A big part of my life over the last two decades has been whitewater paddling. This year a series of shitstorms in other areas of my life has kept me from the river.
Today I said “Fuck It”, drug my gear out and headed for the whitewater park in South Bend, IN. A glorious day! Exactly what I needed. Beautiful day and saw friends I hadn’t seen since last year. I’m so happy I went that I can’t help but post about it.
The voices in my head were saying “Get Back In The Boat!”
Yay! Me too! I mean, I’ve had actual storms since April, just the wettest, rainiest, muddiest season in years. Finally caught a break in the weather and I paddled Wednesday for a few miles on mostly flat water with a couple of class 2-3 stretches. Chased an osprey for a couple miles. Counted twenty or so Green herons, handful of Great Blues, and the chatter of Kingfishers and twittering Cedar Waxwings and swallows followed me the entire time. Turtles dropping off limbs in weird sequential order like synchronized swimmers diving into the pool. Beer, as always, tastes better in a boat than on dry land. Hang on, I’ll post pics 
Here we go: 20130717_094957[1] | Out Paddling | Flickr
Now let’s see your water!
Wow, where is that? So different from my Appalachian landscape.
That is the Colorado River, about 12 miles south of Hoover Dam, facing north.
Looks awesome, good fishing? Is that river managed or wild?
My region is green, mountainous, mostly undeveloped because flood plains, and wild. Landscape looks like a tamer version of the WV river in Deliverance with no danger of pig-lovin hill folk. Banjos are always a risk, though.
I really thought you meant this.
Never get out of the boat!
I knew someone would get that reference.
Ha! That’s awesome and looks like so much fun. That you? If not, can you play that well? That makes me feel very lazy in my flat water sit-on, but I’d love to try it. Our Nolichucky and the nearby Natahalla are foamy and filled with skilled paddlers year round, but I haven’t done anything but a guided tour and don’t own a play boat. That vid is kind of inspiring though 
I have a sit-on-top, it’s an Ocean Kayak Scrambler. It’s been down the Nantahala!
I’ve done the Noli and do the Ocoee a lot. Not in the SOT though. I’ve done Section 3 of the Chattooga but haven’t done Section 4 yet.
The ER was a channel to drive some kind of power generating set up for a textile mill way back when. 30 years ago they cleaned it out and made a whitewater course out of it. The Olympic team used to train there but they’ve moved on and left it to us playboaters. It’s a great place to hone your skills and I’ve met a lot of paddlers with whom I’ve done a lot of trips.
The hand paddler in the first part of the vid is me.
You look very experienced and that looks like a happy exercise. Have you ever competed? With seven colleges within 25 miles of the most paddled section and a nice club (APEs) the Nolichucky is full of happy, strong, and occasionally stoned college kids most of the year. I’ve been to Nantahala to the boat sale and camping, but never paddled it.
I spend most of my free time paddling alone, with a handful of my hardier friends or taking bird watchers down the TN and VA forks of the Holston River, and a few fishermen/birders down the Clinch. The Clinch is pretty glassy but deep and has some incredibly unusual fish. Weird, ancient paddlefish, some mean musky, and a very large salamander called a Hellbender lurks in shallow water. Lots of TVA managed lakes and dams to poke around, too, for lazy paddlers like me. Glad to hear you’ve been to the area, a lot of pretty views and still pristine waters all around.
Me too! One of my favorite trips is the Bowron chain in B.C. Over a hundred kilometers of paddling with only ten km of portaging. It has a bit of everything. Lakes, rivers, some rapids. Good fishing.
Is that the Green River? Sure looks like it.
If it floats, paddle it.
Absolutely god damn right.
Unless you’re going all the way.
I think you mean “dragged.”
Paddling sounds like fun. The only whitewater experience I have is going down an inner-tube-like float on a whitewater rafting ride at a water park.
