Icebreaker 2012

River:Nantahala
Skill:Novice
Trip Date:12/31/2011
Written by: , Posted: January 8, 2012

New Year’s Icebreaker 2011/2012

By Marlow Durbin

The annual CCC New Year’s Icebreaker trip began with a New Year's Eve run on the Nantahala River with a small group of paddlers including Brent Summerfield, Joan Monnig, Lorraine Burnham, Ronnie Rudd, Susan Morris and I.  We met at Ferebee and the weather was absolutely perfect — blue skies with a high of around 60 degrees.  Thanks to Susan’s friend, Myrna for running shuttle so that all cars were at the takeout.  We noticed right away that the water level was a little higher than normal with water lapping over the edge of the access put-in at Ferebee.  It was a lovely day on the river (no rafts) and we enjoyed ourselves tremendously.  At the slightly higher water level, Whirpool is especially swirly and it is hard to spot the rapid some call “Walk the Dog.”  The Falls were also somewhat affected by the water level; the top hole and the river left side of the bottom hole were beefier than usual, while the river right side of the bottom hole was almost washed out.

 Some in our group stayed overnight at Smoky Mountain Retreat cabins right next to Smoky Mountain Meadows where CCC holds WOR.  The cabins are great and we highly recommend them.  That night, a few of us attended a New Year’s Eve gathering of paddlers at Brian Aubin’s home in the Gorge.

On New Year’s Day the Official Icebreaker led by Ron Miller was held on the Nantahala.  This was a lot of fun for me!  The paddlers were Ron Miller, Joan Monnig, Ronnie Rudd, Rich and Sarah Ruhlen and Eric and Martha Mount and I.  Yes, that’s right; there were three 15 year-olds on the CCC Icebreaker Trip.  We decided it was an auspicious occasion!   We did not care that the weather was not quite as warm as the day before nor did we care that we experienced some scattered showers.  This group had great fun playing our way down the Nanty.  I’ve got to say, it’s fun paddling with folks my own age.   At the end of the day Eric headed down to the new Nantahala Wave, discovering some of its flaws like a small foam pile and swirly, Charlotte Whitewater Center-esque eddies. We ended the trip with hot chocolate and nice picnic in the NOC parking lot. Hope you can join us next year!  Mom says she’ll bring some “Hoppin John!”