River: Rocky (Cape Fear River Basin)
Section: Pittsboro-Goldston Road (Chatham County 1010) to Chatham Church Road (Chatham County 1953)
Length: 4.4 miles
Paddlers: Paul Ferguson, OC-1; Bob Brueckner, K-1
Date: Dec. 18, 2018
Level: About 200 cfs when you add USGS gauges at Tick Creek (113 cfs) and Siler City (20.7 cfs) to several perennial and intermittent creeks
By Bob Brueckner
What a difference a dam can make, or rather the lack of one.
The Haw River Assembly's annual cleanup will be held Saturday, March 16, 2019.
Depending on the number of CCC boaters who sign up for the cleanup, we'll collect trash on the Upper, Middle and Lower sections in Chatham County. If you want to coordinate a cleanup trip, contact Bob Brueckner at rjbrueckner@gmail.com.
We'll have bags, gloves and trash grabbers for everyone.
The cleanup is designed for all paddlers regardless of skill level. Bring your canoes, kayaks and energy!
Participants: Bob Brueckner (C-1), Morgan Randall (K-1), Brenda Randall (K-1) and Keith Chilton (K-1)
Level: 1140 cfs or 4.81 feet on USGS Bynum gauge.
After a week of high water, access closures and numerous reports of Florence's many miseries down east, it was good to escape to the Middle Haw for a pleasant trip on Saturday.
The Hoosier Dam (aka Woody Dam) will be removed from the Rocky River in Chatham County this year, according to a company that's heading up the project.
"This is part of a long term, exstensive conservation project," Jeff Fisher wrote in an email. He serves as chief executive officer of Unique Places, LLC. There are "lots of conservation partners" involved with the dam removal, he wrote.
CCC volunteers found enough tires for two cars, enough plastic bottles to open a recycling center and enough sandals, boots and flip-flops to open a shoe store during this year's cleanup on the Tuckasegee where the river empties into Fontana Lake.
Instead of heading for a river on a hot July morning, 24 paddlers decided to tackle a raft of trash about the size of a football field. Volunteers hauled in 150 bags of trash, eight tires, one ottoman, one bowling ball and a very large icemaker.
Paddlers on the CCC Mighty Mayo River Trip 2018 collected 15 bags of trash, a tire and a flat screen TV.
There were a lot of bottles at the takeout. Just ask Tom Womble.
Special thanks goes to Joe Berry and Doug Stager for organizing this effort.
We received the following thank you note from the Mayo River park superintendent:
Section: Pleasant Green Road to Cole Mill Road (3.6 miles)
Level: 1.5 feet on the Pleasant Green bridge gauge
Difficulty: Class I-II
Date: Jan. 19, 2013
Participants: Sylvia DuRant (K-1), Robyn Maness (K-1), Bob Brueckner (C-1)
The Eno River usually reaches a good level — not too scrapey, but not washed out — in the middle of the night or during especially cold, rainy weather. But we were fortunate to find the river at such a level on a beautiful sunny day with temperature in the low 50's.
Dan River, section 1
Level: 9,000 kilowatts
Participants: (K-1) Lorraine Burnham, Evan Pattishall, Paul Scrutton, Ian Pond, Rob Connelly, Kyle Connelly, Deborah Bird, Bob Brueckner
Haw River cleanup
Participants: John McDonald, Randy Welch, Jen Fahey, Barry Schmidt, Julie Schmidt, Marc Harkness, Joan Monnig, Greta Durbin, Marlow Durbin, Doug Stager, Mary Stager, Russ Sheve, Lynn Featherstone, Brenda Featherstone, Tom Patterson, Larry Ausley, Bob Brueckner.
Thanks to 17 fellow CCC members, the Haw will be a little cleaner the next time you visit.
