Quick Ocoee Weekend
| River: | Ocoee |
| Skill: | Intermediate+ |
| Trip Date: | 08/03/2018 |
The true hassle of coordinating a trip is never knowing if anyone will show up. With last-minute heavy rain in the Triangle even more so. I could have just stayed home and paddled! Even posting weeks in advance, a few days out I had one confirmed person. On Thursday I briefly had six. Fortunately, it's the Ocoee.
I didn't start with any company on Friday. I met Mike on my third run down, spotting him using himself for live bait. He's lost a paddle in the mank below Flipper and couldn't reach it. We first unsuccessfully tries to pendulum him off a rock with a throw rope. After that we fruitlessly spent a while trying to wrap a line around the paddle. Pondering where the paddle was, I decided I might be able to attain back up to below the ledge. Mike was appropriately skeptical. What could happen, right?
So I learned a new play move on Flipper, crawled out of my heaving boat onto the rocks, and plucked Mike's paddle from the rocks. We paddled the rest of the way together. His wife gave me a shuttle back up to the top!
Sat. morning I rolled out to the put-in to meet Ed, Amie, Russ and Ryan. I hoped to meet Garrick and Alyssa for our second run. Ed showed up right on time. Amie texted me to say she'd be delayed; ants had colonized her kayak overnight! She hoped to arrive by 9:30 so we left to set shuttle. Upon our return we learned Amie's battle against the ants fared … poorly. She said she'd try to catch up with us on the second lap.
We put on at the Rails. I've made that my default for the first lap on the Ocoee. It removes the excitement of raft interaction, starting off immediately in whitewater, and the excitement of not knowing who might start off with a bad day – we can always catch Entrance on the second lap.
Everyone was clearly comfortable on the Ocoee, and we finished to learn that Amie was on her way! Arriving at the put-in we pulled in as Garrick and Alyssa arrived, with Amie right behind. Ryan and Ed decided one lap was a long way, and sat the second out.
Having spent the morning removing all the outfitting fro her kayak, Amie was super-excited about her PFD on the Ocoee. She did great. She made her first combat roll below Flipper. After a successful run down Tablesaw, she ended up to the right of Prudential which had a raft washed up against it. When we called her over to river left, the eddy line prompted her second roll. Once she arrived, we recommended a line for Diamond Splitter, which was of course the classic, "Come over here so we can tell you we're going back where you were!"
After the second run everyone else peeled off. I met up later with Garrick and Alyssa for dinner at, of course, Herb's.
On Sunday Alyssa had scheduled private instruction, and we started earlier that Garrick chose to get up. I met up with Russ and Ryan, and took a bit more time letting Ryan play around until he was tired.
I later caught up with Garrick and Alyssa, before eventually heading homeward, doubly so because I stopped at my parents on the way back to Durham.
Now I have Drawdown to look forward to!