River: Haw

* Sections: Middle and Lower

* Length: 5.3 miles

* Level: 2,760 cfs to 3,150 cfs (USGS: 6 feet to 6.2 feet; PADDLING: roughly 1 foot)

* Paddlers: William Holman (K-1), Nate Taylor (K-1), Eliot Mintzer (K-1), John McDonald (K-1), John Kriener (K-1), and Bob Brueckner  (K-1).

I'll have to revise my window for the best water levels at the Super-Secret Whitewater Training Course after today's trip. From now on the range begins at 900 cfs and goes up to at least 2,760 cfs.

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.

I usually coordinate this trip the end of April because I've found that the last weekend of April is late enough to be warm, but early enough to still have water somewhere. This year, I had more water than I wanted. After nervously watching water levels all week, we ended up with the Goldilock's Solution for kayaking: the Cape Fear was too high, the Eno was too low, but the Haw was mostly right (5.8', only a bit higher than my preferred novice level of 5.5').

Initially planned as a Saturday trip to the Pony Pasture on the James, water levels and other commitments shifted the trip to Sunday. The James was in too high for a novice trip so after checking regional gages the group decided on the middle Haw as a fallback. 

The river levels, water temps, and weather all came together perfectly for a nice, relaxed day. In addition to the usual scenery we saw lots of wildlife, including bald eagles, ospreys, herons, and the odd snake basking riverside.

The CCC Beginner Kayaking Clinic was held this past weekend. I was assisted by Ian Pond and we had three students in attendance, Cyndy Falgout, Frank Mueller, and Rachel Force.

Trip Coordinator: Jeff Hatcher

Paddlers- Rick Steeves, Steve Lott, Kevin Tuttle, Joe Mount, Jeff Hatcher

Temp 50, Level 5.8', 2300 cfs, 1' on the 64 bridge. 

Really great day on the Haw with new friends (Kevin), old friends (Rick and Joe) and really old friends (Steve was in Triad River Runners and helped me learn how to paddle back in 2002!).  

Back in the depths of winter when I posted a novice trip to the CCC calendar, who knew what might be running on April 13, 2013?  It rained a little on the day before the trip, so we were lucky to have the Haw at a couple of inches above zero on the paddler's gauge.  There were some last minute emails the night before the trip, and it was decided that since the trip was posted as a novice trip, the 14 of us would meet at the Hwy. 64 access on Saturday morning. 

Icebreaker 2013—Ron Miller

Once again, my sense of tradition kicked in, this time for the planning of the club’s first trip of the year, our ‘Icebreaker Cruise’ on New Year’s Day.

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.

On a beautiful sunny November afternoon, my mom asked, “Greta, do you want to run the Middle Haw this weekend?”  I gulped, “Yeah, sure.”   The Middle Haw?  No sweat, right? I’ve done the Tuck, the Nanty and the Lower Pigeon.  No problem.  But you know what?  A part of me screamed, “Pause!”   You see, I had chickened out on a run on the Middle Haw earlier in the paddling season.