Back to Tennessee

After half a day of work and 6 hours of driving, I ended up back in Tenessee on Friday night. I met up with Pete and Shaphan at Baby Falls on the Tellico around 6:00 pm. Having had such a long day, I wasn't sure I was up for paddling. However, that all changed as I geared up and put on the water to drop my first waterfall. Once I got a few more hucks, the three of us headed up to the put in for the ledges section of the Tellico.

Boofing the Baby

Dropping the Diaper

Local Wildlife

We finished the ELF run at the bottom of Diaper Wiper & then hucked Baby a few more times. The local wildlife seemed rather unimpressed with our exploits. Leaving them and Baby Falls behind, we set our eyes on the prize.

Bald River Falls

Contemplating the Drop

Pete and Shaphan Getting in the Eddy

Kevin On the Brink

Pete heading down Bald River Falls

Thumbs up from Shaphan

We finally got off the Tellico around 9:00 pm with an hour drive to the Ocoee still ahead of us. When all was said and done, we found a campsite, set up the tents, and got to sleep around midnight. The next morning we met up with everyone at the put in for the Middle Ocoee. All together we had a group of 12 people that were heading down the Upper & Middle Ocoee that day......quite a big group and a big paddle.

Griffen firing up Alien Boof

Steve catching some air at Alien Boof

Mercer boofing the Alien

An After-paddle Snack

There is a lot of action on these two stretches of river. We all had a great time playing our way down the Ocoee. Being that it was 6:00 pm and we had just paddled 10 miles of continous class III/IV, Griffen and I decided to spend the night at the Nantahala River Gorge to break up the drive. Our plan was to paddle the Nanty on Sunday. However, we had creekboats and it was the Nanty.......how could we make this more exciting. Handpaddles!!! So, Griffen and I put on above Patton's Run at 10:00 am and handpaddled down to the NOC. The most action of the day was when I caught an unexpected sidesurf at the top hole of Nantahala Falls.....she almost had me, but I was able to surf out.

Griffen bombing the Nanty Falls

After getting Griffen on the road, I stopped off for some BBQ and went by the ERA to check out some paddlegear. Not really wanting to, I then headed out of the gorge and back to Virginia. Until next time......keep a paddle in the water and a smile on your face.

Saying goodbye to the Nanty