Trip Report – French Broad River, Section 9, 8/13/2016. Level 2,100 cfs.
| River: | French Broad |
| Skill: | Novice+/Intermediate |
| Trip Date: | 08/13/2016 |
Trip Report – French Broad River, Section 9, 8/13/2016. Level 2,100 cfs.
Wayne Jones (trip coordinator), Lee Thonus, Jim Cyrek, Joshua Gross.
Hot August day, lots of paddlers at the Barnard put-in around 11 am. We decided to set shuttle at Hot Springs, and do both sections, from Barnard to Stackhouse, and then Stackhouse to Hot Springs. This a first time trip on the French Broad for Joshua, with 2 days on the Nantahala and a few Tuck trips under his belt.
On down we go. Lee is a great resource, offering lots of options and commentary about the rapids. The day is punctuated by a few successful combat rolls, and then a few inconsequential swims. Then we have a more consequential swim at Pinball. This results in a pinned boat on river left, fully out of view under a tree trunk angled down into the water. We attached a rope to the boat and tried to extract it by hand, and then with some mechanical advantage using a carabiner; and it wasn’t moving. On closer inspection, the boat end was actually jammed between some rocks as well, which was stopping any movement in the direction we were pulling. We reattached the rope and worked at a different angle and pulled the boat free.
The rest of the trip was mostly uneventful. Discretion being the better part of valor, we took the line left of the island above Frank Bell’s and made our way happily down through Surprise to a busy takeout at NOC. Thanks all. Oh, I left out an important fact, Lee's odometer turned over 100,000 miles on the way back to the put-in. I am sure that means something; I'll take it as an auspicious sign.