Upper Nantahala 2009

Just let anyone who's thinking about running the Upper Nanty at 800cfs know… it's a blast! We ran it two weeks ago and had an awesome time.

Knut joined us and made the perfect assessment- it's like paddling Big Creek for your first time/blind at 3.5 ft. We all had a great time. Pushy and continuous, you will be in heaven if you have some class IV skills. Many nonstop stretches but oh soo much fun. At the takeout we met a you guy, Dameon who stated he was going to "Fire up the Cascades" – solo! His college aged buddy was still in street clothes as they were getting ready to head up to the putin- we couldn't help but go watch and take pictures.

We had already scouted the Cascades and decided that the MASSIVE hole in the rapid below Big Kahuna was a terminal one. Needless to say, that's where we staged ourselves, still in drysuits with camera and throw rope in hand. Amazingly, he was able to catch two eddies just above Big Kahuna, which was a massive sea of white. He slipped out the back of the second eddy, surfed a huge hole across the river and then ran Big Kahuna- upright! We were shocked to see him still paddling – and above the surface, as the hole there was huge. He ran the second rapid far left, which none of us expected, because that side had a huge pile recirculating back- obviously the worst side of the hole (as if the whole thing wasn't the worst aspect of it!) He instantly got stopped, surfed upside down and then swam- ditching his boat and paddle and made the eddy on river left just below- a good thing because the river was pretty continuous from there on out. His buddy came down the cliff to help aide in the rescue of his friend. We got him across thanks to Pat's great ropework.

Then we went downstream to find his boat and paddle- amazingly, we found both. We saw his paddle floating down the river as we drove over the bridge at the takeout of the Cascades and we were able to get it before it flushed into the next rapid. Without thinking, Dameon left his newly rescued paddle there at the bridge.

We then went on the rescue his boat which was pinned a few hundred yards upstream above the bridge. Once reunited with his boat- and paddle still down below, Dameon said he was good to go- he was going to hand paddle (literally just with his hands) down to the bridge. Pat asked him if he had a hands roll- he said no. We decided that it was time to climb out of the gorge and find our way home before the next epic rescue!! Luckily, his buddy was in his boat and paddled with Dameon down to where he had stashed his paddle. We paid the price of admission once- we didn't want to stay for the second show! I can't say I know how his short hand paddling session went, but I do know that the river was very pushy that day, I hoped for the best! I do have a few pics of him running Big Kahuna. Just email me if you'd like to see them. I highly recommend the Upper Nanty at that level- I'd do it again any day. I don't recommend watching someone go do something you know is stupid, unless you have the time/want to clean up their mess!

Pat Glazier