I had four people signed up for a nice calm weekened on the Ocoee: Martha, Jeff, myself, and Fred (who is more a force of nature on the Ocoee than anything else).
Jeff had run the Ocoee on multiple ocassions, so Martha was the only one on her PFD.
Saturday turned out to be a great blue sky day… weather forcasts may have kept the weary away as the river was not busy. I found a new way to kill time at the put in by running laps of the entrance rapid and walking up the steel steps back to the ramp (posting video to CCC's fb page). I had a fun solo run Saturday; I stopped at Broken Nose and ran a few laps there too.
I made my way to the Ocoee early arriving at Adventures Unlimited Thursday, March 15th. Josh met me at the campsite and we setup camp before heading to Chattanooga for supper at Terminal Brewhouse where we enjoyed tasty Bison burgers and craft beer. Friday I helped the guides get the AU store ready for the new season. Friday evening Ryan arrived at the campsite. A few of us headed to Dumpy's to drink a few pints of Guinness and see old friends and raft guides.
I have always rescued dogs. As a kid I was always trying to rescue the “camp dog” at any campground my family stayed at. I own two rescue dogs. But I get ahead of myself. . .
Sometimes I understand why people are reluctant to post trips — scheduling. I think at one point I had a high of eight coming, with a low of two. A bit nervewracking at times. But, things finally stabilized out Thurs. with Kevin and Stephan coming along for Sat. and Sunday.
We all rolled into Thunder Rock campground late Friday night. Stephan was already abed when I arrived, but Kevin kept me company as I set up. Morning came early, and we got an early start for the long (2 minute) drive to put-in about 9am.
Trip participants: John McDonald, Amy Rae Fox, Wendy Krause, Wes Dodson, Kevin Kizer, Stefan Schmidt, Richard Lind, Fast Fred
Special celebrity guest appearance by: Rick Steeves
October 29th — The Ocoee River –“Mayhem”
Participants: Jill Dinsdale (trip coordinator) , Dave Kessmann, Kurt McKissick, Tom Van Wittekind, Adam Eckhardt, Greg Joyner, Matt Daniels, Marc Harkness, Joan Hutton and friends; Bill and Tom, Dean Watson, Ben Gilbert, Tony Cowan and Ashley Cowan
