Beatdown Bros

Hornbecks, Raymondskill on Friday. Beerkill on Monday

2009-06-16T23:24:00.003-04:00

It was a good few days for kayaking around here. Got on two new creeks on Friday. Hornbecks and Raymondskill. Both are awesome. Monday I got out on the Beerkill again. This time it was at a much higher level. All around good times. Heading down to TN for some Ocoee action all for the next few days. Should be good. Here is a pic of the final rapid on Hornbecks. Its called Davids Falls.

New England Part 3: What creek am I describing?

2009-04-29T11:44:00.004-04:00

Well...its a one mile long rapid that drops 600ft. Not specific enough for you? Ok...here we go.

1) Hike one mile up well worn trail on river left with boat. Scout well as you hike because you may not be getting out of your boat till the bottom.

2) Put on and run manky double water fall.

3) Dodge strainer

4) Run class V bolder garden while dodging strainers

5) Run the "notch" (Green narrows) twice in quick succession and then duck under log as you go over lip of "Big Boy" (Ravens Fork). Recover gear in boil below.

6) Run class V bolder garden and dodge strainers.

7) Run more class V with lots of strainers.

8) Run "Mike Tyson's Punch Out" (Ravens Fork) leading straight into slide even bigger and longer the "Mike Tyson's Punch Out".

9) At bottom of epic slide, do not stop (because you can't there is no pool or eddy), and run class V bolder garden.

10) End

If you guessed Cascade Brook (I scouted it at HIGH water) in NH, You are right!

Tell him what he has won Johnny!

Congratulations! You just won a pair of broken legs and testicles the side of globes!

In case you were wondering, I did not run it. But I guess people have run it. I really doubt they ran it at this level though. Here is the AW link. It does this creek NO JUSTICE!

Cascade Brook

Here are some pics from that day

Peace
Toby

New England Part 2: Upper Pemigewasset

2009-04-29T09:57:00.011-04:00

One week after our Big Branch trip, the temperatures in the North East shot up. Any drainage with snow left was gonna shoot up. That is exactly what happened to the Upper Pemi.

I highlighted our Monday water level in yellow and our Tuesday water level in green.

All I can say is "Wow". What an incredibly awesome river. Maybe the most unique river I have ever paddled. If I took a picture of the put it, the half way mark, and the take out you would NEVER guess they were the same river. Such a large variety of of rapids including long bolder garden rapids that remind me "The Gauntlet" on Tallulah only these were longer and in some cases steeper.

The water was all snow melt, meaning it was incredibly clean and the geology is very unique. Our first run started out with a little excitement.

One of the first rapids is called "The Basin". It starts with a six foot drop leading into the actual basin drop. The Basin drop has a very awkward and narrow approach, making it hard to get a good stroke at the lip (if you can even call it a lip).

When you land at the bottom, you are now in "The Basin", a 40 foot diameter granite pot hole. I landed flat off the drop, but flipped in the boil at the bottom. After rolling up, I began to paddle toward the river right channel that flushes the basin. I guess I did not paddle with enough urgency because I got pulled back into the eddy. The walls of the pothole are totally smooth and overhanging.

Here is what I saw (Left the audio in place and included some footage of another rapid)
To see a higher quality version of this video, click here

Anyways, I lost my Lendal breakdown paddle, and a little chunk of my ego. I did go back the next day (higher water) and style the drop. So I feel a little vindicated.

But that was not the only carnage I encountered on that first run.

The most intense rapid on the river is called "Wham, Bam, Thank you Ma'am". Here is a picture taken on that Tuesday.

The first 1/3 of this rapid is rarely run due to some serious mank (I guess you could say nobody runs "wham").

So we seal launched off the a rock on the river right bank and ran the "bam, thank you ma'ma" part.

Here is the same picture depicting Travis line.Notice the gap in the red line...that was his down time. He described it as having his whole body squeezed by a giant.

Here is picture of my line...green means I was upside down.

I took a really hard hit to the head and lost the skin off most of the knuckles on my left hand.

I walked all of Wham Bam the next day. Less so because of the bad line from the day before, and more so because I had gotten beat down in a massive hole in the rapid just upstream of Wham Bam during the second run, and my nerves were shot.

With all that said, THIS RIVER IS INCREDIBLE.

Peace
Toby

New England Part 1: Big Branch, VT

2009-04-28T23:15:00.005-04:00

Let me rewind a bit. If you have read any of my previous post, you have heard me bitch about going to school in FL. Well that phase of my life is over! I graduated in December, and moved back to NY.

So I will briefly describe the events of that move, and then continue on to the main topic of this post, the Big Branch in VT.

My brother flew down to Orlando to make the drive up to NY with me. My car was packed with everything I own including all my kayaks and gear. Although I was happy to have him joining me, I was a little disappointed because there was a lot of rain falling all along the eastern seaboard, and everything in TN,NC,WV,NY, and PA was running or would be running in the next two days. If my brother was not with me, I could have stopped in every state along the way to paddle. Unfortunately he had to get back to NY to work.

