14th annual First Saturday in June Nolichucky trip
| River: | Nolichucky |
| Skill: | Intermediate |
| Trip Date: | 06/04/2011 |
this trip was run jointly with the Foothills Paddling Club in Greenville SC…The level was 700 cfs, which may have depressed the turnout for the trip. The weather was hot and sunny, the water clear and a perfect temperature for swimming and cooling off.
Nine paddlers made the run, including 3 1/2 first timers. Participants included David Blumberg, Merridee Harper, Steve Getz, David Williams, Joe Owensby, Steve Yost, John MacDonald, Rick Steeves, and Cat Thrash.
We played our way down the river, getting out to scout at the ledge above Hungry Jack…One of the Foothills gang flipped in the chute coming out of the scouting eddy and while trying to roll, his video cam strap got stuck across his eyes. He pushed his helmet off and then rolled up and made the big eddy above the next ledge, but his helmet floated off at high speed. A coupla of us chased after it, and a kayaker from another group corraled it below Murphy's Ledge and walked it back up to us, video cam still attached.
We ate lunch at Rooster Tail, enjoying the raft and ducky carnage while we ate. At Hole in the Wall, Steve Yost made a valiant effort at surfing the big bad wave there. In over 150 runs on the Noli I had never seen anyone go in there intentionally, and the result showed why that was the case, as Steve flipped, missed his roll, and banged his way down to the pool below.
After an extended play time at Twin Eddies we moseyed down to the takeout after 5 1/2 hrs on the river, and went to dinner at the Chinese restaurant in Erwin. It ws a great trip, everyone had fun, and no one got hurt…contrary to popular opinion, 700 cfs is plenty of water for a fun time on the Nolichucky, it wasnt scrapy, and the surfing was first class. Thanks to all who made the effort to attend…