Musical Boats in Western NC
| River: | Other |
| Skill: | All |
| Trip Date: | 07/27/2016 |
By Leon Pfeiffer
Seth Bosman, Len Prosnitz, Riley Pfeiffer and I set out on a three-day trip to Western NC to get wet. We ended up with three trips down the Pigeon and one on the Nanty before we left to return on Saturday, July 30.
Day 1 began on the dirty bird. We met up with a great group from the midweek paddlers and headed away from Powerhouse. It really got the attention of Seth and Riley since this was a PFD for them. The only drama happened about 1.5 miles in after the river took a hard right turn. One midweek paddler broached on a rock mid-stream near the top of the rapid. Their paddle was lost so the situation became a little hairy. One brave paddler left their boat and waded about 40 feet upstream to reach her and release her from the rock. A borrowed paddle was given and she was able to continue downstream, get her paddle back,and cruise on. The large group played and cruised on with a great run top to bottom. No swims, or drama, just a great run. All took conservative lines through Lost Guide and Double Reactionary since some were still getting their feet wet.
Day 2 – with no rain we headed back to the Pigeon. We had to change things up a bit so Len and Seth paddled the shredder while Riley and Leon stayed in their duckies. The shredder tore it up with no drama. Riley had to make things interesting with a swim while surfing in the hole at Lost Guide and a combat swim when he took on Double Reactionary head on and came up second best. It was a short swim. Leon took a tumble while climbing the rocks at Lost Guide to get some pics. No one saw it, but it hurt just the same. Some of the biggest river hazards are often above the waterline. The first run was so much fun we had to have another. Run 2 was clean as Riley took on DR head-on and came through upright.
Day 3 – still no rain, so it was a Nanty Day. Musical boats continued as RIley took a turn in Seth's hard boat, his first time ever. Len and Leon cruised in the shredder and Seth was in his playboat. Riley looked like a pro as he played in many of the surfing holes all the way down. He had one swim when he flipped on a non-descript rock, but other than that the run was pristine. All ran the falls once, Riley and Seth took a second helping with Seth hitting the bottom hole head-on, flipped, and rolled up on the second try.
All in all, the trip was super-duper, good enough for an encore in 2017!
Leon Pfeiffer