No worries though, we could just book it back to NY, and I could get some paddling in the Delaware Water Gap in PA.

My car broke down an hour after we started driving. Six hours later we had a Uhaul with the car in tow.

Its raining hard the whole time we are driving. I speak to Dave on the phone, and he describes all the awesome stuff he is going to be paddling in NC/TN/GA.

We get to NY very late at night. Every creek in the Delaware Water Gap is running high. I beg my dad to borrow his car the next day. I meet up with people I have never me before and run Adams Creek.

Pictured above is the first drop on Adams Creek. I wont take the time to describe the whole run, just know that it is epic. Here is are links to a video with some footage of that day, as well as a blog write up about the run.

Blog Post

Video

Fast forward four months.

I meet Travis on North East Paddlers Message board. He shows me down the Beerkill in the Catskills at low water. Really fun run. Can't wait to get on it at higher flows.

A few weeks later we drive up to run the Big Branch in VT. The best comparison I can make to Big Branch would be if you took everything on the Green River Narrows below Sunshine, took away all the flat water and made it steeper.

Here is a little video I made of our low water run down Big Branch. Only the first few rapids are shown. My camera quit on me.

Well that is all. Stay tuned for New England Part 2: Upper Pemi, and New England Part 3: Guess What Creek I am Describing...

Peace
Toby

Dukes Creek

2009-02-28T17:35:00.000-05:00

About two weeks ago I met Jeff up at Dukes Creek to put on for my first time. I had hiked and scouted this run several times previously but still didn't quite know what I was in for. The section we paddled is about 4/10 of a mile long, with nearly all the gradient at the very end where the bedrock creekbed drops nearly 200ft in 1/8th of a mile.

Looking up Dukes at low water

Today, after a night of light and steady rain I met Mac McGee at the putin for Dukes. We originally had plans for a day of lapping to score for the Southeast Gradient Showdown (SGS). Plans changed upon inspection of the gauge stick Jeff stuck in the sand a couple weeks ago, it was 1.5" higher today. 1.5" doesn't sound like much and wouldn't be much on almost any other run, but Dukes is . . . "finicky". We decided to put on and get out above the big stuff to see how it looked. After about 20 minutes of scouting and convincing ourslelves it was good to go, we dropped over the lip of the entrance, and committed to the next 5 drops.

If there is a crux move on this run, for me it's getting left at the 30 footer. There are now three ways I know of to make this happen. One option, which we did on the first lap, is to carry around the small ledges right above the drop and get in on the nearly boat-wide ledge right at the lip, with your bow hanging off the drop and seal launch. Another option, at low water, is to slide over the ledges, drop into the tiny one boat eddie at the lip and wheelchair against the left bank to line up. The third option, which we tried today for the first time, needs a little more water. After dropping into the small, boiling eddie at the lip you have two strokes to get enough momentum and get far enough left before rolling off.

The 30 footer

Alex Brantley on Dukes at lower water the day before

When we made it to the bottom we got out, walked the last big drop at the observation deck and took a breather before hiking up for another lap. We started checking out that last unrun rapid. Looking at it without much water it's obvious what has kept this drop from being run. Part of the shelf at the base pokes up into the landing zone.

We scouted from every angle we could find. From some angles it looked good, from others not so much. With the extra water we had today, that rock at the base was mostly covered up, with most of the flow landing to the right of it. We decided it looked too tight though, and to just go up for another lap.

Mac McGee running "For the Love of It"

The second lap went smoothly and before we knew it we were hiking again for a third. We checked the stick gauge one more time and saw it had risen another 1/4" or so. We boogied down and started to get things dialed in, making it to the takeout even quicker. I took another look at the last drop and had to give it a try. I told Mac, gave him my camera and walked back to my boat. I promptly peeled out and headed for the lip of my first 1st descent.

Getting a little sideways

Mac followed quickly behind me, nabbing the 2nd run and sticking one helluva boof.

Killin' it!

Like most drops with sketchy landings, the more water the better for this one. For more insight on Dukes Creek read Jeffs write-up on AW.

http://americanwhitewater.org/content/River_detail_id_5138_

That's all I got for now, Mac got a couple video clips so maybe he'll post those up somewhere. Adios.

-David Cohen

Stairway to Heaven

2009-01-12T22:19:00.000-05:00

Just thought I'd post up the result of some photo stitching. You can begin to get a feel for the size of the rapid, even though you can't see the bottom drop in the photo.

High Water Bear

2009-01-07T21:58:00.000-05:00

The last two days have contained some pretty darn good kayaking. Yesterday was my first time on Overflow Creek where we had a solid medium level that padded things out nicely. I can see why that river is such a classic, tons of fun. After a bit of a slow start today I made my way up through Chattanooga to Bear Creek for some high water action. We put on mid afternoon while the gauge read 21", although once on the river the general consensus was that the gauge has changed a bit and it felt more like an old 26".

