Our mood when we met this bright morning at the Fannin County Courthouse was as sunny as the day. The Braves had less then 12 hours earlier won the World Series. We celebrated with fresh Cartecay cider as we prepared to shuttle. We had a fine water level, 1.51 at Dial, and peak autumn color for our trip from Big Creek at Aska to just below the Narrows.
We had a congenial crew: Donna Clark, Nick Moore, and Tim Rich in K1 kayaks; Charles Clark, Steve Duke, and Warren Piper in OC1 canoes; Tom and Marilyn Lantz, Jane Hamilton and Belle Wilmer, and Genelle Grossman and I in OC2 canoes. Also on the river just ahead of us was a group which included club members Dave Chaney, Mary Vachon and Inge Webb.
We had lunch on a sunny stretch of Forest Service property near the gauge. All had good runs on this fine section of river, one that is particularly scenic in the fall, and we had no mishaps till we got to the ledge at the head of the Narrows. There we got to use our ropes afew times. At this level there is a tricky diagonal curler and hole which quickly flipped and/or swamped several of us. However, Jane and Belle, Tom, and Charles had particularly good runs.
Genelle is a new club member from Nebraska and has recently moved to Atlanta to work as a biologist with the CDC. She was a novice to white wate rbut proved to be a quick study. She learned the low brace just before this ledge and got to use it right away. My old, flattened OCA plunged into the worst of the curler and immediately filled to the gunnels. We were washed over the second drop backwards and careened off the rock wall below it. Nevertheless Genelle kept bracing and sweeping, and we cross-ferried upright to the river left eddy amid cheers and my sighs of relief.
Thanks to Steve and Nick, who ran sweep, and to all our fun-loving folks whomade this a great trip.
Trip date: Sunday, October 29, 1995
By Roger Nott
-From the Eddy Line, December 1995
