Nantahala Weekend Trip Report
| River: | Nantahala |
| Skill: | Novice+ |
| Trip Date: | 09/09/2023 |
As of the weekend prior to this, there had been little rain in NC and none was predicted for the next week, and I wanted to paddle some Class II-III stuff, so I decided that a trip to the Nantahala River would be just the right solution. The lows were forecast in the 60’s and the highs in the 80’s with no precipitation forecast. Still late-summer-like weather and guaranteed water, scheduled release 9-6 on Saturday and 10-5 on Sunday. I suppose we could have considered the Pigeon for Saturday or the French Broad, but it had dropped pretty low the recent weekend and didn’t look like a reliable solution. The Nantahala suited me just fine, so I posted a trip on the CCC website. By Wednesday we had a group put together.
As can be expected, people can come and go leading right up to the trip; it just requires a little communication to keep things in order. We lost some due to changes in plans, and one Covid casualty (or maybe detainee, whatever, please stay where you are). And, we picked up one participant from Facebook for Saturday, now a new CCC member.
The weather both days was mostly sunny when we were on the river, and then turned to downpours in the afternoon. Tom Womble and Gary Kyle joined Erika Robbins, Greg Moon, Shawn Doherty, and I on Saturday, which concluded with Erika and Greg’s first run of Nantahala Falls, great fun and good lines for both, and a pfd of the Nantahala for Greg. Sunday was Greg and I, bumping into Gary Kyle and his friend Paul as the first 4 paddlers on the river that day. We had a little more excitement on Nantahala Falls Sunday, but that just increased the motivation to come back and do it again. Great trip, thanks to everyone who participated.
Trip Coordinator Wayne Jones