Little River - Run, Boof, Repeat

Great day getting out with a couple buddies on the Little River in northern Durham County today. Paddling with Daniel opened up lots of new ideas on lines and attainments to try.  Dude knows his stuff.  We got on right at 3.5', the H20 level dropped some during our multiple runs and carries and was probably around 3' by the time we got off.  At these levels there are some interesting practice lines and attainments, and a handful of pretty sweet places to boof.  Hopefully H20 levels will hold on the Haw so that i can get out on it tomorrow.  Oh, and i added an interesting piece of trash to the 2013 tally.  Check out the link at the top of the page.

One of quite a few great boof spots on the Little River Gorge at 3.5'

Boof-a-loof :)

Keeping the Flow - When Trip Plans Don't Work Out

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.

Canoe and Kayak Planters/Gardens

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More trash :(  Check out the TRASH 2013 page link above to keep track of the year's progress.

Education in Outdoor Avdenture

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!

Why "Frog Hollow"

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!

Whitewater Dreams on Triangle Rivers

Big Wave on Flat River 4.5'

What an incredible few days this is for the Triangle Region!   With the freezing rain/snow we'll have everything local running at some point between yesterday and Sunday (hopefully longer-fingers crossed).  While this is not unheard of, especially given our relatively wet year, every time it does happen it makes me giddy :)  I had the pleasure of getting out with some friends on the Little and the Flat Rivers yesterday, at what i consider really nice running levels.  They were both running 4.5'-5'.  This makes the Little pushy, with grabby hydraulics at various pour-overs and ledges, and a huge variety of lines down what is a short little gorge.  Run, boof, and repeat :)  The Flat at this level begins to form what is possibly one of the sweetest play spots in the NC Piedmont.  If you're familiar with this run,  this feature is located just upstream of the island where the river narrows down significantly.  At this spot there is a ledge that forms a super fun wave on river left.  At higher water this wave becomes river wide. At just under 5' this feature will allow for a huge array of moves, but as the level drops below 4.5' there is a rock or two that will keep you from being able to bury your bow or stern, but you can still spin like a mad man on it!  ...OK, I'm finding myself wanting to describe the potential this wave has to you here in more detail...but there is a decent amount of info on the AWA website.  No need to completely re-create the wheel.  Check it out: http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/River/detail/id/1073/

Spinning the Big Wave on the lower Flat @ 4.5'

Anywho, if you find yourself here, make sure that you're looking carefully at all of your downstream hazards.  On typical high water days the island becomes a big strainer, and as of yesterday, upstream of the island (even closer to the wave) is a HUGE tree broached on some rocks creating an ugly log jam that one would not want to find themselves flushed into.

 All you Piedmont whitewater junkies get out and enjoy some local water!  As always, KNOW what you're getting into, be REALISTIC about your abilities (and those you're paddling with), make good CHOICES, be SAFE, and have FUN!