Week of Rivers 2007 – Dennis Huntley
| River: | Other |
| Skill: | All |
| Trip Date: | 07/01/2007 |
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I led several trips during the WOR, to the Upper and Middle Ocoee on the first Sunday, a kid’s trip on the Nantahala on Monday, a low water fish release on the Cheoah, a full release trip on the Cheoah on the last Saturday, and a kid's trip on the Upper Cheoah on the second Sunday. |
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Needless to say, everyone had fun, with possibly the exception of one individual on the Cheoah at full release, paddling a playboat with no airbags, swimming several times, and the subsequent difficult and dangerous attempts to retrieve his boat. The Upper Ocoee was a great run, with Wade making his first run, and using hand paddles, and Sagel making a perfect run in a very small child’s play boat. The Nantahala run resulted in a neat DVD movie for the kids to take home (which they provided music for and helped edit). The low water run on the Cheoah, at about 80 cfs sounds crazy, but was actually quite enjoyable. It reminded us of the Lower Tellico at a low level. We only paddled from Bear Creek Falls to the Lake Cheoah. The fish have made a comeback, as we saw fish in the clear water. It’s not for those thrill seekers that like tons of water as much as for folks that want to see the river with everything exposed and a wild creek. The river is fairly well channelized, so we never had to get out of our boats to walk around anything. If Yellow Creek is putting in water, as well as a couple of other creeks, it should be even better. Definitely recommended by my group and Mark’s group. Finally, a big thanks to the group that ran the Cheoah on Saturday at the big release for a good trip, and especially to Eric Owensby and David Kneen for their help in kayak rescue. Ginny took a lot of pictures on Saturday, so if you want a picture of yourself, send me an e-mail at deckedcanoe@bellsouth.net. |
 Maintaining creek protocol on the Cheoah, at recreational release. |
For those intermediates that want to run the river, we did a fun run from the dam put-in to Jo-Ann’s Store on Sunday for the kids, and had a great time. Only one short swim. This is highly recommended, with nothing over a Class 3 and a good take-out just below the store at O’Henry’s. Please note that you cannot leave a car at the dam put-in, shuttle vehicles only (but there is a great parking area just above there on the road). There is a great middle Cheoah run at full release that has nothing over a low Class 4 and basically no holes if you put- in at Yellow Creek and paddle down to the concrete bridge above the hard stuff (Forest Service road), a distance of four or five miles I think. The only difficulty is finding your way through bushes at a couple of places (go left above the wilderness pond). This is highly recommended as well and gives a feel for the river without the difficulty. Park at Yellow Creek and put-in just below the surfing waves there.
Eric Owensby, age 21, nailing the center line at Bear Creek Falls (aka, the Big-un) on the Cheoah