Ramblin' On...

Saturday Morning Wilson Creek Run with Gaston then an afternoon hike up to and around Hawksbill

Wilson Creek graffiti:

Gaston with an outstanding Zoolander:

Trolling for Trout! A very productive day.

Onto my Hawksbill hike:

Amos' Epics

Doe River run after work.

Thanks for the pics Mike, nice multi shot feature.

My run of Body Snatcher, top to bottom:

Mike Nail:

The level was about 800 cfs. Mike Nail brought two other Mikes along and we had a good run. Those guys had not run the Doe before so I got to lead them down. It was a nice flow for a first time run, not high but not low. We got a late start but kept a good pace going and ended the run at dusk. Mike 2 and I saw 3 or 4 beavers about 75 yards from the take out, they were only about ten feet from us. They were swimming up stream towards us at our second portage, a low hanging tree crossing the creek.
It was great to be back at the Doe, what a fun run. Thanks to Mike Nail for the pics.
Amos' Epics

Finally enough rain to allow for some spring time natural flow local kayaking. An excellent way to start the first week of May!

Both Wilson Creek and Watagua had water most of the week. I got runs on Wilson Creek 2 separate days during the week (Tuesday and Thursday). 2 runs one evening at about 2" and 4 runs another evening at about 5", the last one ending as a moonlight run. An after work run on the Watagua Friday evening at about 360 cfs then 3 runs on Saturday at about 300cfs. My first run on Saturday was my second solo Watagua.
Over these 4 days I got to paddle with Gaston and Layla (the dynamic duo - you two rock it out), Corey (it had been too long since we got together, thanks for letting me talk you into that 4th run, I needed that!), Jonathan from Morganton, RB (the one and only), Adam Hill - where you been dude?, Beans from Hickory, Dennis Huntley (and of course he was right about the Doppler, I cant believe JC ever doubted him), Rye, and of course Johnny Calhoun showed for the Watagua run on Friday. We did have to steal JCs wallet to get him to come back and paddle with us on Saturday.
The short time I was able to spend in these 4 days on the water was time well spent. Good food for the soul! I had not smiled and laughed so much in a long time. As difficult as things have been lately and still may get, it is impossible not to enjoy my time on the river!

Signs, signs, everywhere there's signs...

^ Layla and Gaston timing the slot and boof perfectly!

Corey dropping the slot ^

Adam Hill ^ with Beans behind him ^

Onto the Watagua:

Layla ^

Gaston ^

Rye with Dennis in the C1 ^

Johnny Calhoun ^

Amos' Epics

Playing catch up on the posts. If the hike with Dan and Felix was not as epic as it turned out, I wouldnt add but it was too good to omit.

May 3, 2009: We started at Sugar Cove off of Hwy 80 and hiked up an unmarked trail along a creek (that is not named on my Natl Geo map) towards Big Laurel Gap. After a few miles, the trail kept getting harder and harder to follow. It was uphill all the way and soon there was little to no sign of a trail and we were simply climbing up the stream bed. Every now and then we would see an old bottle or tin can that gave us hope we were on to something. Then we got a hint of an animal trail climbing up steeply so we scrambled upwards (and I really mean scrambled). Finally we plateaued and could see the parkway one ridge line over. A couple of times we even heard a car traveling on a dirt road. We knew it had to be Curtis Creek. It wasn't all over yet. We managed to bushwhack to the top of Curtis Creek (less than a mile from the parkway). We took a left onto Curtis Creek Rd then took another left onto 219 which leads through lots of stinging nettles and poison ivy and back to Sugar Cove. A big 5+ hour loop.