Long weekend trip to the Nantahala River...
I think the most adventurous day of the trip was the day we drove down from MD to Western NC to prepare for our Nantahala runs over the long weekend. After leaving the house early enough, we were forced to turn back by the realization that we had forgotten to drop off the rent check on our way out. Just like that, another two hours added onto the drive.
I slept, thanks to my wonderful wife for driving, most of the way to NC, having just gotten off from working the night shift before we left. Still, it was night once more, 9:00 PM to be exact by the time we finally rolled up to the NOC. Little did we know, our night was just beginning.
We had made reservations for the Basecamp (like a hostel) a month in advance, and were told that if we checked in late, the keys would be in an envelope taped to the front door of the info center. Lots of envelopes were present when we pulled up. Unfortunately, none had our name on them.
Thanks to a friendly sign, we found out that one place at the center was still open that late, so we headed to the Tote and Tarry to see what we could find out. After many radio calls and much confusion, the extremely nice lady there offered to upgrade us to a room at the inn (normally 80 bucks a night!) for the night. Awesome.
We pulled into the inn and hiked our bags up the hill. I put the key in the door, looking forward to falling into a bed for some much needed sleep. But as the door opened, I was greeted by a woman's voice screaming "Excuse me!" and could vaguely make out two naked bodies scrambling in the dark to cover themselves. Embarrassing, to say the least, though I must admit a mild amusement at the same time.
My amusement was not echoed in the horrified looks of the extremely nice lady back at the tote and tarry, who sent one of the staff over to the inn with three more keys to find us an empty room. Fortunately the first one we tried was a winner! At last, sleep.
Saturday we woke early (sure, 8:00 AM is early for me!) and checked out of the inn. With many apologies we recieved our keys to our originally reserved basecamp room. From there it was breakfast at the Rivers End restaurant, and off to scout the river!
Scouting the Nantahala is easy, as the road runs alongside the entire length from the putin to the takeout. I think there were only two occasions where sight of the river was lost, and then only for a matter of seconds. The first and last rapids (Patton's Run and Nantahala Falls, or Lesser Wesser) were definitely the largest, but looked pretty straightforward and lots of fun. When we were satisfied with the scouting, it was back to the NOC to meet up with my mom, who would be joining us in a duckie for our maiden voyage.
There are ups and downs to renters being shown an "instructional video" before boarding the shuttle bus. In our case, the "down" was my mom becoming too scared to run Patton's Run, as she wanted easier water to warm up in. So after a bit of talking with the bus driver (very nice guy!) he agreed to make a special stop at the overlook so we could put in just below the rapid. My wife and I were bummed, but hey, we still had 6.5 more miles of river!
One thing I can say for the Nantahala is that the action (ok, so it's class II+ action mostly, but still) is nonstop. The river has almost zero flatwater! One fun wavetrain after another greeted us around every bend, and aside from having to watch out for bombing rafts all were fun and mostly very forgiving.
The first run down any river is sure to hold suprises. For me, the suprise was a feature about a third of the way down called the "whirlpool". I held a brace for a long time there, and just as I started to feel good about not flipping, the water around my paddle changed direction and over I went. Three missed rolls and I was out, self rescuing my gear and wishing for (though not recieving) a little flatwater! One nice kayaker was kind enough to yell "Watch out, I don't want to hit you!" as she bombed by on my left. And here I thought she was going to offer a tow. Oh well, an eddy was soon to follow!
Safe, warm (hurray for the drytop I just bought that morning!), and back in my boat, I did a couple practice rolls (sure, I could do them perfectly then!) before we headed back off down the river.
More wavetrains and a neat drop rapid called the ledges brought us to the picnic rock, a popular and very crowded lunch stop. We met some nice locals there who assured me that the whirlpool gets everyone at least once, and we enjoyed a nice break, some water, and a much needed energy bar.
From there on, the river was a bit milder. We passed a couple of riverside camp spots full of boats and boaters. Nearing the end, there are two paddle-up restaurants on river right, both rumored to have excellent fare.
Amber (the wife) got her turn to flip in a small wavetrain about 3/4 of the way down the river. I think she must have gotten complacent or lazy, because we both agreed afterward that there was nothing there that should have flipped her. Unfortunately, her flip resulted in a long, bumpy swim through one of the shallowest rapids on the river. She's got some impressive bruises even now! And more unfortunately for her, she had not purchased a dry top!
The Bump Sign rapid, and hole that followed, signaled that it was time to pull over to scout the falls. We watched several people, most of whom swam or at least flipped, and listened to the locals all commenting on the water being higher than normal. After an exhausting day, we had all decided that we would come back tomorrow to run the falls.
At the last minute, Amber changed her mind and decided to run it right then. She actually had a great run, until she got excited at the end, forgot to paddle, got sucked back into the hole and had to swim again. Still, she was happy and none the worse for wear.
Looking back, I wish I had run it then as well, for the next day brought higher water and an exhausted wife, and no falls run :(
While we didn't run the falls on Sunday, we did head out to the lake to work on rolls a bit, and then had dinner by the falls watching the carnage. Full rafts that dumped were by far the most entertaining, followed closely by open canoes. There were a few runs (not sure whether they were intentional or not) that were just downright impressive though!
Sunday night brought cool weather, cold beer, and getting to see a friend I hadn't seen in over three years. A great end to a great weekend.
Must do it again very soon!