Trip Report: Tuckasegee Gorge (Dillsoboro to Barkers’ Creek), Saturday, June 14, 2014

Saturday on the Tuck, we had beautiful weather: sunny and hot! Ahh, summer! We had a little bit extra water from rain in the watershed the night before, for a water level of 1000 cfs, enough to pad out the boney sections, but not enough to make the river too pushy for novices. Just right.

Well, I've written a lot of trip reports from the Ocoee, some filled with excitement and derring-do, and others that were just another weekend on the Ocoee. This is probably more the latter than the former, but it had its moments.

Pigeon Gorge – May 31st

I had posted the trip as a “participant's choice” between French Broad 9, Pigeon Gorge, Nolichucky, and Big Laurel (if it came up). Not enough rain so Big Laurel was out, I was a little surprised when the Pigeon came in first.

Two Trip Weekend

Saturday October 19, 2013 – French Broad Section 9

Martha was a bit nervous about her first time as a “trip coordinator”. However she had been on French Broad – Section 9 many times before and the crew was equally experienced. The level was a moderate 1450 cfs and the weather was also sunny and moderate. As it turned out her biggest task was organizing the shuttle. We had a crew of about a dozen, with a mix of kayaks and open canoes. It was a pretty mellow day.

Sunday October 20, 2013 – Nolichucky

I've tried to run a novice trip every year on the last weekend of April. Usually late enough that it's warm, and early enough that there's still rain somewhere. In recent years we've managed warm, but usually the water was lacking, and we'd end up on the Fear at about 1.6', a level I've sworn (twice) I'd never run it again.

While I planned this trip months in advance, recent rain in the Triangle area caused a run of cancellations, and in the end it was just me, driving to Ducktown from NC, and Mark Kieran, driving up from FL.

After a lousy start leaving the house (mostly looking for my lost bicycle lock), I still managed an earlier than usual start leaving town around 4:30. Mark had left at about the same time, 12 hours earlier, and spend Friday evening playing in Hell Hole.