Curt Lamberth at Fishbowl

Unnamed Boater commencing kayak evacuation

The author looking small atop Stairway to Heaven

Exiting the whiteout in Stairway

Pushy water and munchy holes were the order of the day. I ran everything and was fortunate to have good lines. There was however one swim(no names) and a few scary lines, but everybody made it down in one piece. It was one sweet day on the river for sure.

-David Cohen

Long overdue update and media dump

2008-12-22T12:49:00.000-05:00

It's been months since I've even thought about updating this thing, but I have been very busy, paddling a lot, and there is now much to update about. I will try to keep the words to a minimum in this post, and let the pictures and video do most of the speaking.

It's been a long time since the actual trip, but I finally edited some of the video from the Ottowa last spring. The quality isn't the best, but here it is:

As you can see in the previous post, I raced in the eastern qualifier for the LVM Giant Slalom Series. I have done many flatwater races in the past, but this was my first whitewater racing experience. The race had two parts, a downriver portion from the Big Hungry confluence to right below Chief, and the slalom part which was two laps on the awsome course set up in the slides below Gorilla. The race was a blast, and when all was said and done I had made the top 20 and qualified for the final race, scheduled for the end of August. As you may know, the organizers were unable to secure the extended release necessary due to the drought, and the final race was cancelled. Provided there is enough water next year, I will definitely be out there racing again.

Racing through Zwick's in the downriver portion

Coming around gate #3

Later in the summer I had the oppourtunity to paddle the Raven Fork for the first time. I had been looking forward to this experience ever since hiking the Raven a year earlier. We wasted no time on the hike in or on the river, as is always the case when paddling with Jeff, so I didn't even take my camera. There are no words to accurately describe how amazing this place is, so I won't even try. I just can't wait to go back!

As summer came to an end and classes began, I started to focus on getting ready to compete in my first Green River Narrows Race. I was fortunate enough to get my hands on a Green boat over the summer, and was excited to start training in it. Everything was going great until the weekend before the race when my boat cracked during a practice run. I owe a huge thanks to Ben Davis, who was layed up with a shoulder injury, for letting me race his boat this year. I decided to compete inthe Ironman, racing both long and short boats. This was a lot of fun, and made for a full day of paddling and hiking. I could go on for paragraphs about how the race went, but just check out the video.

It is now winter in the southeast, and that means true creeking season. A month or so ago I got up to the Lower Cullasaja at a fluffy 4.5 feet on the gauge. I put together a video with some of the footage that Alex shot and it was recently featured on Immersion Research's website. Here's the link:

http://www.immersionresearch.com/2008/12/17/when-it-rains-in-the-southeast/

And here's the video:

Recently we've had a pretty big rain even that has left many rivers still holding water. I got on Go Forth Creek at low water for a few runs after finishing my last final at school in the morning. When I got to Go Forth all I had with me was my Corsica, so oldschool I went:

The next day started at 5am as we headed for the Bear. Jeff, Cory and I put on at daylight with a fun level of 14 inches. I got three runs in before the cold go to me, Jeff and Cory did five. On the third day in a row of natural flow, I got two runs on Suck Creek. All was fine and dandy there until Kuckle Head on the second lap.

I flipped onto the rock at the top and rolled back up as I went over, tearing a muscle or tendon in my ribcage. It's only a minor tear so I was able to paddle to the bridge, but I'm taking a few weeks off to let it heal.

I may have written a litte more than I originally intended, but oh well.

Happy Holidays,

-David Cohen

Cool Pic from LVM Giant Slalom Race

2008-08-24T19:02:00.000-04:00

This is Dave at Go Left during the down river portion of the Giant Slalom Race

Carnage on the Green

2008-07-09T17:59:00.000-04:00

Well, considering the name of this blog, we have surprisingly little (as in none) beat down footage or stories. This is most likely attributed to the fact that I'm not running difficult whitewater on a regular basis, and that Dave is insanely good (reference his post below with video of him running the left line a sunshine THE FIRST TIME HE EVER RAN THE RAPID!). Either way, this was a major gap in our paddling lives. Well that all changes now....

I should start by mentioning that I really got screwed. I got beat down, and did not get it on camera. What good is that?! As frustrating as it is, I figured I would tell the story for entertainment purposes, and include a video of some the days highlights.

So I am on my way down to school in FL from NY (a common theme in my paddling life) and a had the opportunity to stop at the Green for a day, and then spend a few days at the Ocoee. I'm all fired up for the run. I had only run Go Left once before, and it did not go so well. So I told my self if I was feeling good, I would fire it up when we got there. The level was around 6 that day. And as we approached Go Left I was feeling really good. I ran it no problem. This is the first and last time you will see me in the video. So now I'm all fired up because I had a clean line through Go Left.

Now comes Zwicks...I had never had any real problems with it before. Well I got pushed left by the top hole and went right into the meat of the hole. I knew that that hole always spits you out. I had been told this time and again, "If your patient enough, it will spit you right out". Well if I had held on just a little longer, it would have. But my paddle got ripped out of my hands the second time I got window shaded, and I figured my best shot was to just make it into the river right eddy before I ever even came close to Chiefs.

