Wrestling the Bear

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