It shouldn't come as much of a surprise to me anymore how varying water levels on a river can mean very different paddling experiences, but yesterday it happened. Depending on what river or creek your running, high OR low water can mean new challenges, albeit different varieties of challenges. What i always try to impress upon my beginning whitewater and river running students is that there are many faces to a single river. Changes in water levels can essentially mean a different river.
I got out with some friends on Wilson Creek at -7" (bridge gauge), and to be clear, this run wasn't a class. In many ways i was being instructed :) Anywho, the lowest i had run it before was -4. This few inches made quite a difference. Many of the rapids had much narrower slots and channels and were quite different, requiring tighter lines and quicker maneuvers. The chances of a piton, pining, or broaching seemed much greater. We scouted this run more thoroughly on this trip than the first time i ran it. I really enjoyed the run at this level and will get out on it again at -7. Here are a few pics from the day.
Wilson Creek - 10 Foot
Wilson Creek - river left on Huntley's Retreat? We ran it river right - nice boof line that side
Wilson Creek - 10 Foot
Wilson Creek - Boat Buster
Wilson Creek - Bottom of Razorback
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
I can't believe i've never tried this until yesterday. On a whim, i tried attaining back up Gabriel's Bend on the Haw. For those of you unfamiliar with the term "attaining," it means working back up-river, utilizing various aspects of the river to do so. To my surprise, i made it almost the whole way back up "the Bend," until what i think might be one of the last of two moves. Those of you familiar with Gabriel's Bend, i made it up to the first rock eddy on river-left (if you're coming down-river). From there i needed to make it over to the first micro-eddy (if you're coming downstream) on the rock wall on river right, and then back to the big eddy before entering "the Bend." Have any of you ever attained past this point? The move i got stuck on requires moving over top of a pretty high wave shoulder, then using that wave to ferry across to the micro eddy. ...I (inadvertently) have a new goal to work towards. Any advice/input would be appreciated!
The poor choices have been coming out of the woodwork. We have had unseasonably immense rainfall, high water, and flooding. ...and this, some how, makes people decide it's time to try their first river run in their dick's sporting goods recreational kayak or that walmart inflatable tube. ...Folks! These are not just flowing rivers, they are flooded rivers! That means lots of debris, tree branches, entire trees, river wide blockages, ...not to mention lots of fast flowing water that surges violently and has rough hydraulics. Over 4 days we have had 2 Eno River
rescues, 3 Haw River rescues, and 1 Neuse River rescue. Eno rescues were
folks in recreational kayaks, Haw rescues included 2 tubers on a 12,000 cfs water day going over Bynum Dam, 1 was a couple in
recreational kayaks, 1 was a couple in a canoe that involved a
helicopter rescue, Neuse rescue was a family of 5 in tubes.
As
we teach in all of our kayak classes - know what you're getting into,
be realistic about your (and others) abilities, and make good educated choices.
Whitewater paddling can be one of the most amazing, opening, spiritual, freeing things ever. Take a class, go out with an experienced buddy, approach the sport/activity with the idea of learning a new skill set. Get out and enjoy the water!
I love this time of year in NC! One day we're wearing
fleece jackets and thermal underwear, the very next we're stripping down
to shorts and t-shirts. It keeps things interesting :) This time of
year also typically means, rain. Our local rivers have been blessed
most of this past winter and early spring with nice water levels which
has been great for my line of work. When water levels are up it also
means one of my favorite flat water paddling locations has access opened
up to tons of small creeks and floodplain forest that can be paddled.