So I swam, with paddle in hand right into the river right eddy. No big deal. A little tired, looking around for my boat hoping it did not go down stream...YEA BABY, there it is, filled with water, but still in the eddy...kind of. I watched while Dave fought to keep my boat from floating down stream (and into Chiefs, a boat killing machine). He failed. Jokingly, I got mad at Dave for not having a tow tether. If he had one, he probably would have saved my boat. His quick reply with "If you had float bags, you would still have your boat" shut me up pretty quick.

So I'm sure my boat is done for (as well as my breakdown Lendal and my Watershed dry bag) . A friend is running down the river left after it to see where it ends up (my guess was nut cracker). I forgot to mention it is an almost brand new boat. That was my 5th time using it.

So here is where it gets even uglier. I need to get to the river left to hike after my boat. It just would not be possible on the river right where I was. So my friend paddled up to me and offers to ferry me across on the back of his boat. Well it should be noted that this was his first time on the river. He had no clue what Chiefs looked like. I knew what it looked like, and knew that if I swam into it, I probably would not survive.

Well I grabbed on anyways, and we began across. It became clear that he was not going to make it into the river left eddy with me on the back of his boat. I did not want to drag him into Chiefs having never even seen it before. So I let go. He makes it into the eddy, and I am clinging on to the rocks just down stream of the eddy. I was maybe 20-30ft upstream of Chiefs. I'm doing everything I can to try to get up on the rocks, but it becomes clear that that is not going to work. So I let go and swim for my life across the current and into the opposite eddy. From an outside observer, it would seem like I had no trouble getting over there. But for me, it was the scariest moment of my life.

Now I am exhausted, both mentally and physically, and back where I started 30 seconds ago. After much deliberation with those paddlers present (thanks for your help), I opted to climb up the rocks in Zwicks to where the river is narrowest (just down stream of the hole) and jump across the current. It worked like a charm. I basically cleared the current completely and ended up in the river left eddy. Phew...

By this time I have been told that my boat had disappeared completely above Gorilla and had not resurfaced. I did not really believe this. A few minuets later I was told that my friends had it out of the water above Rapid Transit, but that it was not salvageable. I had already come to accept this a truth, so it was not a big deal.

I hike down to see it. To my great surprise it is totally salvageable. A 3-4 inch dent in the stern, and two 1-2 inch cracks right next to the dent. Lendal break down in the stern just where I left it.

Happy to know that I did not have to hike out, I began to hike back up to the accident scene to film my friends paddling the slides. I was not about to hike my boat up with me, so I just left it above Rapid Transit and paddled from there to the take out.

Well the carnage is not over...

As I made it back to Zwicks, a paddler from the crew right behind us got surfed in the top hole, swam over the bottom drop, and just barely made it into the river right eddy I had occupied not so long ago. I ran down stream after her boating hoping to stop it at some opportunistic moment, hopefully preventing it from suffering the same fate mine did.

The boat disappeared in Chiefs and for a moment I stopped running, convinced the chase was over. After maybe 5-7 seconds, the boat resurfaced and I continued the chase. This is where I saw the second scariest moment of the day (no, my swim was not the first. That is still to come).

An unnamed paddler, standing right next to the river left eddy above pencil sharpener jumps into the water and grabs the boat as it floats into the eddy (mind you its filled to the brim with water). I watch as the boat started to pull him out the bottom of the eddy and into pencil sharpener. He did finally let go at what seemed to be the last possible moment.

Well that boat did not fair as well as mine, but it too was still functioning.

OK...So....with that all said, now we are at sunshine.

Dave is going to run it for the second time ever. (right line. its in the video). He styles it.

I ask around to see if there are any more takers, and when everyone says no, I put my camera away. What a shame.

Another from my group decided to fire it up. He runs the right line. Pencils straight in and disappears for a good 3-5 seconds. I'm standing on top of the rock on river right, so I don't see him pop up into the cave, skirt blown, but very happy to be unscathed. That was the scariest moment of the day.

The rest was uneventful. Hope you enjoyed the story. Here is the video.

Almost forgot! My Watershed dry bag ended up in the Birthday Eddy!!! Much thanks to Will Lyons who ran the notch (not intending on running the drop) got out and fished my bag out from the eddy. This is not the first time he has been there when I needed.

Peace
Toby

Kitty at my foot and I wan't to touch it!

2008-07-04T18:43:00.000-04:00

Well because both me and Dave are lazy as can be (Dave has an excuse, he is actually busy), we haven't posted any of our Ottawa footage. But that is coming. I thought I would take this opportunity to post a non boating video me and Dave took a few weeks back. We found them outside our in Ocoee. Rest assured they found a nice home.

One is Java, the other is Jepido (sp? dave??)

Los Tres Grandes del Río Verde

2008-06-04T09:30:00.000-04:00

It's been a while since I've put anything up here but the results from yesterday's trip to the Green are blog-worthy. I headed up in the morning with some guys from ATL and we made it on the river by about 11. We cruised on down to Go Left and hopped out so a couple of the guys could scout and run it their first time. Here's a couple pics of Robbie and myself going left.

