Happy Birthday to my youngest daughter Starla, cant believe she is already 14! Time flies, enjoy every moment, it will be gone in a blink of the eyes. On Sunday, Nov. 6 I went down in Linville Gorge.

Love this trail -so does Felix, he was flying up and down it

This is one crazy looking shroom. The pic below shows w/Felix for scale

 

 

 Felix loves to climb on the logs.

 These are from the top of Pinnacle Rock

Cooling the dogs in the river

Amos' Epics

Finally Back On the Bike for a Challenging Loop. From Curtis Creek to the Blue Ridge Parkway and back down the Mountain

The ridge I climbed up, switchback after switchback

 I had hoped to ride Heartbreak but didnt get started until 2:00 and it took almost 2 hours to climb up to the parkway. Instead of Heartbreak I decided to ride my first fall back but felt lucky I didnt get a flat. There were a lot of briers out there. I had been running my mouth to both Gerhard and Johnny Calhoun about preferring the more remote and technical trails and I sure go what I was asking for today, both on the climb as well as the descent. One helluva work out and a little bit of a gamble to do as a solo and carry only one extra tube. It all worked out well, somebody must be looking out for me.

Good to finally make it to the Parkway

The Fire Lookout Tower

The trail from the overlook

The leaves were gone up close to the parkway but still some colors down closer to Curtis Creek.

Newberry Creek right before it drops into Curtis Creek

 

Amos' Epics

Saturday at the Green with Chris, Brooks, and Johnny Calhoun

 I got to the bottom in time to get a picture of Chris running Gorilla but Brooks had already dropped it. Hats off to these guys for running it in long boats no less. They are getting ready for the race next weekend. Should be an interesting one, especially if the river doesnt come up a little bit. Gorilla looks really sketchy below 7".

 I got Chris and Johnny Calhoun at the boof but missed Brooks running the Groove Tube. I was standing right there but didnt know he was going to run it. I'm disappointed because that always makes for a good shot. I found a crack on my stern before the run and was sittin in water most of the run. A lot of emptying and 2 sketchy lines at Frankenstein and Rapid Transit but a good time all the same. After a week long trip to Germany, it was good to be back at the Green with the boys! Johnny Calhoun and I enjoyed a couple of German beers at the takeout.

Amos' Epics

Saturday Morning at the Green River Narrows

Johnny Calhoun and I met at Fish Top at 9:00. We only saw a couple of people on the river. The weather was great, much warmer than the Watagua yesterday. Good times.

Johnny Calhoun at Zwicks

 

Seal Launch

Johnny Calhoun dropping over the top

 

 Fall in the gorge.

Amos' Epics

Friday at the Watagua: 2 runs with Dave, these boofs were for June, RIP.

I brought my bike in case I needed to do a solo run and bike the shuttle but luckily Dave was available to paddle. We did the first run with Will and Bradley. The Second run we paddled with Margret and Ricky. It was an awesome day. The first run actually felt warmer than the 2nd. It was windy most of the day and the clouds were rolling through all day long but ocasionally the sun would sqeeze through and really brighten things up. Thanks to Dave for letting me carry his camera on the 2nd run, and e-mailing the pics to me, we managed to get some good shots. It was a beautiful fall day at the Watagua:

Dave at Hydro

Margaret

Ricky Blizzard



Dave

What I posted before Dave e-mailed the pics to me and I slept a few times:
Clare Ann and I went to see G Love and Special Sauce in Asheville with Johnny Calhoun and Jen Thursday nite then when I got home at about 1:30, I checked some levels, Watagua was 320ish and I already had a vacation day scheduled. Not much of anything else looked like it was going to run but the rain hit all the right areas and the Watagua had gotten a nice bump. After a few hours of sleep, I was up and packing the gear. Luckily Dave was available. We took his camera on the second run and he is planning to e-mail me some photos. The fall colors were really starting to cook up in the high country. The level felt like about 250 cfs.
Oh yeah and the G Love show was great.
Amos' Epics