I had four people signed up for a nice calm weekened on the Ocoee: Martha, Jeff, myself, and Fred (who is more a force of nature on the Ocoee than anything else).

Jeff had run the Ocoee on multiple ocassions, so Martha was the only one on her PFD.

Saturday turned out to be a great blue sky day… weather forcasts may have kept the weary away as the river was not busy. I found a new way to kill time at the put in by running laps of the entrance rapid and walking up the steel steps back to the ramp (posting video to CCC's fb page).  I had a fun solo run Saturday; I stopped at Broken Nose and ran a few laps there too.

Participants:

Saturday on the Ocoee – Woody O'brian, Jon Godwin, Fast Fred Ruddock, John Z

Sunday on the Nantahala – Julie and Barry Schmidt, Jeffrey Hatcher, Woody O'brian, Jon Godwin, John Z

Perfect weather, both for paddling and camping. We got two runs on the Middle Ocoee on Saturday, the first (almost) to ourselves. On Sunday, we paddled the Nantahala, again with the river (mostly) to ourselves. Great weekend. Thanks to the fun crew.

French Broad Section 9 Trip Report.  4/8/2012. Submitted by Wayne Jones

 

On Sunday morning of the Easter Trip, I raised my hand to ask Rich about the logistics of paddling the French Broad River Section 9 on the way back to Raleigh.  Despite appearances, I was quite sure of where the French Broad was.  However, what I wasn’t too sure about was the current location of Wayne Jones.  Another victim of GPS, I suppose.  Paddlers started to gather around me uncertainly after I said I would lead a trip.

 

I made my way to the Ocoee early arriving at Adventures Unlimited Thursday, March 15th. Josh met me at the campsite and we setup camp before heading to Chattanooga for supper at Terminal Brewhouse where we enjoyed tasty Bison burgers and craft beer. Friday I helped the guides get the AU store ready for the new season. Friday evening Ryan arrived at the campsite. A few of us headed to Dumpy's to drink a few pints of Guinness and see old friends and raft guides.