Drawdown Day 0

Showed up at Thunder Rock at 9 pm, later than desired but with my oil changed. Campground about 25% full, but Dead Quiet.

Set up camp at the group site, alone and feeling like I'd rented a full suite at a hotel, my tent alone.

Drawdown Day 1

Jim arrived around 8 this morning. He set up camp before we headed out. A dreary drizzly day, yet with warm weather. Ran into the Texas crew at the crack of noon as we put on for a second run.

Participants: Bob Brueckner (C-1), Morgan Randall (K-1), Brenda Randall (K-1) and Keith Chilton (K-1)

Level: 1140 cfs or 4.81 feet on USGS Bynum gauge.

After a week of high water, access closures and numerous reports of Florence's many miseries down east, it was good to escape to the Middle Haw for a pleasant trip on Saturday.

With the Eno dropping rapidly, I posted a trip to Facebook last night. By today I had six people (evolving to seven). Meeting up at West Point, we had one person running late. Late. With the schduled run already tight, what I should have done was abbreviate the trip by cutting off one of the (Pleasant Green/Cole Mill/Guess/Roxboro) sections to turn it into a shorter run.

John's flight in Charlotte was delayed, and he didn't get in until late Saturday.  Late enough I managed to convince him to not leave at the crack of dawn. We left at 8:30 am for a couple of days on the Noli. We arrived at the Noli Campground to find a Labor Day Celebration with live music in full swing. We asked about a shuttle driver from someone at the entrance, and one was sitting right there – how convenient! We quickly set up camp and were on our way, putting on around 3 pm with plenty of time.

Nice day on the water among CCC friends and we may have even seen the birth of another addict to the sport.

We had 1 novice, couple intermediates, and some advanced paddlers along with a couple instructors and an instructor educator.  Hmm, great opportunity for some newer paddlers.  Decent weather and good conditions for a better than average wave shape for surfing (pool level around 19.3' with flow of 2600cfs).

The true hassle of coordinating a trip is never knowing if anyone will show up. With last-minute heavy rain in the Triangle even more so. I could have just stayed home and paddled! Even posting weeks in advance, a few days out I had one confirmed person. On Thursday I briefly had six. Fortunately, it's the Ocoee.

CCC volunteers found enough tires for two cars, enough plastic bottles to open a recycling center and enough sandals, boots and flip-flops to open a shoe store during this year's cleanup on the Tuckasegee where the river empties into Fontana Lake.

Instead of heading for a river on a hot July morning, 24 paddlers decided to tackle a raft of trash about the size of a football field. Volunteers hauled in 150 bags of trash, eight tires, one ottoman, one bowling ball and a very large icemaker.