Big Creek Bridge at Lynchburg rd to Hanging Rock Access, June 26th 2012

Took Casey, Parker and Jonathon kayaking today down the Dan River.  Parker and Jonathon were 1st timers and did well although Parker went down several rapids backwards.  Parker raced me several times and he is pretty fast paddler too.  I was worried the water would be too low it was 1.4 all week but rained the night before and that morning it was a 1.67 ft at the river gauge at the Fransisco bridge.  This made the water just fine on the section from Lynchburg rd to Hanging Rock Access. (Very little parking at the bridge.) This section is good for beginners.  It takes about 2 hours and it is about 6 miles.

Fun memory:  The way to float a rapid is to lay striaght as a board, cross your feet, cross your arms.  Casey, Parker, Jonathon and I floated through a rapid in our life jackets.  Fun Day.

Hart Access to Lynchburg Rd (268) ( Dan River)

Today is supposed to be 102 degrees.  Dennis and I decided to beat the heat and get on the river early.  We got on the Dan river at Hart Access at 7:00am.  We left home at 6:15am.  The dam was releasing yesterday from 2-6 and we thought maybe we would still have some water since it takes 12 hours to reach the Fransisco river guage.  At 7:00 the gauge was 1.6 but by the time we got out at 10:00 the gauge said 1.5ft.  The temperature was 71 degrees at 7:00 but at 10:00 it was 92 degrees.

It was a fun day but the water was so low it was not as fun as it was the last time at 1.8ft.  I rubbed more rocks today than I have in the last 6 months.  I will wait until we have more water to do this section of the Dan river again.  Also the access at the Big Creek bridge is very steep and you have to paddle up the Big creek to get out and the creek was real low.  Only a small path was deep enough to get to the take out.

Yadkin River, Shoals to Donnaha Access, May 28, 2012

We put in at the Pilot Mtn. access at Shoals and got out at Donnaha access on 67.  The run is about 6.5 miles and it took us 2 1/2 hours.  It was a beautiful day on the Yadkin.  The water was up higher than I have seen it on my previous canoe trips so this was pretty easy to manuver. The river gauge was 3.9ft.  It was pretty fun the first 2/3 of the trips.  It has many little rapids.  Since the water was up there was very few rocks exposed which was totally different than past trips.  Paddling this in a kayak is much easier than a canoe too.

The last third is flat water and I mean flat.  It feels like a lake so you have to work to finish rather than let the river just move you.  I usually see a bald eagle or two but this time I only saw ducks.  Dennis has decided if we do this again he will use his recreation boat, Perception Sport instead of the Liquid Logic Coupe.  It is harder to paddle in flat water.

The access at Donnaha and Hwy 67 is in bad shape.  The path to the river is muddy inches deep and washed out.  In the past this was in much better shape.  You can see the results of flooding on all the small islands.  The points of the small islands are piled 10-15 feet high with debris.

Hart Access to Moores Springs campground

Fun run.  The gradient is 12ft/mile. That day the water gauge was a 1.83 ft.  I do not think you could run this much lower.  It had many shallow spots because of the gradient change.  This is my second favorite run on the Dan River so far.  It is about 8.3 miles long.  Dennis paddled his Liquid Logic Coupe and I used our Peception Sport recreation boat.  This is a beautiful run with such pretty surroundings.  It is so enjoyable because of all the rapids even though they are small they are frequent. Even though it has action and beginner could do this fine.

The only negative is the out access at Moores Springs road.  You have to call the campground and get permission and it cost $10 to park there even if you are not camping.  You get out at a creek which is nasty and the road is washed out to the access so you have to carry your boat 100 yds to your vehicle.

I hope the water gets up again so I can do this again soon.

May 19, 2012 First run on Jessup's Mill run on the Dan River

So close to home and so fun...The gradient was 23 ft/mile, fun, fun. We started at Jessup's Mill off Collinsville Rd and got out at Hart's access off 704 on the Dan River.  The temp was 75 degrees water temp was about 55 degrees.  Dennis paddled the new Liquid Logic Coupe in his wet suit.  I paddled out Perception sport rect boat with a splash skirt.  I could have paddled without the skirt but I would have had top dump my boat  a couple of times because of splash during the many class 2 rapids (at least 6). I did not wear a wetsuit and wore my rash guard shirt and shorts and was comfortable. This was the first time I used the splash skirt and it was warm.  Dennis' boat did great mine did fine too.  I was thankful the river guage was 2ft.  That made this run perfect.  If it was lower it would have been much for difficult because there are shallow places.  This run is 6.5 miles.  Loved all the class two rapids.  Dennis took a swim when his boat ran up on a rock.  He is sold on a sit on top kayak now.  I may want one now but 5 kayaks may be enough for now. I want to try this run with my creekboat.

May 7, 2012 The Natahala in a Ducky

We decided to make an adventure out of taking Casey to the airport in Chattanooga TN.  She was leaving for Africa for a mission trip for 20 days.  On the way home Dennis and I decided to stop by the Natahala and take a ducky trip.  It was about 73 degrees and we decided to wear our wet suits but no splash jackets.  The water was cold but we were comfortable in our wet suits.  The Natahala had plenty of class 2's and 1 class 3 rapids. I hope to bring my girls to do this again. In a raft it would have been fun but a ducky added another level to the fun.  I would do this again!!!  Beautiful and exciting this was the whole ride.  I was a little afraid of the last class 3 rapid but made it fine.  You just run right down the tongue of the Natahala falls and avoid the right side with the hydralic.  The video is of me doing the Natahala Falls.

Paddle Time at the Dan River, Moratock Park to Snow Creek access

Today was a beautiful day, January 28 and 60 degrees.  This is my kind of winter.  We got a late start so Dennis and I decided to take a shorter kayak run today.  We put in at Moratock Park, in Danbury NC and we took out at Snow Creek access near Dodgetown rd. The run was between 4-5 miles long.  This was a beautiful section of the river with many little rapids but only a couple that might be a 1 + but with so many it kept the trip entertaining.  We did not have to paddle much before the current did most of the work, not a great deal of flat water here.  It was fun going over little ledges.

 The water gauge level was 1.88 ft and the cfs was 195 at the water gauge at Fransisco.  The level was nice and fun but we did have to manuver through shallow sections.  I do not think this section would be very easy to paddle much lower.


 The most eventful part of the trip was at put in Dennis and I decided to video each other at the first rapid so I went first then pulled to the beach to get out to film him.  When I stepped out of the kayak on the sand where I had beached my boat on the shore I sank over my knees instantly in the sand and mud like quick sand.  If I had not moved quickly I probally would have sunk much deeper and I would have had to crawl out.  I could barely raise my legs because of the suction.  That was a first.

The most enjoyable part of the trip was how pretty the day and scenary was.  We saw 2 grey herons and many wild ducks and well as many other water birds.  I wished I had my camara with me not just Dennis's phone.

We discovered it is much better to park near the Snow Creek access sign and take out by paddling up snowcreek a ways than to take out rather than near the bridge at Dodgetown Rd  a little farther down too.  Can not wait until the next trip.