 full rolls), we had only one swim there (moderately) promptly rescued.
Entrance rapid is well known for extended (and violent) swims. I typically start groups at “The Rails”—the original raft launch point below Grumpy’s Hole. The Rails permit a group launch without dealing with concurrent raft launches and the small put-in eddy, as well as bypassing Grumpy’s. While the moves required in Entrance aren’t particularly difficult, the consequences for error can be extreme, leading to people who are … grumpy. With the early runs from the Rails, we had two rolls above Grumpy’s (one my own) resulting in significant impact(s) and damage before rolling up. Additionally, one day Lisa paddled with someone else to practice Ocoee race lines. He swam the length of Entrance, as well as acquiring a 5-inch gash in his drysuit which also left a mark. Not quite the practice she had hoped for!
I know three people who have cracked ribs going over the ledges at Broken Nose rapid. The vast majority of time, I lead to the alternate line, turning to the left instead of the right at the entrance to Broken Nose. On two occasions of running the main line, we had a swim at Broken Nose (again, one my own), both recovering fairly quickly river right. In the first case, the boat (sans paddler) spent several minutes tossing and turning in the second ledge before finally washing free. In my case, an over-extended brace had my boat upside-down but my torso out of the water as I dropped over the first, second, and third (!) ledges uninjured before I flipped. But the best part of that incident? Alex, waiting below, didn’t have a vantage point to see exactly what had happened. When I eventually paddled down, she asked, “Is Jim OK?!?!?”.
The alternate line for Broken Nose lead to probably our most dramatic moment of Drawdown early in the week. I had the four less-experienced paddlers behind me when I pulled into the eddy below Second Helping (the rapid immediately connected to Broken Nose) and above Slice ‘n Dice. Jim K usually took the position after that to reset the lines for those that followed. Two of those behind Jim flipped and swam. While I was tempted to rush to the rescue (abandoning those who didn’t know the lines for what I consider the hardest rapid—Slice ‘n Dice), I left the rescue to the experienced boaters behind me. That’s a difficult rescue with, like many Ocoee rapids, the main current directly feeding into Slice ‘n Dice. Nonetheless, two of the boaters, two paddles, and one of the boats were rescued. Once things settled out, my subgroup proceeded through Slice ‘n Dice to put things back together again.
Below Slice ‘n Dice, we could see one of our group on a rock above Moon Shoot, presumably with the boat. We re-gathered everyone and headed down to collect the boat. Except it wasn’t there. The paddler had prudently let the boat go instead of paddling water they didn’t know. The boat? Took its own lines. So as a group we headed downstream, minus one paddler, plus one hiker.
We did eventually get the boat back, thanks in no small part to Lee’s recon. Below Doldrums! However, paddler and boat reunited, we completed the run with no further consequence.
Our other boating star of the week was Pam, routinely taking the challenging lines (sometimes unwittingly) through some of the bigger holes on the Ocoee. Gene and Jim followed her to an interesting line through Powerhouse. She’s going to release a video at some point (we decided “All of Pam’s Holes” wasn’t the best title).
Nearing the end of the week, Lisa and Alex wanted to work on race lines. Thrown into that brier patch, we made a number of runs practicing optimal lines, taking into account familiarity and ensuring lines with no rocks for Alex in order to protect her 90s carbon slalom boat. Good luck to Lisa and Alex in the upcoming Ocoee Race!
All in all a great week. Thanks to: JimK, ChrisM, ChasityS, LisaP, ChristiR, BrianT, KarenR, DanielH, KaganV, DavidB, LeeB, JimB, Pam&Gene, AlexS, and Dennis (apologies if I missed someone).