Thanks to Gaston letting me talk him into hiking through the jungle a little higher up the trail than usual. I think after the fact he felt it was worth it considering we got to run a few more good rapids and had an easier drop into the creek from the trail. Plus it reminded him of his time in Nam back in '72. It is good to reminisce.Below is upstream of our put in.
Next is down stream:
Gaston lining up to run the 2nd nice drop on the upper section:
Gaston dropping Chicken Neck .
I was a little apprehensive about Chicken Neck, especially with the tree on the right. Although I have "for the most part" always had good lines at this drop, there was this one time, at about the same level as this evening, that I got caught in the hole at the bottom. I surfed a little longer than I had wanted to and it was a frantic paddle out. After seeing Gaston clean it this evening, I had to go for it. Yes that is me in the foam below. It was good to go and I made it through with no surfs this time. Thanks for taking the shot Gaston.
The drop below is one that can be run off the right side or the flume down the left. We both took the right line but both sides looked good to go at this level.
Below is a stitch of Roadside Attraction. Five shots pieced together (I love my PowerShot). Click on the pic to enlarge. The small yellow dot at the far right / bottom of the drop is Gaston's helmet. This drop used to be a class 4+ now it is a solid class 5. We used to run it "back in the day". But not today...
We only had one mandatory portage at a log jam and we portaged Roadside Attraction, the rest was good to go.With all that has been going on with the economy, 1 customer (Chrysler) filing bankruptcy and one probably about to file (GM) and the very real concern of staying employed, it is great to get out on a creek so close to home and after work. It helps me get my mind of the things I cant control and reminds me why I moved to Glen Alpine a little over a decade ago. Life is good! Enjoy it, I definitely did this evening!
Amos' Epics