This is what i refer to as the 3 Rivers Area. This is the lower Eno
River nearing Falls Lake, and there is a great Wildlife Resources
Commission Boat Ramp called the Eno Boat Ramp that is smack in the
middle of a huge swath of undeveloped game land (if you want some
specifics on the location, message me, and i can fill you in on more
details). Anyway, i have found this and similar areas really allow for
kids and adults imaginations to run wild. The mix of wide flat-water
rivers, tiny creeks, open lake, and flooded forests, makes the perfect
combination of environments to keep any flat water paddler happy. If
you decide to check out this area, a map is extremely helpful (here is a
link to a topo map of the area http://www.froghollowoutdoors.com/MapThreeRivers.pdf
). Looking at the map, every little creek you can see on the map, can be paddled
(when water levels are a bit up), and are part of what makes this area
so awesome. Anywho, enjoy the Spring. And dress appropriately for the
day :)
Coming out onto the Flat River after paddling through floodplain forest off of Cut-Through Creek
I had the joy of working with some great kids over this past week during Frog Hollow's first kid camp of 2013. It was an intersession camp and we had a very small number of participants, but that often means we've got a lot more flexibility doing things. This was one of those groups that it was easy to remember why i do the work i do :) They were gung ho, cooperative, inquisitive, full of life, and committed to having awesome experiences! I wish every group we worked with gelled as well as this crew did. We did a ton of stuff! We located about a half dozen geocaches, worked on kayak skills in an indoor pool, kayaked and canoed on the Eno, learned climbing communication skills, bouldered on Hager's Mountain, learned map and compass skills and hiked to the top of Occoneechee Mountain, picked up tons of trash (check out the tally on the Trash 2013 link above) and marked storm drains for Creek Week, went to an arbor day celebration in Downtown Durham, and more! And all this in crazy weather swings from below freezing and rain to 70+ degrees in blazing sun, all with smiles. It was a good week and i'm looking forward to more!
We hosted another on-water cleanup in conjunction with Durham Creek
Week. We picked up a ton of trash out of Ellerbe Creek. Check out our
trash tally by clicking on the Trash 2013 link at the top of the page. Mostly plastic bottles and styrofoam. Why does anyone use styrofoam still?
My outfitting company, Frog Hollow Outdoors, is really starting to gear up for the 2013 Season. This past weekend was our first Staff Training/Refresher for the year. Our original plan was to head to the Coast to camp and work on site-management and paddle skills. We we're gonna really work the area - protected inlets, secluded barrier islands, a variety of tidal conditions, and even the surf zone were all going to be our play/training ground. A trip and training to remember!
Well, Thursday evening, with a forecast predicting 80% chance of thunder storms most of Saturday, i made the call to scrap the Coast as the location for our training. I got a little flak about this from some of my non-work paddling and backpacking buddies. OK sure, working with staff in adverse conditions is excellent first hand experience on handling thunder and lightning storms (which, personally, i typically enjoy camping in), but for the sake/goals of our training weekend, being huddled up in camp and NOT out on the water, seemed like a poor use of our time. So, we shifted the focus of our paddle skills and transferred the site-management refresher to some of our awesome local locations. We paddled the Eno in whitewater kayaks on Sat in a steady and cold rain (but no thunder or lightning!), and then got out in the touring kayaks on Jordan Lake for a good chunk of the day Sun. So, no, we weren't at the Coast, but we were in some good ol' magical Piedmont. Both days were awesome! And i gotta say i'm really proud of the Staff i worked with this past weekend, they really got right back on track from last year and are ready to get out and work with folks on the water again! It's gonna be a great year!
A handful of the 2013 Frog Hollow Staff prepping for a paddle down the Eno River during our pre-season Guide and Instructor Training and Re-fresher. Y'all Rock!
A few of the 2013 Frog Hollow Staff out on Mystery Island on Jordan Lake during our pre-season Guide and Instructor Training/Refresher.
Excellent couple days working with Northern High School and their Outdoor Education and Adventure Classes. And i'm looking forward to a couple more! These kids are craving these experiences and i just can't understand why programs like this don't exist for every public school! Yesterday we worked at an indoor pool covering safety, wet-exits, rescues, and rolls. Today we covered basics on paddle grip and strokes on a small pond at the DPS Farm Hub (interesting idea that has some real amazing potential, check it out).
Also in between classes i got to do a little cleanup! Check out the Trash 2013 link at the top of the page!
