River Trip

Yesterday Joey Kiser, Kyle Flores, and myself paddled the North Fork of the Mayo down to Anglin's Mill after all the rain. The run went pretty fast because of all the flow - the shuttle didn't.

It seems they may be paving Deshazo Mill Road and they were working on the hill right at the end of the North Carolina side. I managed to get down it in 4-wheel drive, but going up it would be another thing. After calling Joanne, we took an alternate route down 220 to get to the top in Kyle's vehicle.

I was mostly worried about Sliding Board rapid on the North Fork. After scouting it we decided to go through the middle where the eddies are at normal levels to avoid some holes on river left and it turned out pretty easy. At Lunch Stop there was just a wave where the ledge usually is and a big hole in the middle. Stairstep was pretty interesting but nothing too much. Then we reached the gauge and saw the river had risen from 3 feet to 4 feet.

When we got to the Boiling Hole we ran straight down a chute in the middle with a crashing wave at the bottom and then down the right side of the S-Turn with some more pretty big crashing waves. We got off the river at dark after having a lot of fun.

On New Year's Day we paddled Elk Creek. Bev Bryant posted a trip report on SRVCC's mailing list.

...rocks. That's all folks.

Russell Fork is special because the best time to run it is when Flannagan Dam is releasing into the Pound River that flows into it. It is located around the Breaks Interstate Park on the Virginia/Kentucky state line. We ran the Upper Russell River into the relatively easy class III section of Russell Fork that is above the gorge.

On Saturday, July 1, some of us ran the French Broad, section 9 (Barnard to Hot Springs). Nothing else about the trip really stands out in my mind now (it has been almost two weeks). Oh yeah..."He's got speed!"

After some storms the night before, the Mayo was up but dropping fast. When we put in on Saturday, June 24, the gauge on the North Fork was probably around 2.2 feet. We had a great time. There was lots of surfing at the ledge beside "lunch stop" (a big rock on the left of the river right before the South Fork comes in). There was also good surfing at the Boiling Hole and at the bottom of the S-turn. Also, at the Boiling Hole it appears that most of the kayakers went almost completely under the water coming through. Thanks to James C for the pictures.