"Tight and Right" -low water LRC

As of this writing (1-16-07) Little River Canyon has been running every day this of this new year. Various levels on various days, but at runable levels none-the-less. The great thing about the canyon is that it is very different and different levels... not really better or worse, just different. This past weekend saw a Saturday level of around 0" and I was joined by Brandon and Ricky (aka Headband Man) Martin for a run down Suicide and Upper Two. Ricky and Brandon were first timers to the Suicide section and I was happy to get a chance to share this special run with them. It was a fun day and we were taking our time as we headed downstream, but not bothering with the camera until Pinball where Ricky took my camera down to the bottom. I hit the boof and ferry in the entrance as always, but for some reason as I neared the main drop I decided to catch the eddy. At low water almost no one catches the eddy, but for some reason I made the spit second decision to do so. I entered it low and for another split second it apeared I would make it, but instead I flipped as I floated out of it and into the main drop. Upsidedown and backwards I flushed down the drop, through the hole, and rolled up and pulled into the eddy.

I had never had any trouble at Pinball before, never even a flip in the hole, but I can say that even upsidedown and backwards the run was suprisingly soft. After my line no one was eager to run it so we headed on down river. Shannon met us at the Upper Two put in and the 4 of us headed on down river enjoying the 65 degree weather and clear water of the canyon.

Here are a few of the lines at Screaming Right...

Here is the Roadblock boof...

And the always fun Humpty Dumpty...

Sunday brought even warmer weather. 70 degress and sun while Joey and I made a run of Suicide and Upper Two at -2". We didn't stop at all and were home by 2pm. We had good lines all day and I redeamed myself with a flawless line at Pinball. I guess they can't all go well or it just wouldn't be paddling.

Until next time...

-adam

What every weekend should be...

During late summer when Alabama is a dry dustbowl and all my time and money is spent driving long distances to paddle I often question this area I now call home. However, when the rains come, the northeast Alabama region is alive with wonderful whitewater and a thriving whitewater community. The weekend of January 6-8, 2007 was just such a time.

Saturay Little River Canyon was running +4". Dustin, Spence, John, and I decided to make a full length run from just below the falls to Canyon Mouth Park about 11 miles downstream. The weater was warm, the water was a fun medium level and our spirits were high.

Sunday morning brought rain and when John and I arrived at the canyon we decided to drive to Johnnies creek on the off chance it had enough water. Arriving we found the level -5" and obviously rising. We drove up to Chairlift looking for JC and other boaters, but finding none we set our shuttle and returned to put on at -4.5". The water continued to rise on our second lap and during our third lap we were paddling through extremely heavy rain. Returning for our forth lap we found the water just under 0" on the gauge, a nice medium level. It was getting close to dark and we were flying down the creek with no problems until we reached "The Ditch". John ran first and I gave him a few seconds and followed. When I reached the bottom John was climbing out on the rocks, he had blown his shoulder. With about 5 minutes of usable light left he decided to try to paddle out in hopes of getting to the river before it got completly dark. In an ironman preformance and in quite a lot of pain John ran the remaing rapids to the river without issue. We arrived at Canyon Mouth Park in complete darkness and parted ways heading for home.

With the great rain sunday, Joey and I made plans to take off work Monday to head back to Johnnies. It was a little over 0" when we arrived and held well all day (only -1" by dark) while we did 4 laps.

For the last 2 laps we hooked up with Sam, Gavin, and Charlie and on our final lap it was decided that the perfect ending to the day would be some park and huck action at LRC falls. LRC was running at about 14" and Gavin, Charlie, myself, Sam, then Roy all flew off the left line and into the pool below. While my camera refused to work all weekend because of condensation, it some how worked for the few seconds during my run of the falls. When I returned home I had to let it dry out for 24 hours before I could even turn it on to retreive these images.

When I last ran the falls I had boofed super flat onto the shelf and taken a pretty good hit, so this time around I decided to try for closer to a 45 degree angle. It went well and both the shelf and the bottom were softer than expected.

LRC is a special place, I don't think I could ever grow tired of its amazing secenery and whitewater. Ever water level brings out a different character of the rapids and ever season shows a different bueaty of the canyon. So when you see the rains gathering over AL, come on down!

Until next time...

-adam

Happy Holidays to Southeast Paddlers

As the end of 2006 drew near the holiday season brought the blessings of rain to much of the southeast. I was based in VA (visiting my folks) for most of the holiday season, but I managed to boat or go on scouting/wood removal missions almost every day for two and a half weeks. During that time I paddled, Watuaga, WFFB, the Green Lite, Upper/Lower Big Creek, LRC, ran laps on Wilson Creek, and spent 2 days playboating on the James River in VA.

Needless to say I was putting in alot of time on the road, including 4 trips to NC for paddling. One day Joey, John and I decided to check out the West Fork of the French Broad near Brevard NC. It was running at a minimal flow (-6"), but since none of us had ever run it we went anyway. Below are some still pics from the great slides on this run.

The third and final slide was much larger than photos can show. It was a blast, even at low water. John and Joey ran first and Joey hopped out at the bottom and pulled out the camera to catch my run.

The WFFB is a cool and very photogenic run, I look forward to returning to it with more water.

Until next time...

-adam