A delayed Section III and Upper Green Weekend
| River: | Chattooga |
| Skill: | Intermediate |
| Trip Date: | 03/03/2012 |
This trip actually started as a Feb 18-19 trip. The weather forecasters had claimed we would receive 2-3 inches of rain on Thursday and Friday followed by wonderful weather that weekend. We actually got about ¼ inch of rain. My daughter and I went hiking instead and apologized to the folks that had signed on for the trip. This last week had a similar forecast, so I posted a trip again and hoped that my luck would change for the better. Friday afternoon arrived with very little actual rain but the radar looked promising. I crossed my fingers that the 3 folks driving from Chapel Hill would have something to paddle. I had also posted the trip on the Foothills Paddling Yahoo page and my count was 11 total interested for the Saturday paddle on the Chattooga. Sunday was still up in the air but we hoped for a release on the Green.
We woke up Saturday morning to find the Chattooga at 2’ USGS and still climbing with clearing skies. The upstream gage at Burrell’s Ford had peaked and was falling. My educated guess was we would have about 2.3’ on the river – a great level for Section III. We met at the US76 bridge and had a nice mix of 9 folks from both CCC and FPC. We discussed the level quickly and decided on paddling Sandy Ford to Bull’s Sluice. We combined gear and proceeded to Sandy Ford.
After taking the scenic shuttle route, we arrived at the put-in to find blue skies and 65 degree weather. It was like we had ordered up the perfect day! Once on the water everyone got warmed up, we set a lead and sweep boater, and away we went down the river.
The Narrows came up quickly, and we all gathered in the eddy after the entrance to get ready for the rest of the rapid. I saw a few nervous faces as we peeled out of the eddy to run the next drop. In the next eddy we found ourselves with a swimmer who was quickly rescued. The boat decided it wanted to run one more drop under its own power, but we quickly corralled it back with its owner and proceeded on down the river.
As we approached second ledge, I caught an eddy and said we were at second ledge and suggested following my line closely. I paddled off the ledge on the left, with a well-timed boof stroke, and found myself in the eddy below. I watched as one-by-one, each member of the group followed. Several in the group marveled at what they had just done and said the landing was just like falling into a big pile of pillows. We collected everyone together and continued on down the river.
We continued down through eye-of-the-needle which exacted one combat roll and some excitement but no real carnage. We practiced eddies at rollercoaster and worked our way down to painted rock. A few folks portaged at painted rock but all those who ran it had great lines.
Somewhere along the way down to Bull’s Sluice, one of the group found that a favorite play spot at 1.8’ was not so friendly at 2.4’ and so we had one more swim to bring us up to a total of two swims. We arrived at the eddy above Bull’s Sluice and started scouting the rapid. Several folks decided for the dry line on the right. The Bull was nice and fluffy – scarcely resembling the rapid I had paddled the week before at 1.5’. None of us wanted any part of double drop at that level. Three of us ran the Bull using the usual sneak line on the left. No one tried the far left sneak, but it was runnable at that level.
We took off and checked the level to find we had 2.4’ during our paddle. It was a great day with minimal carnage except for some of my gear which somehow flew into a tree while unwinding shuttle. The only change I would have made was to run a slightly shorter stretch but it was still a lot of fun. A check of the release schedule for Sunday showed “no release” had changed to “12m to 12n” for the Green.
Sunday morning, we decided to paddle the Upper Green. Five of us carried over from the day before and we added one new member to bring us to six. The skies were clear and the sun was out, but the 65 degree weather was a distant memory with mid 40s and a blowing wind at the put-in. Once we dropped into the gorge on the river, the wind disappeared and it felt much warmer. We made quick work of the first mile of the river and found ourselves scouting Bayless Boof.
After a long paddle the day before, two in our group decided to portage Bayless. We sent one group member ahead to wait in the eddy below, and we then peeled out and ran the rapid. One combat roll but no carnage for the swim counter. We quickly moved down to Wanda’s, and had two folks set-up safety for the group just in case Wanda was hungry. Everyone made it through and we continued on down the river, with one 4 foot ledge breaking up the class 2 rapids along the way. We had two more combat rolls but still no carnage. Our three first timers marveled at the interstate bridge as we passed far below. We were soon at Pinball, where we decided to run straight through. Everyone did well but a flip at the very bottom finally satisfied the carnage counter with one swim for the day.
We moved quickly after Pinball to make keep up with the water (the release ended at noon on Sunday). Three of us played out the rest of our paddling energy on the take-out wave as the rest of the group started the Class IV+ hike to the parking lot. With some group effort we all made it to the parking lot, exhausted after another weekend of paddling.
For the official statistics, I counted 4 combat rolls and 3 swims for the weekend. Three personal first decents on Section 3 and the Upper Green, with one additional person’s first time on the narrows and second ledge. Great water levels, great weather, and a great time was enjoyed by all.