June 2003 Week of Paddling

Friday, June 14 -- Missy and I drove to Mountain Laurel Campground in Fayetteville, WV. We met Jim McHugh from Michigan at the campground. Saturday, June 15 -- We met Ed Charlton from Ohio at the campground. The New River was running high, about 20,000 cfs. We drove over and scouted the section above Sandstone Falls. Interstate 64 crosses the New River downriver from Hinton and Sandstone Falls. The bridge is called the Mary Draper Ingles bridge, after the colonial lady whose story of abduction is told in "Follow the River." To reach the falls, you must drive upriver on river right to Hinton, cross the river, and then drive downriver on river left. We walked the boardwalk at the falls. Sandstone Falls is about 25 feet high. We then drove to a pull-off below Brooks Falls that would be our takeout and left a vehicle. We drove upriver about 3 miles to put on above a good wave train. The New is very wide in places. When you're used to running narrow rivers, it can be a little spooky. We ran Brooks on the left, far enough out to avoid the huge hole on the far left. At this level, the run was class III.

	Sandstone Falls
Takeout below Brooks Falls	Scouting Brooks Falls	Brooks Falls

Sunday, June 16 -- The rivers were all still high. We decided to run a section of the Gauley above the dam. The Gauley was running about 2000 cfs. We ran the section from Camden on Gauley to Curtin Bridge. We took 41 and 55 east off 19 to Craigsville, turned south on 55 to the Curtin Bridge, and left a vehicle. We then drove back to Craigsville and east on 55 to put on at the water treatment plant at Allingdale (on the right). The river started out flat and gradually built to a solid class II. It started out as one of those typical foggy, surreal days on the Gauley. Then it rained and toward the end, the sun came out. The Cranberry entered from the left about 1-1/2 miles before the takeout and the Cherry entered from the left at the takeout. Ed had to head home after this. Missy and I drove to Weston this night, met Angie, and drove back to Fayetteville.

Monday, June 17 -- This was a travel day. We took our time driving south past the Nolichucky toward the French Broad. We got off 23 near Rocky Fork, backtracked a little to 352, and then took 352, 212, 208, and 25/70 to Hot Springs. We got a nice campsite on the river at the Hot Springs Campground.

Tuesday, June 18 -- The French Broad was running 4000 cfs. We left a vehicle at Hot Springs and drove to Barnard. We missed the turn off for Barnard. The sign to look for reads "Walnut." This was a fun run with some big waves and holes. After Stackhouse, there is a lot of flat water to Kayaker's Ledge. We took out a little late to scout Frank Bell's and ended up bouncing down the right side. I carried Angie's boat around and must have dumped her Pelican box. This gave us another good reason to go to NOC.

Stackhouse	Lunch at Stackhouse	Missy at Kayaker's Ledge

After taking out, we drove west on 25/70 to 40 and then drove south to the Pigeon River at Waterville and Big Creek Campground in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The four of us had the whole group campsite to ourselves. I had reserved it back in the winter. It had been raining all week and would continue till Thursday. Big Creek was up and near runnable. The campground was quiet, except for a hoot owl, which was very close.

Wednesday, June 19 -- We dropped a vehicle at the takeout which is at the next exit North from Waterville (Hartford). A raft guide said we could park on the basketball court. The Pigeon is a dam release river. The water gets to the put in at 10 am. There was some natural flow for a total of about 1800 cfs, a very good level. There were a lot of rafts. We put on between two groups but eventually drifted to the back of several groups and had the river to ourselves. We scouted Double Reactionary and Accelerator. The run is only about 4 miles and parallels 40. We took off early and headed for the Nantahala. NOC is like Alice's Restaurant for boaters. We bought a dry bag, Afterbite for all our mosquito bites, a waterproof map of Chattooga Section 3, and a Blister Medic foot first aid kit for our upcoming hike. We camped at Lost Mine Campground. We stayed there last year. I don't know how it compares to other campgrounds in the area. The sites are close together.

Thursday, June 20 -- What can I say about the Nantahala? It is just so unnaturally cold. On a weekday, in the early morning, it isn't crowded. We made a quick run and headed for South Carolina. Looking at a map, you might be tempted to take 28 down to Franklin from 74 to get on 441 into Clayton, GA. Unless you have Dramamine, its better to stay on 74 till it runs into 441. From Clayton, we went to Oconee State Park Campground. This is a nice campground with the works; showers, laundry, a store, a lake, and a beach. Its also fairly close to the Chattooga.

Angie Surfing Nantahala Falls	Jim at Nantahala Falls

Friday, June 21 -- The Chattooga was at about 2 feet. We put in at Sandy Ford to make a 9 mile run. To get to Sandy Ford from the 76 bridge, drive east about 2 miles on 76 to 198 (Chattooga River Road), turn left on 198 and go about 10 miles to 193 (Earl's Ford Road), turn left on 193. 193 becomes 721. Turn left after about 5 miles on 721 onto 721A and go about another two miles. That map from NOC really came in handy. I had heard a lot about all the flat water on section 3, but we really did not notice it. Its a very scenic run with good class II/III rapids. We scouted Second Ledge and Eye of the Needle. Bull Sluice is a class IV/V rapid at the end of section 3. When running section 4, you can walk up and put in above Bull Sluice, but you miss the waves in the approach. Pull over early on the right above these waves to scout. There's an eddy on the left between the waves and the main drop. If you run the waves and miss the left eddy, you're committed to running the Bull. Jim and I eddied out left above the main drop and ran the tongue down the center. This was our last day of paddling. Jim started home for Michigan. We headed back to the campground to rest for our hike on the Foothills Trail. We had a great week with plenty of water. It was much better than we expected.

Missy at Second Ledge	Jim at Bull Sluice