Yours truly

Robbie

After Go Left my mind was set on Gorrilla, I wasn't really satisfied with my first run having my skirt implode. I wasn't nearly as nervous this time either and was very deliberate with stroke placement.

In the Notch

Spankin' it

I got a little sideways when I landed in the flume and ended up in Speed Trap. I was so happy about being right side up and still having my skirt on though that I was smiling the whole time I surfed it.

Robbie fired it up also and had a good line.

I was feeling pretty good so when we got to Sunshine I got out to scout. After looking at it for a minute I made my decision and ran Sunshine for the first time, taking the left line. Here's a photo and video, courtesy of Mason and Greg (Please excuse the excessive yelling ;).

I gotta say it was pretty scary, but felt really good. Robbie took a few minutes to think it over and decided to try the left line as well.

Success!

It was a great day on the river for sure, and definitly my best on the Green.

On a playboating note, Toby and I met up at the Ottawa a couple weeks ago for some Mini Bus action. we are still compiling photos and a few video clips and will be posting that soon. Till then, later!

-David

Scudders Falls at 11,000 CFS

2008-05-05T18:37:00.000-04:00

On my way back to NY from FL, I had the fortune of catching scudders at a decent level. It was dropping fast, and I could even notice a difference in the wave from when I started to when I ended 40 minuets later.

You'll see me trying the initiation of the Phonics Monkey. This is the first time I have ever tried this move. If you happen to know how to do them, please take a look at the footage and let me know what I am doing wrong. I could feel that I was starting to get the motion down, but obviously I have a long way to go.

Please just email your critique to Toby.Bucsescu@Yahoo.com

Here is the video

Talluah and Green in the same day!

2008-04-14T18:07:00.000-04:00

Well I made the drive up from FL again for another great weekend of boating. I had not paddled for a while, and was definitively rusty. On sat, I paddled the Talluah for the first time! Wow what a fun river, although accessing it is no fun at all. Over 500 steps down into the deepest gorge east of the Mississippi with a 50 pound creekboat on your shoulder is no fun. But its worth it! Every rapid on that river is fun! And with a 7-5pm release on the green that day, me and Dave were the first on the Talluah, and the last on the Narrows! Incredible. Then we hit up the Talluah again the next day for some higher water action. Ran Oceana both days. What a fun rapid. The video below is of my first run ever of Oceana on sat. I have head cam footage as well as footage from the river left bank that Dave was nice enough to take. Also got some footage of Dave showing me the line in style. I'm back in FL for less then 2 weeks and then ill head up to NY for May and most of June. Hope to do some paddling up there if the rivers are still flowing.

Here is my first ever run of Oceana. When I ran it on Sunday, I did not flip at the bottom. Unfortunately I did not get any footage of that run.

Here is the Head cam footage. I did not edit out all the prep time before I dropped in. Just fast forward.

Here is Dave showing me how its done.

peace
Toby

Spring has sprung in the Southeast

2008-04-09T21:13:00.000-04:00

With the weather warming and the dams releasing, the last few days have been good to me as far as boating goes. Last weekend was the first Tallulah release of the year, and my first time running the gorge. We put on Saturday around 10:30 and had a great run. The run is pretty short form the putin to the lake, but there are some really fun rapids along the way. Oceana was big and fast, and the hole at Bridal Veil is big and scary looking. We paddled across the lake, ran shuttle and got a second run in at a pretty good pace. Sunday we woke up to sore legs and 700 cfs. We put on a little later, and went a good bit slower so we only got one lap in but the extra water made it extra fun. Here's a few pics.

Dropping into the middle line on Oceana

Out at the bottom

Mason staring down the Thing

A few days later I made it back up to the Green for the first time this year. The weather was great and the level was a nice 8 1/2". For the first mile or so we boogied down at a good pace until we got to Gorilla. I've really been itching to run Gorilla so when we got there I hopped out, took a look at the Notch and decided to give it a go. I got in my boat, dropped over the right side of Pencil Sharpener, and ferried across into the eddy. I took a moment to get my head right, then peeled out and charged at the Notch. I came through and didn't think I would make the eddy so a took a few strokes and there I was, boofing off the pad. Upon landing in the flume and hitting speed trap I flipped. I rolled up and realized my boat was underwater, my skirt had imploded! Longer story short, I swam Scream Machine and it took a while to get back in my boat which also ran Powerslide without me. Anyways, here are the photos.

You can tell the skirt has imploded here, half the boat is underwater as I'm about to roll.

Thats it for now, more paddling to come this weekend so look for another post in about a week.