I'm often asked how i came up with the name "Frog Hollow" for the company i founded. For any one reading that is not familiar with Frog Hollow Outdoors, here's a link: http://www.froghollowoutdoors.com/index.html.
The quick answer is that Frog Hollow was the name of family land where we first ran the business. My grandparents, and great aunt and uncle bought the land in northern Durham in the 20s. My great uncle named his half of the property Possum Trot and my Grandfather named his half Frog Hollow. ...pretty simple really.
Well anyway, the other evening i came across a Hoppin' Frog, Frog's Hollow Double Pumpkin Beer at Sam's Quick Stop. I was compelled to buy it, and yes, it was tasty. Somewhere near the bottom of that flavorful 22 i got to thinking about all the other things out there named Frog Hollow.
One i had come across repeatedly online was Frog Hollow Farm. This is an organic farm out in Cali that, from their web presence at least, seems pretty great. I came across at least 2 other farms in the US with Frog Hollow in the name as well.
Then there is of course the old TV show Frog Hollow. ...well, the certainty behind using "of course," might fade for anyone who didn't grow up in the NC Piedmont, is under the age of 35, or didn't watch kids TV shows in the 70s or early 80s... but if you did/are then you might very well remember the puppet, the banjo music, the old pickup truck, the dog and the old country store. Here's a little clip i found online.
So what else out there holds the name Frog Hollow?! There's a bunch of stuff!
This is a fun one. This is a song by a band called Frog Hollow that evidently wrote the theme for Ken Anderson's 1970 Australian surf film of the same name. ..which i definitely need to see now. The song's pretty groovy and got me thinking about surfing the Falls Dam wave today :)
...There's a sweet glade run in Whistler!
I also came across this amazing endurance mountain bike race series called Frog Hollow. They have a 25 hour race! Here's a link to the race page: http://www.gropromotions.com/FROG_HOLLOW.html. And i like their little mascot logo dude. He looks like he's having a good time!
Then, oddly enough, there is a well attended paddling event in PA called Frog Hollow that has evidently been going on for over 30 years. Watching various video clips of these events is a bit painful for me. As an instructor and guide watching these clips as canoes and kayaks float by all i see is: no PFD, unbuckled PFD, no PFD, kid with no PFD, beer, boat parked upstream of a strainer, no PFD, beer, boat stuck in strainer, beer, no PFD... you get the idea. I know these guys are all just out to try and have a little fun on the river, but common sense does not seem to be a part of the whole situation. I will say that watching clips from 2008 thru 2012, with each passing year i was seeing more PFDs. ...if you're looking at video clips on YouTube please take note that all of ours are titled with FROG HOLLOW OUTDOORS and none of them take place in PA.
Anywho, there are many more Frog Hollows out there and i have a desire to check them all out at some point in my life. Whether it be a song to listen to, a show to watch, a beer to sip, a slope to be skied, a long ass race to be peddled, an unsafe paddling event, or yummy veggies to taste. For better or for worse Frog Hollow here i come!
Planning for Frog Hollow's 2011 Season has been challenging! Not only am i hoping to round out the year with more progrma options and dates, i am also working with other staff to begin Frog Hollow's NC L.E.A.D. School (Leadership Education through Adventure Discovery). We're in the midst of an interesting journey and will be offering some very involved expieriential ed programing for schools, businesses, organizations and community groups. We're already set and offering this progamming but our website and marketing materials are not yet reflecting this. Keep an eye out for more info!
While every day on the water or in the woods is a good day, every so often there is a day that really is just excellent. Yesterday, i guided a trip down the Deep River past the Endor Iron Furnace and everything was perfect. The weather was just right (cool and sunny), all of the trip participants were interesting and engaging people, the avian wildlife was active and consistent, and Endor is always an awe inspiring structure to visit. Even the take out at the 15-501 bridge which is notoriously, ...well, a pain in the ass, went smoothly. Days like this are great reminders that this is why i do what i do.
