mini southern US trip report

[James]

Just got back from paddling the French Broad, Nantihala, Nolichucky, section 4 of the Chatooga and the Tellico. So good to hit water where it is not ice (like it is in Ottawa at the moment). Nolichucky, Chatooga and the Tellico were super fun runs, though the undercuts and sieves on the chatooga were pretty nasty looking.

Paddled my Y C1 on the upper Tellico, what a forgiving, confidence inspiring boat. bouncing over rocks without having to worry about throwing frantic braces all the time. miss a boof, the boat recovers for you.

Paddled my tekno C1 on the chatooga section four. Was basically on line for the major rapids, but pulling unintentional "rodeo moves" down several of the sets while trying to roll up. Clipped the corner of the undercut at 7 foot falls (while upsidedown), rolled up and down through corkscrew, went off the boof at sockem dog with no speed. Scaaaary river features, and I'm not talking about any hillbillies.

Can't wait to hit some more of these southern rivers. Any cboaters or openboaters posting on this board regularly run these?

[CosmikDebris]

I have run the Nanty a few times and the French Broad section 9 once. The Nanty can get old after a while but it's one of those old standby's I suppose. It's cold too but not compared to Canada and New England. I ran the French Broad in my squirtboat, it was a lot of fun. If we get a Dead Armada together for this spring you should come down and paddle. It might be a bit of a haul from Ottawa though I suppose. Anyways, glad you enjoyed the SE, you should come down again and run some rivers in West Virginia.
-Will

[creek1r]

Being from the SW area of Virginia, the Tellico and Chatt 4 are 6 - 6 1/2 hours away - going north the "Yock" is 7 hrs
so I have the whole of NC / E. TN / VA / WVA / KY / N. GA/ S. PA in this range. Big Laurel. Wilson Ck and Citico Ck should be on your list. In VA if you like bigtime creeking - the Guest River, N. and S. forks of the Tye, Big Stony - etc. are a challenge when they run. Come on back and enjoy
Bryant

[Aldenb]

that sounds like a fun river trip man. in fact i just spent an hour neglecting my mid-term studying in order to plan my own southern rivers trip for next week. hopefully hitting the potomac (inspired by Luke Hopkins on this one) then Ocoee, maybe Rock Island, Green Narrows, and whatever else.

what's the nolichucky like? ive heard there's a great playspot at Jaws. what level did you run it at?

[Timzjatl]

Tellico-Chattooga-Ocoee are my mainstays. I like section 4, but the danger to fun ratio is pretty high, and the lake paddle isn't short, so I usually only run it occasionally. I really like the Tellico, and recently paddled the Upper 2 and Chairlift sections of the Little River Canyon in Alabama. I'd recommend both to you if you're in the area. Actually, when there's water, northern AL has some of the best creeking around, if you haven't seen if before www.alabamawhitewater.com has the most comprehensive list of runs there. You outta make it down to ocoee sometime this summer, the playboating is superb. Sounds like you had a good trip... The coolest thing is that every run mentioned above is within 3 hours from here Fire me an e-mail next time you come south and I'll show you around...
Tim

[marshwater]

chattooga is my back yard. it is definately a southeastern classic. it gets funner and funner everytime and i've probably ran it 250 times. at seven foot that right wall is actually just overhanging opposed to undercut. the lake is great training. there is also some really nice creeking in that area if it rains (overflow, ect.). some other southeaster classics: little river canyon, green river and watauga are some "must hits" and run pretty regularly; bear creek, overflow and west prong after good rains (2"+). all these are really good c-boat runs with west prong being the hardest due to its consistant nature. the rest are drop-pool. drop me a line when you come this way. marshwater@hotmail.com - ronnie