French Broad, section 9
| River: | French Broad |
| Skill: | Intermediate |
| Trip Date: | 06/27/2022 |
Trip coordinators: Joe and Martha Mount. Report by Martha
Flow: 1270 cfs
French Broad Section 9 (FB9) is a lovely stretch of river for a hot humid June day. We posted this trip as a Week of Rivers warm up. It fulfilled. The 14 paddlers came from Erwin, Johnson City, Arden, Richmond, Knoxville, Bryson City and Asheville. Like a WOR trip, we had a mix of seasoned veterans and a few first timers to FB9. The flow was low, not pushy, quite playful.
We paused briefly at the first river left eddy traditionally known as the “rolling eddy.” Here we tackled any river nerves and tested the rolls.. they worked! We paddled through the first few rapids including the Maze and Turtle Rock. At low levels, it is especially fun to take alternate lines and practice ferries, eddy catching and attaining. At S-Turn, we had a variety of lines from the more conservative right line to the traditional S Turn. All came through without a flip.
At Big Pillow, several paddlers took the right to left line across current into the river left eddy above the pillow and followed Joe through the little rock slot to the left of the Pillow Rock. A fun line. There was a bit of obligatory fun ferrying and surfing above the pillow as well. But no flips, no swims.
Sandy Bottoms’ lunch stop rocks were warm and offered a little rest. No snakes, no bees’ nests currently, but be on the lookout through out the summer.
The Ledges is a longer rapid with a few stops for surfing on the way through. Lee Thonus took a crew to the left at the bottom of the rapid to demo some of his “spicy lines.” The rest enjoyed the more traditional right line between the two offset holes. No flips, no swims.
We had equal numbers of paddlers on the Pinball and Pitstop lines. The Pitstop crew reported on the summer bird nest in the cave. The nest is there, the birds have flown the coup. On the Pinball side, we enjoyed catching a few eddies and ferrying over to the “flume line.”
Overall, it was a remarkable trip for how smoothly it went. Everyone was early to the put in. Everyone went to the correct meeting spot. Shuttle came off without a problem. There was no missing gear at the put in. There was one tiny swim into an eddy. No pins, no broaches. Everyone happily practiced flat water and current rolls with the balmy summer water. Rain was predicted, but didn’t happen. It was a great opportunity to meet new people and bring paddlers together. We talked about upcoming Week of Rivers, including favorite campsites, favorite food and low water paddling options. As an Asheville local, I personally love this section of river and am so happy to have the opportunity to share it with others.
Paddlers:
Martha and Joe Mount
Ruth and David Bell
Lee Thonus
Amy and Chuck Bowman
Cory Korpela
Jim Mazzola
Warren Schoening
David Humphreys
Madeline Wood
Dan Lewis
Audra Bassett-Touchell