Elk River Trip Report and OC Waterfall Record Clarification

[Dooleyoc-1]

I finally got to run the Elk today. Matt and I drove up from Knoxville and met Edgar (a fellow open boater who kayaked today) who showed us down. He has become a real Elk local since moving to Boone this fall. This was his 3rd Elk trip this week! The Watauga was 470 cfs today and the Elk level was low medium.

The run starts with a portage of the 55 ft waterfall that Steve Frazier ran in the 90's. Then you have a great IV-V section with big bedrock rapids and slides. This section ends with a mandatory portage of twisting falls that involves lowering boats with ropes and takes 40 minutes. After the portage you run a beefy 15' waterfall with a bad hole that feeds directly into a 45' waterfall. Below there it's class II to the take-out.

Edgar and I fired up the big waterfall at the end (I would estimate it's 45') This is the once Jim Little ran in the 90's. I would say that's the tallest waterfall I've run. The drop is 45' tall but the top 10' are a near vertical ramp and then you freefall the rest of the way. I think that is why Leland calls it 33' in his guide book. It is way taller than 33'. It is really tall and pretty scary at the top. I Oregon Tucked in my canoe and plugged it! It was sweet. The impact was still pretty hard and I don't know if I would ever want to do a waterfall any taller than this.

The only casualty of the day was Edgar's broken paddle at the bottom of the falls. Also, the memory card on the video camera ran out of space right as I was coming out of the eddy to run the last falls... Oh well, I guess that gives me a good excuse to get back up there.

Also, of interest I found out today that about 10 years ago Shaggy ran the waterfall that Jim and I did not the one Steve Frazier did as I incorrectly posted on this board in the past. So Steve has the record by himself at 55'. That drop in a monster. People often get these two falls confused because some people call them both "Compression Falls" when I heard Shaggy ran "Compression Falls" I thought that meant the top falls but today I talked to someone on the trip that confirmed it was in fact the bottom falls.

To my knowledge the only waterfalls in the 40' range that have been canoed are La Gloria Falls on the Rio de Oro in Mexico by Jim Coffey and the big waterfall at the end of the Elk by Jim, Shaggy and me.

[Louie]

Good job Dooley

[lagow8]

When you oregon tucked did you have your blade by the bow or the stern?

I have always wondered which way would be better?

[Dooleyoc-1]

When I oregon tuck in my canoe the paddle blade is at the stern on my on-side. My buddy jim down in mexico does it blade at the bow on his offside.

[reecepaddles]

Dooley, please tell us you have video! You had me beet today by an est. 28 feet. A few of us went over & ran Potters Falls on Crooked fork creek ( I here 17 ft.) today after we got off Liitle Clear Creek with the GDI.

[yarnellboat]

"Oregon tuck"?

My biggest falls are about 2', so maybe I don't need to know!

[Louie]

Yarnell anything under 20' is just a ledge.

[Dooleyoc-1]

Mike, we have video of the run but the camera's videocard ran out of memory right as I was peeling out of the eddy to run the falls! Oh well, I'm just glad I had a good run but it would have been nice to have caught it on video...

[Louie]

dooley it is like Corron claim of a Bald river Falls run, Video or not some people we just believe, that sayin that if it ain't on video it didn't happen is only true 99.9 % of the time. Beside I talked to Matt.I think he said it was ugly but you did it.

[yarnellboat]

Nevermind the sheer height of the sub-2' ledges that I'm willing to fearlessly glide over and how those feats have contributed to advancing our sport...

What's an Oregon tuck?

And at what point do you need to add tucking to a boof? And good for Oregon, but what do they other states?

Pat.

[Dooleyoc-1]

Not sure I would call it ugly. I tucked and plugged it and rolled up. I would have called it a perfect run.

[Dooleyoc-1]

Yarnell, 25' is about the point where you need to plug and not boof. But it depends on the waterfall and how much water is going off the falls and how aerated the landing is.

The oregon tuck is a move where you lean forward and put your face on the deck and paddle to the side to plug a tall waterfall (the key it to not over-rotate and land on your head) This protects your back and face during the impact when landing.

[Larry Horne]

http://www.oregonkayaking.net/vids/rs7/cali_summer.html
some oregon tucks at ~1:49.

though, is it technically an oregon tuck if you have only one blade and keep it behind you.. ??

jim down in mexico does an oregon tuck @oo:45 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvMtwJxqBFE
other than being incredibly styish, i don't see the point in putting the blade in front.

....leaps and bounds ahead of me so I am not being critical.

[Louie]

Dooley the fact you are here postin makes it a perfect run. We were just kiddin about the ugly part. The really important lesson here is





Back up Camera

[esprit]

Thanks for the style point Larry!

jim