Nantahala October 15th, 2023
| River: | Nantahala |
| Skill: | Novice |
| Trip Date: | 10/15/2023 |
Nantahala Sunday October 15, 2023
Paddlers:
Paul Scrutton
John Fisher (Fireman Fish)
Sunday was an unseasonably cold day with a high of about 55 degrees. I posted the trip on October 4th, and not one person had reached out to me about the trip. I guess a Sunday only trip on the Nantahala is a tough sell. None the
less, I fully intended to go through with it.
I decided a nice breakfast to combat the cool weather would be helpful, so I stopped in at Everett St Diner in Bryson City, and had a plate of pancakes with eggs, a side of bacon and some coffee. As I had planned to run the river solo, I had to figure out my own shuttle. My first thought was to jump on the NOC shuttle. I stopped in at the adventure desk at about 10.20am, and they said the next shuttle was at 12.15pm and would leave at 12.40pm. 2 hours 20 mins seemed like a lot of time, and I thought I could do better, so I declined signing up for the shuttle and headed up to the put in myself.
I took my time at the put in, hoping I might run into someone setting shuttle. I got changed into my drysuit and got my other paddling equipment together. Drysuits, pogies and head warmers were the gear for the day. There were 2 groups assembled to paddle at the put in, one had already set shuttle and the other was waiting on their shuttle. When the parties had all arrived, I checked in with one of persons returning from their shuttle, who advised me that
hitching a ride should be no problem at all as he’d just done that and confirmed the location best to hitch a ride (next to the walkway/Rivers End restaurant).
I pushed my kayak gear under the tree in the center grassy area and drove back down to the take out, ditched my truck and walked over the walkway and attempted to thumb a ride. Well I was out there for about 10-15 mins, I gave up counting cars after about 30 went past me without any of them slowing down. It seemed like mostly a tourist crowd, but I did note a couple of boating vehicles (racks with boating accessories on them). I asked a bystander what the time was and he indicated it was 12.20pm. At this time the choice became clear and I ran back over to the Adventure Desk to sign up for the shuttle. I was told to fill out the waiver, which I did and paid for the shuttle (it was $10 approx; I think it’s cheaper without a boat (it is $15 with a boat), and the person informed me the driver could drop me at the public put in.
After finding the bus (they are labelled and you are given a wrist band with the bus number on it), I entered the bus and heard my name – “Hello Paul”. I looked up and CCC member John Fisher introduced himself. He said that people know him as Fireman Fish, on account of his former occupation. John was planning on paddling the river solo, so we formulated a plan to paddle together.
The bus driver dropped me at the public put in. I was happy to find my gear where I had left it, and finished getting ready for the river. I launched into the canal and within a couple of minutes, John had paddled down from the commercial put in and met me there.
We paddled down the river, John boofed a lot and worked the river. I saw him hit one launch rock and he got about 3/4 of his boat out of the water. Quite impressive. We did some surfing at various points along the river. No incidents to report, other than John helping get a duckie paddler unstuck from a rock. We made it through the falls and called it a day.
I got talking to John about my experience trying to catch a ride at the NOC. It turns out that John routinely hitch-hikes the shuttle, and his recommendation is to park at concrete beach and hitch a ride from that parking lot as cars can see you come from a long way away and can pull in easily. So, there you go, maybe that’s a useful tactic for another day.