Upper Yough- 1970

[Silent Bob]

Glass boats, giant paddles, nylon skirts, and still making it look easy.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_VedlH1iNA

[Kelly-Rand]

Nice, it appears the length of the boats was the limiting factor, the talent of the boaters was very evident.

[clt_capt]

I was pretty sure that was John Sweet - and then scrolled down to the comments...Very cool find

[JRS]

7 August 1970, 2.1 ft on the Sang Run gage.

The kayak is Jim Stuart, the rightie C-1 is John Yearick, the leftie with red spare paddle on the deck is me and the other leftie is Tom Irwin. The boats were designed by Pavel Bone for 1970, the last year for 80cm boats. I had one for racing but was using my old Yugo II for the Upper Yough. Ted Waddel is the photographer who appears briefly about 2/3 thru the film. The photographer perched out on a rock just after that is me. This film was shot by Anne Shuster with the PSOC 8mm camera, converted to digital by Jon Nelson.

The film opens at Bickham's Tree Rapid aka Meat Cleaver. That's where Bill Bickham lodged his Grumman canoe on the first run in 1959. The rest of the film is in the lower half of the run, below all of the major rapids. Anne walked up from Friendsville to shoot movies and that's as far as she got by the time we arrived coming down river. Good times long ago remembered.

[JRS]

[attachment=0]Bickham's Tree, Upper Yough-19590531.jpg[/attachment]

Bill Bickham with his boat lodged on a tree, 31 May 1959. This is the spot where the 1970 film begins. The upward-pointing limb was gone by then but you could still see the tree trunk under the water when starting down the rapid. Photo by Tom Smyth.

[Roy]

Can anyone estimate (or, maybe someone "knows") the water level shown in the video?

Roy

[KNeal]

Here ya go, Roy:

7 August 1970, 2.1 ft on the Sang Run gage.

Absolutely amazing vintage footage to share. Thanks for giving us the video details, John.

[JRS]

[attachment=0]Bickham's-UY-19700807.jpg[/attachment]

This is a still from the movie. For a water-level comparison, look at the rock next to Bill's left shoulder in the 1959 photo. This has become a washover pillow in the 1970 photo. Also look at the large rock to the right; the left side of it is undercut in the 1959 photo while the water is right up to the point of the rock in 1970. The camera position in 1959 was to the right and somewhat upstream from where the movie camera was located. I believe the rock in the lower-left corner of the '59 photo is the tip of the large rock across the bottom of the movie clip.

I'm glad this old movie has piqued so much interest.

[Roy]

I was under the impression there was a major change in the gauge sometime between, say, 1970 and now. Is 2.1' in 1970 more or less the same volume as it is now?

Roy

[JRS]

There was no change in the gage between 1970 and my last trip on the UY in 1987. I have no idea if there have been changes since then. I will try to find out.

[Roy]

My one run of the UY was in '89. We bumped into two local paddlers who certainly seemed to know what was up (Don and Deb) and they said there was a change from when our guide book was written (1975 edition of Burrell and Davidson). They said, for instance, old 1.8' = new 1.65'.

Roy

[RodeoClown]

I'm so glad this film exists and is posted online.

[Mike W.]

I agree, it is great that this video exists. John, thank you for adding the story. It's good to see you here again. I hope you are well. Thanks again for teaching me about peel-ply! Makes it look like I know what I'm doing.

After watching the Yough video, another was suggested. This is you & Bill Bickham on the Savage. 1st descent, 1966. LOTS more water than I've ever seen in it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYy7UqEhdQ4

[JRS]

Roy, Don & Deb sounds like Don & Deb Pepper, who lived on the right bank of the river in Friendsville. Their deck made an easy take out. They should know about the river gage.

I asked Jim Snyder and Charlie Walbridge about this; both live nearby. Jim wrote, "I'm under the impression a change happened in the 90's where the gage was removed and re-installed - but it reads an inch lower than it did in the old days - so 2' now was 2.1 then." That corresponds fairly well with what the Peppers told Roy, except for the date. I haven't heard from Charlie.

Thanks Mike. I'm glad folks are enjoying this movie. There is a raw version of the Savage-66 movie somewhere on YouTube. I have a cleaned up version with captions which I will get posted asap. I have to learn how to upload stuff to YouTube; it should not be hard.