The bama boys roll north to the ultra classic "Crow Creek"... no, no... lets call it "Black Bird Branch"...

It's been way too long since I've taken time to update my blog, but all the great water we've had in Alabama has had me spending my time boating rather than sitting in front of a computer writing about boating. However, I'm feeling inspired after a great weekend of boating and am feeling the urge to share once again.



Saturday I paddled a run defines all the reasons I started creeking in the first place. It is in a bueatiful, rugged, and committing gorge and the creek itself is steep, challenging, and ultimatly rewarding for those who are lucky enough to have the oppertunity to experience it.

Charlie Mix, Joey Jarrell and I rolled out of Alabama Thrusday night, paddled Big Creek on Friday, and met up with a few other bama boys to camp out Friday night. Sam England, Jorday Sherman and Andy Hobson, were finishing a weeklong huckfest in western North Carolina and around the campfire Friday night it didn't take too much convincing to get them to return with us on Saturday to our main objective for the weekend, the Raven Fork.

Saturday morning started early with us packing up our campsite in the national forest just after sunrise. After grabbing a quick bite to eat we were off to Cherokee North Carolina to meet up with Ryan Moore and check the gauge on the Raven Fork. We had heard through the grapevine that the perfect first time level was betwen 6" and 9" and upon reaching the river Saturday morning we found the perfect 7" we were hoping for.

While Sam and Andy had paddled this creek once before, Charlie, Jordan, Joey and Myself would all be first timers. Upon reaching the river, Jordan, Joey, and Ryan made the decision to save the boating for another day and hike to provide camera support. With our paddling group down to four, we geared up and began the hike in...


We hiked into the gorge, putting on the river at the top of a fun warm-up rapid known as Lord of the Rings. Below that we made our first portage of the day as all four of us passed on Anaconda, seal launching in below it to run the first bigger rapid of the day... Headless Horseman...




Here are shots of Andy and I running another rapid known as Right Right...



The next bigger drop was Razorback which features a fun railslide into a long bouncy slide...





Downstream came another easier rapid known as Jedi Training...


Mortal Combat is another big slide sequence with a big kicker boof near the top...






The biggest rapid of the day and perhaps one of the biggest rapids any of us have ever run is Mike Tyson's Punch Out. This HUGE multi-tiered cascade is impossible to capture in pictures and video because its simply massive...






The last of the big ones we ran was Caveman. This features a series of ledge drops finishing with a SWEET boof off the left wall...



Until Saturday I have never had a standout run that I could point to as my "favorite". There are lots of runs that I love for various reasons. The Raven Fork is truely a special and amazing place... and at least for now, its my favorite place on earth!

Until Next Time...

-adam

Thank you Charlie Mix!

This post must begin with a big thanks to Charlie Mix for flying to Europe for the Holidays. His absence, conbined with the great distance he was from Alabama surely helped bring much needed rain to our beloved Little River Canyon. For those of you who haven't figured out this great indacator, the general rule seems to be if Charlie or I are out of town... Alabama goes off. Now that I have made this fact public... if we ever go out of town at the same time you will know to load the boats and start acting sick at work because its about to start raining in Alabama.

Last weekend I was actually out of town too, but not too far away to drive back for what would be a great weekend on LRC. Joey and I had done a low water Russell Fork run on Wednesday and then the Green on Thursday when an "Operational Schedule was Determined Daily" against us and said 60% for Friday through Sunday, effectively ending our plans. We both headed back to our family homes in VA only to hear that AL was getting hammered on top of a good rain they received earlier in the week. My love of LRC and Johnnies pulled hard on my mind and I quickly reloaded the truck and drove late in the night. After 5 hours of sleep at Brandon's place in Knoxville (thank's man) I finished the drive arriving at the Johnnies at 9:30 eastern.

Although Johnnies had run Friday in the late afternoon, it was already too low so it was off to meet Spence and set shuttle for the main canyon. I was expecting 4-5", but we rolled up to the bridge to find a good crew of boaters dressing out and the Rt 35 Bridge Gauge just over 10". It was on! I quickly dressed out and offered to go first so I could get some pictures from the bottom of the falls. I felt good about my line and kept a dry head as I hurried into position at the bottom of the falls.

Below are some of the better shots from the falls....

Next up, Mark Travis...




Charlie Simmons...



Andy boofed the hell out of the first drop and cleaned it with a nice vert line at the bottom....




Mark checking out the bottom of the falls...


After all the big smiles of the falls we headed downstream with a big crew of 7. Here is Mark at Mammoth Rock...




Andy catching a breath at the top holes entering mammoth...


After a great run on Suicide and Upper Two I drove back to the top to find the water had dropped to 8" and Chuck was getting ready for his first run on the falls. I jogged down to the falls with my boat and passed my camera off to Andy as I joined Chuck in the water. While many folks run the falls down to 6"... Saturday evening's 8" was actually the lowest I had ever run the falls... and for the first time I scraped some off the first lip causing me to get more verticle than planned and bang the front of my Everest on the shelf upon landing. It just goes to show what I ahve always known... this drop is much safer at 10" and up.






Chuck went right after me and had a great line...




Until Next Time...
-adam

Pyranha Everest Review

A week prior to my departure for this year's Mexico trip Alabama Small Boats got Pyranha to rush me an Everest just in time to do a little work on the Outfitting prior to my departure. After spending a couple of weeks enjoying it on the rivers of Mexico and am very happy with it my new primary creeker. I thought I'd put together a little video with footage from our Mexico trip and talk a little bit about the differences between the Everest and the Large Burn.



Note: In the video I say the L-Burn is 8'4" and the Everest is 8'7", but Pyranha's specs actually list the L-Burn at 8'3" and the Everest at 8'6"... oops. The point is that the difference is 3".

Until Next Time...

-adam

Russell Fork Photo Dump

I have been planning to run the Russell Fork for quite a while, but year after year it just didn't happen. The main reason is that October is the time of year when water has returned to rivers of Alabama and we can finally stop driving hours every weekend to boat. At least that was the case until this year. With the drought continuing to slam the southeast I finally got up to the VA/KY border to enjoy the fall release on the Russell Fork. I spent most of the weekend behind the lens, but above is the one picture of me taken that weekend by Brandon Hughett at Climax.

Below is probally my favortie picture of the weekend. This shot of Tera at the put-in on Sunday turned out way better than I was expecting...


Here's brandon at the same...


Brandon dropping into the second drop at Triple Drop...


Joey showing off with a sweet back loop at Triple Drop...


Tera running the far left boof slot on Triple Drop...


Boaters enjoying the scenery in the gorge below Triple Drop...


Geoff hitting a sweet boof stroke at El Ho...


Joey at the same...


Here's a 3 shot sequence of Todd running El Ho, shot from above...






The myth, the legend; "Headband Man" sheaking El Ho...


Todd at El Ho after hiking up for several runs...


Joey boofing at Climax...


Here's Tera at the same...




I can't beleive that I waited so long to get on this great river. Now that I have I know I'll be back in the future. Hopefully I can time my future runs to allow for better lighting in the gorge and therefore better pics. Great river, scheduled releases, camping at the take-out, welcoming town, friendly rangers... who could ask for more.

Until Next Time...

-adam