For those of you looking for a fun little class I/II Winter/Spring kayaking opportunity, let me highly recommend the Mulberry in beautiful North Alabama. To me, it's kind of like the Tuckeseigee River, a bit narrower in places, with a lot more play spots. I've been wanting to share this river with other folks for quite a while, so when Steve Reach's trip request landed in my inbox, I decided to just pick a date. So on December 10th, 2005, I led my first GCA trip. I even made it a combined Bham Canoe Club trip as I didn't think I'd have too many takers for a mid-December paddle.

As the date approached it looked like I going to have no problem getting 12 folks to join me. Fortunately, I knew that some other Bham Canoe Club folks would be there to split the group if necessary. We orchestrated the split easily by arriving at the put in 30 minutes late! Note to self.... check road conditions before planning route to put-in!

By the time we arrived at the put-in, fellow BCCr, Joseph Schnorbus had already run shuttle with a bunch of the Bham & Huntsville folks (Arlene, Troy, Ross, Jimmy, Norma, Mark, Andy, and a few others). They decided to go ahead and put in and we made plans to look for them at Lunch Stop rapid mid-way through the run.... Thank you Joseph!

So our trusty group of seven didn't actually slide into the water until about 11:30. It was a cloudy, chilly 45 degrees, but I can say without a doubt that we all loved being on the river rather than getting that holiday shopping finalized! The water level wasn't ideal, but at just under a foot on the bridge gauge it made for a nice first time overview.

A quick note on water levels for the Mulberry: I've kayaked the Mulberry at a variety of levels ranging between 1 and 3 feet. The fun really begins at 1 foot on the bridge and the play features only get better up to about 3 feet. Don't know what happens after that! The USGS web site gives you great information. You just have to subtract 3.3 feet from their site to get the level on the bridge. You can get directions and lots of other scoop from www.alabamawhitewater.com

Present in our group was Bill Dement and Eric Star from Tuscaloosa and Heather Sutton, Sarah Taylor, and Tom Bishop from Atlanta, as well as Adam Wood from Talladega. We made our way straight to the little 360 play spot through the second channel on the river left side.

Arriving at the first 360 spot we noted that the water was so low that you could actually see the rock ledge that created the feature. We all took a few spins there doing the best we could to make things happen. Afterwards we paddled downstream to the tip of the island and back upstream allowing us to still play in the first significant rapid of the run. It's an S turn to the left with a fun little "boof" rock in the middle of the rapid. The rock was too exposed for boofing, but Tom did a cool little splat move on it as he dropped into the eddy behind it. We goofed off here a while enjoying the opportunity to slide across the first real current of the day.

About this time the sun came out and we paddled on down to the Mulberry's signature side-surfing hole, Training Wheel. We all had good rides despite the low water. At just below a foot I can tell you that this makes for some interesting roll practice here should you get flipped. We played here a good bit and moved on down to Lunch Stop rapid. As luck would have it we ran into the Bham folks here. I had recruited Norma and Mark from Huntsville to join us for the trip and was happy to see that they were having a great time on the river.

Lunch Stop is a really neat place. A gorgeous 40-foot rock overhang on river right marks the entrance. I like to catch the eddy behind the first huge boulder on river right. From there you can see the 2 foot drop that creates the surfing wave below. Dropping out of the eddy and catching the very next eddy on river right is a nice way to set up for surfing the Lunch Stop wave. It's shady here so people usually grab lunch on the beach just downstream on river left. Again, great convenience and easy to get back to the wave and play after catching some rays.

Just downstream is Eddy Hop rapid. A variety of lines were run here and everyone seemed to enjoy finding their own way. Tom started from the river left eddy at the top and dropped down to the next eddy for some play in the hole below. Just downstream we found another great 360 spot on river right. This actually turned out to be our favorite 360 spot. Sarah got her first 360 here on her first attempt. Talk about a natural!

Finally, it was time to move on down to our last rapid, Five O, which is conveniently located at the take-out. Lots to do here, but most of us picked our way down river right so that we could end up in the final river right eddy for the Five-O wave. I would say that this is the signature play spot on the river. It lived up to its name and provided everyone with lots of good surfing. Heather and Sarah got everyone's attention with an impromptu tandem surf. Way to go girls!

I plan to lead another trip on the Mulberry this

Spring. Hope you can join me!

by Joan Steed

12/10/05.

From The Eddy Line, 2006

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