Peace,

David

Wrestling the Bear

2008-03-06T18:43:00.000-05:00

So far this year I've been paddling a good bit, and really building some confidence on the river. I've mostly been paddling familiar runs though so I haven't had a real challenge in a while. My opportunity for a challenge presented itself Monday night with a phone call from Jeff. Lots of rain was coming and the original plan was for West Prong. I met Jeff in the morning and after checking the rain gauges we decided to head to Bear Creek. Just listening to Jeff describe the run on the ride over gave me butterflies. As we got to the put in there was a crew there gearing up, and the gauge was at 8.5". We put on and before too long the gradient picked up and the walls closed in. For the first mile or so I just followed Jeff. Surrealistic Pillow was a mandatory portage, but other than that I ran everything and scouted Fishbowl, Stairway, and Big Bang. Running Stairway to Heaven has to be the most fun I've ever had in a kayak and dwarfs anything else I've run to date. Big Bang is the most sketchy drop I've run, with a very tight landing between rocks. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures, I was only out of my boat a few times while scouting. As we got to the takeout I was pretty happy about a hard day of boating and clean lines. After a bit of discussion on the ride back Jeff offered to take me down the Raven Fork. I am more excited about paddling now than ever, especially at the possibility of getting on the Raven Fork within my first year of boating. I started in the middle of March 07 and I can't think of a better place to kick off my second season of whitewater.

On the way home I stopped by Dick's Creek, apparently that area got 4"-5" of rain. This is what I found.

The Chestatee gauge peaked at just over 3000cfs. I did a couple quick laps on the roadside falls section and decided to call it a day. Anyways I'm outta here, keeping my fingers crossed for Raven Fork.

-David

First time on the Chattooga

2008-02-24T19:16:00.000-05:00

Today I took my long overdue first trip down section IV of the Chattooga. After reading all the hype about this river I was pretty excited. What fails to appear in every trip report I've ever read about the Chattooga is the amount of flatwater and how far apart the rapids are. It was pretty slow going until we got to Five Falls. However, what the section lacks in continuous whitewater is more than made up for in how beautiful the run is. The scenery is really cool and there is plenty of oppourtunity to check it out as you float through the shoals and flats. Five Falls on the other hand did not dissapoint. Although not too difficult it was pretty fun, and with undercuts and seives all over I can see where the hype comes from. The lake paddle out was definitely the least fun part of the day but the run is well worth it. I only got the camera out at Soc Em Dog, so here's a few photos.

Overall it's a pretty sweet run. The level was about 1.6, but I think I'll wait for higher water before I take my second run. Thats all for now, later.

-David

High water on the Yellow

2008-02-22T22:53:00.000-05:00

Over the last couple days Georgia got dumped on pretty good from several waves of rain. The result, high water in metro Atlanta. After seeing a post on BoaterTalk a few days ago about the Yellow River, and seeing the gauge on AW at 1600cfs I decided to go check it out. I met up with Alex (posted on BT) and we headed down to the river. It was my first time there, but Alex said the water was higher than he'd ever seen it. It sure looked high (and brown) to me. We did a little scouting, as there were some pretty big holes to contend with, and put on. We didn't do the complete section, but from Annistown Falls down. Here's the pics.

Annistown Falls

Some pushy water under the bridge

Stay right!

Alex coming past the bridge

Alex punching through at the bottom

The next shot shows the bottom hole, it would almost definitely feed you right into the massive strainer if you swam out of it.

After Annistown and past the bridge there was some class II-III boogey with pretty nice waves and holes that made me wish I had my playboat. In fact I think I'll load it up and head back tomorrow. This also makes me want to explore the metro ATL area a little more. The only thing that would turn me away is the water quality, but its closer than TN or NC. Anyways, I'm tired.

Later,

-David

Busted cars and lost paddles

2008-02-18T20:39:00.000-05:00

Last Wednesday was one of those extremely eventful days that doesn't fully sink in until the day after, and not in a good way. A lot happened so I'll try to keep it short, here we go. Left the house at 5 am headed to Suck Creek, skunked. Drove over to the Tellico for a couple low water laps. However, on the way my paddle was in a cartop carrier that wasn't latched and fell out, but I didn't know it till I got there. Borrowed a paddle and headed back to retrace my steps and look for the paddle roadside. No dice. Bummed, got on the road home. 30 mins into the trip a semi truck in front of me stops in the road and begins backing up casue he missed a turn and doesn't see me behing him. I frantically tried to shift into reverse but I wasn't fast enough and BAM! This is the result.

The trucker was at fault and got a ticket. I was able to drive the remaining 2 1/2 hours home, slowly. The car is now totaled due to the rapairs costing more than than the car is worth. Ugh, what a day. On the bright side I've been wanting both a new paddle and more practical car for a while so now I have an excuse for both. Car shopping instead of Cheoah running Saturday led to the purchase of a 2003 Passat Wagon. Should be a great paddling/road trip vehicle and I like it so far. Dunno about a new paddle yet so for now I must use my old plastic/aluminum Prijon, better than nothing.

Enough of that, time for some paddling. Sunday evening/night we got a bunch of rain, so I had high hopes for a short run on Dick's in the morning before work. The gauge never updated but I decided to go anyways and meet up with my buddy Ryan. I arrived in the morning to a dissapointing level, but decided to put on anyway. I finally got my new camera and Pelican case, so an ELF run on Dick's led to some pretty cool photos. The first few shots are me on the top drop.

