Tellico Creeking – Jim Wei
| River: | Tellico |
| Skill: | All |
| Trip Date: | 04/01/2005 |
Paddlers: Jim Wei, Milton Wicker, Woody O’Brian, Russ Scheve, Ben Gilbert, Jim Wendling, Tom Van Wittenkind, Jill Dinsdale, Knut Raldoff, Tripp Culbreth, Elizabeth Gardner
I decide two days before the weekend that my creeking trip will be on the Tellico, and I hope it stays above 1.8’ to make the drive worth it for the ten suckers signed up for my trip.
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With the forecast night temperatures in the mid twenties, we skip the camping option and head straight into the warmth of NOC’s base camp. I tell the group we’ll leave NOC on Saturday morning at 8:30am and get to the river by 11am. With a few notorious late sleepers in the group and some decent amount of drinking on Friday night, the plan looks to be in jeopardy. Fortunate for us, we also have a few early risers in the group (trip leader not among them). They manage to rouse the group and we hit the road by 8:40, a modern miracle. A quick stop at Wendy’s in Robbinsville satisfies our tummies but angers Elizabeth’s truck and it refuses to crank. Another modern miracle places an auto parts store next to Wendy’s, and with Russ’s automotive knowledge we get the truck running in no time. Tellico is running just a hair under 1.8’, so we hear from another paddler at put in. BTW, this trip leader manages to not check the gauge on Saturday morning even though there is a computer with online access at NOC. The water level looks good to the eye, an excellent level for the five first timers in the group. These virgins are not your normal run of mill virgins. They want to run virgin’s probe. The rest of us are more than happy with that idea so the stage is set for entertainment. |
 Jim Wei at Baby Falls |
Did I mention virgins move fast? They get to the first of the three blind ledges before I can say “Oh, let me try to remember how to run this one”. One by one they go off pinballing and broaching on the far left but come out unscathed. Probing is a great way to improve paddling skills. Good lines do wonders for confidence and surviving bad lines also do wonders for confidence. Not fazed by the first ledge, the virgins push ahead. We get through two more big ledges without further excitement before we reach the pool above Baby Falls. We scout on the river right bank and then one by one we fling ourselves off the 14 ft waterfall with or without style. Fed up by years of doing the C-to-C roll, Jill invents the new C-to-A move off Baby Falls.
Still full of adrenaline from Baby Falls, the virgins probe down the next rapid, Diaper Wiper. The river god smiles upon us this day as none of us need to wipe our diapers after the rapid. From bottom of Diaper Wiper we look back up toward Baby Falls admiring just how much vertical height we just dropped over the past few hundred yards.
The virgins continues their lead until we arrive at top of Jarrod’s Knee, the last, the longest, and probably the toughest rapid on the river. At this level, Jarrod’s Knee has four distinctive drops. I feel the group is strong enough to run this rapid without shore scout. We set up to run the drops one at time. Having taught most of us swift water rescue techniques, Russ decides to test how much we’ve learned from him. First Russ broaches on a rock just above the second ledge. When none of us come to his help, Russ frees himself and then broaches on another rock immediately downstream. Finally someone comes to him and pulls the boat free of the rock. Russ then flips over and tosses the paddle. Since by now he’s really close to the second ledge, we are all too scared to give a bow rescue. Russ goes over the second ledge and then comes out of his boat at bottom. Seriously disappointed by our performance so far, he manages to climb onto a mid stream rock collecting his breath. We spend the next exciting ten minutes getting his boat back to the shore and then getting Russ across the river to reunite with his boat.
We run rest of Jarrod’s Knee without further opportunities to display our lack of rescue skills. With plenty of day light left, eight of us embarks on a second run. Jill decides to skip the second run still recovering from her thrill of inventing the new move. Russ is totally disgusted by how much we’ve forgotten his teachings and also sits out. Elizabeth also sits out the second run so she could discuss with Jill her new move.
Second run turns out to be a “Let’s go a little faster” run. My body turns on the auto pilot and I cruise down the river in the front, occasionally looking back to make sure I can see at least one person behind me. Not sure exactly how far the group stretched back, I run drop after drop until finally I’m at bottom of Jarrod’s Knee. Shouldering my boat and hiking to the vehicles, I’m surprised to find Woody already changing into dry clothes. I don’t recall him passing me on the river, but then again in my state of drunken excitement from running the Tellico, I could have easily missed seeing him passing by.
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Turns out I was wrong. Woody is in the very back of the group and when he sees a rodeo hole, his playboating soul simply can not let the chance slip by. Not realizing just how much work it is throwing down a creek boat, Woody quickly tires himself out and he decides to abort the run. Jill picks up Woody and brings him down to the take out. Having only botched one rescue and lost one paddler, but with a brand new freestyle downriver move invented under my watchful eyes, I consider my leadership on the Tellico a success. Some others in the group may disagree with me, but they’re not writing this trip report. With nothing else running between NOC and home, we head to Wilson Creek on Sunday for a LOW water run. We pick up Tiffany at the put-in, and Knut gracefully offers to show Tiffany the lines on her virgin run. Still high from her new move on Baby Falls, Jill tries out hand paddling. By the end of the run, the knuckle dragging club welcomes its newest member whose exact words are “I had my best ever lines on Wilson today”. |
 Jill Dinsdale at Baby Falls |