The next ones are Ryan on the falls

And a sequence of me on the falls

Even at low water Dick's Creek is a fun way to spend the morning before work and definitely beats sleeping in. Before we put on Dicks we were going to drive up and check out Blood Mountain Creek but the gate at the ranger station was locked. Hopefully it will be open next time, looks like there are some nice drops up there. Until next time, let it rain, let it rain, let it rain!

-David

More low water fun on Dick's

2008-02-07T18:27:00.000-05:00

Dick's creek seems to be becoming my "local" creek run, still about an hour drive though. Yesterday was the second time I've been up there in the last week. The level was definitly on the low side, probably lower than most would want to run it at. But it was all good to go and fun, just a little scrapy. I decided to take the playboat this time which was a nice change as I haven't been in it in months. I ended up running a new line on the falls, a slightly sketchy double boof down the middle/middle right. The sketchyness comes from the landing on the middle ledge being pretty shallow. If you miss your boof there is a good piton/pin potential, but if you hit it right there is a nice boil to pad the landing, then just boof/pencil into the pool below. We ended up running that drop a total of 6 times, and doing 4 full laps on the upper section. Even with the low water it was probably the best way I could have spent the afternoon, and hopefully more afternoons to come. Still no pics, but I did get the new camera so next time there will be plenty of eye candy.

Thats all folks!
-David

Two new runs in one weekend!

2008-02-04T20:15:00.000-05:00

After about a month of no paddling I managed to boat twice this last weeked, and both times were personal first d's. Last Thursday a big wave of rain rolled across the southeast and a ton of stuff was running on Friday. I passed Dick's Creek on my way to the Tellico, and decided to take a look. There was more water than I had ever seen in it and it was definitely running, probably a little on the low side but I'm sure it was more water than that creek has seen in quite a while. This was all great, but there were no other boaters around and I wasn't about to put on by myself. Driving away and looking down at the creek I was pretty bummed I couldn't do the run when, to my surprise, I saw someone paddling! I pulled over and ran down to say hey and hopefully get a run in, and to my even bigger surprise it was a guy a new from highschool! Talk about a small world. Anyways, we went back to the top, geared up, and put on. We ended up doing the full length run from the falls down to Turners Corner. It was fun, but the real action is over in the first half mile. Sorry, no pictures of this one, my camera crapped out recently, but a new one is on its way.

Sunday was Cheoah time! I'd never been up there and I don't know why, it's such a fun river. Lucky for me, there was an unsheduled release of about 1100 cfs. Parts of the run are like paddling through a small forest. I'm surprised they didn't remove more of the trees and bushes, they aren't hard to avoid though. It's really a great run though. If were to make a comparison I'd say it's like a beefed up, more continuous Ocoee with much better water quality. Again, my camera was busy taking a dump but the guys I paddled with sent me a clip of Bear Creek Falls and a good shot of Yard Sale. Thanks guys!

So yeah, great run and I can't wait to go back.

Later,

-David

Early Dec on the Green!

2008-01-23T16:16:00.000-05:00

Well its a long time passed, but on my home from FL for the winter break, I met up with some friends for my 8th trip down the mighty Green River Narrows. I was without a creekboat, so my friend (thanks B) brought me a Nomad 8.1 for the day. Let me tell you I had my heart set on a Jefe, but after paddling the Nomad, I'm not really sure anymore. The boat is really fast, and handled the low water green (6-7 inches that day) really well. I used to paddle a M Burn, and every time I hit a rock all hell broke lose. Well thats a little melodramatic, but it did not handle the rocks well. The only thing that I didn't particularly like was the way it handled holes. In the video, you will see what happens when I hit the top hole at Zwicks (I get pushed hard left and have to try to recover) and when I hit the hole at the bottom of the first part Nices' Pieces (I get pushed hard right into the big rock). Most of this should be attributed to my lack of skills. But still, the bow seemed to get pushed around really easily by holes. But none the less I loved the boat.
I wanted to do something a little different with the video I took. First off, all of the headcam videos you see of me over in the right hand column are taken with a Go Pro Hero III Digital Camera. These things are AWESOME for the price (You do need to add a 2 gig SD card tho). I just strap it right to my FNA full facemask. Anyways, the video is split into 2 parts. Part one runs from Frankenstein to above Go Left and Die. The second part runs from Go Left to below Rapid Transit. Unfortunately that was all the battery life I had that day (MY FAULT NOT THE CAMERAS). We left the video pretty much unedited. The reason we did this is because I remember before I ever paddled the green, watching all the video of all the big rapids, I really did not get a feel for the pace of the river. I really did not know what to expect. This video shows the pace of the river really well, so all of you have never paddled it can really get a good idea of what it is like. All the small rapids between Frank and Transit are included, and because nobody in our crew ran Gorilla, it is excluded. Sucks that the quality is so low. The original quality is actually quite high, which is why I love the camera so much. Many thanks to Dave for editing.

Peace
Toby

By the way, the videos are in the column on the right. Top video is Part 2, Second to top is Part 1

Scouting Nancy Town Creek

2008-01-22T16:10:00.000-05:00

Lately I've been looking around the American Whitewater website for some local creeks that I haven't been to yet (of which there are many) to go check out and do a little scouting. I found a section of Nancy Town Creek that flows out of Lake Russell. I have been to Lake Russell plenty of times with the family for day picnics and such, but never payed much attention to the creek that feeds it. According to AW there is a very steep section of this creek a little over a mile downstream of the lake, but no pictures anywhere. I found this spot on Google Earth and in the satellite photos you can see some big white spots along the creek. So after a little planning my dad and I decided to hike around the lake and down the stream to see what was there. The hike itself was interesting as once you get below the lake there are no trails. We eventually made it, and found a VERY steep section of the creek about 1/4 mile long just below and old dam. Here are some pictures of what we found.

The old, seemingly abandoned dam that marks the beginning of the steepness.

This is the top of the first big slide, it looks like one small drop but its really a huge slide that continues another 80 feet or so downstream

This is the slide from the bottom, I'd say it drops a total of about 60ft

This is the horizon line for the second drop

The second drop, about 35ft and unrunnable

The first slide looks good to go with some log removal and more water. After these drops there is one more clean 8 footer that I could see then it flattens out a bit. The run continues for probably another mile or two before you get to the takout road, but we didn't get to see the rest of it. I'm sure there are some more decent rapids, but nothing like this first part. As far as I can tell this has never been run before, but if anyone knows different let me know. It would take a LOT of rain for it to go also, relatively small watershed I think. Anyways, it's on the "to do" list along with many others.

Till next time

-David

Snow in the Southeast!

2008-01-19T14:09:00.000-05:00

I woke up this morning to snow falling outside and all over NE Georgia. I hadn't paddled in a while so I was really hoping to get on the water this weekend. There wasn't much accumulation outside yet but I didn't want to drive any kind of long distance for fear of worsening road conditions. I decided to head down the road to the super low Lake Lanier for a short paddle, I'll make it to a river next time. Anyways, I strapped down the Corsica and drove to the lake. I also took the camera with me and got some pictures.

You can see how low the lake really is, with some docks out of the water

I got some pretty interesting looks from people when I was putting on and taking off. They probably thought I was a little crazy to go paddling in the snow. Today was also my first chance to use my new pogies. I'm pretty sure anyone who's used pogies knows how toasty they keep your hands, mine were sweating the whole time I was on the water. I kept dipping them in the lake to keep cool. Anyways, I got my paddling fix for today, but I need to get on a river soon.

'Till next time,

-David

Cold Water Fun at Scudders Falls

2008-01-10T15:22:00.000-05:00

Well my vacation from school was over, and it was time for me to make the drive from NY back down to FL. I decided to stop and visit a paddling friend in eastern PA for a session at Scudders. I first paddled at Scudders about 3-4 years ago when i was first learning how to paddle. The day I bought my first boat was a cold October day and my friends took me there to give it a go. I swam 7 times that day in the frigid waters. Since then, I have been back on a regular basis, each time looking a little more like a competent boater. But something very fortunate has happened there. Some local paddlers spent a great deal of time working on the feature there, and it really paid off. Jan 5th was the second time I paddled there with the new feature. The first time was at a level of about 22,000 cfs which made for a great wave for blunting and spinning (and if your good enough then all those other moves). On Jan 5th the level was a little lower (18,000 or so...). Ice Chunks were floating down the river. You could hear and feel them banging on the bottom of the boat. Everyone was very conservative, but I did find it in me to try a loop or two. Ill let the video speak for it self. The link to the video is in the "Video" column on the right.

Peace
Toby

2007-12-20T19:58:00.000-05:00

It's blog cherry poppin' time!

Finally, fall semester is over and it's time to get out of Florida and do some boating. But oh yeah, DROUGHT! So nothing close is running really but I made it up to the Green this week. The release was 7-12 and it was pretty friggin' cold so after delaying a bit we put on just after 11. Other than not being able to feel my hands half the time the low temps were pretty cool as there were icicles hanging all along the banks.

I've been telling myself for a while that on the next trip down it's time to knock out one of the Big 3, so we got to Go Left and I started to psych up for my first run. Here's the picture sequence.

Boy did I come through the slot with a smile on my face and one heck of an adrenaline rush. After that everything was gravy until we got to Powerslide. It was my only my 4th time down but I'd never had any trouble with it. Anyways, the first guy down seemed to have a good line, but got caught in the hole at the bottom, surfed a bit and got out. I went next and the same thing happened. I was a little to far left coming over the roostertail so I tucked forward and tried to sub through the hole but it didn't quite work. I surfed for the better part of a minute, thought about swimming, finally made it out exhaused. The rest of the run was uneventful, overall a great day on the river. I'll leave you with another sequence from Groove Tube.

-David