Spring Whitewater Paddling has Begun

[eckilson]

We had a lot of rain around here this week, so I got out to do some whitewater paddling on the Upper Millers. It a 7-mile class II/III run with a lot of rocks to dodge and eddies to catch. We had a big group – 4 canoes and 10 kayaks. Few pictures here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/eckilson/albums/72177720324608864

There are a lot of dam releases around here in April, so hopefully my whitewater paddling will pick up.

 

[SouthernKevlar]

That looks FUN! I'm envious.

Right now in South Carolina we are in a dry spell with fire warnings up and rivers down. Some of our standard dam controlled runs are still closed from Hurricane Helene because the roads to them are gone! Hopefully the spring rains will bring some life back into the now rocky rivers and the states will get new roads built soon.

 

[eckilson]

It's been dry here too, but last week we had 3" of rain, so the USACE have been releasing from this dam. There will be 4 dam releases in the next 5 weeks, and I hope to paddle all of them. We'll see - Easter is in there too.

Hopefully you will get the roads rebuilt - that must be awful.

 

[eckilson]

That looks FUN! I'm envious.

Right now in South Carolina we are in a dry spell with fire warnings up and rivers down.

Keep seeing fires down your way on the national news. Hopefully they are not near you.

 

[Boatman53]

There is a canoe race on the St George river here in Maine this coming weekend. I’m not a racer so I don’t plan to be there.
Jim

 

[SouthernKevlar]

Keep seeing fires down your way on the national news. Hopefully they are not near you.

We have had a number of smaller wildfires in Spartanburg County and neighboring counties but fortunately none near my house. Last week one wildfire in the county did shut down I-26 near the North Carolina border and a number of state and county roads. It can get a bit smoky at times giving us some "low air quality", as they say.

In North Carolina the two largest fires are in the Green River Gorge and another on the lower Green River, very popular paddling areas. The hurricane damage and flooding was severe in that area. Downed trees, washed out roads and impassable trails are hampering the fire fighting efforts there. I am not sure that the river will be accessible or paddleable this summer; that will be a major blow to the economy of that county.

 

[Punkinhead]

On the way home from Seneca, SC on Sunday we were on I40 along the Pigeon River in NC. I knew Helene was a disaster, but it's amazing how much of I40 was swept away. And the Pigeon is at the bottom of a deep canyon well below the road.

 

[SouthernKevlar]

On the way home from Seneca, SC on Sunday we were on I40 along the Pigeon River in NC. I knew Helene was a disaster, but it's amazing how much of I40 was swept away. And the Pigeon is at the bottom of a deep canyon well below the road.

And now parts of the I-40 are in the river; they hope to have it restored in 2026 or 2027.

If you had gone north on I-26 from Asheville, you could see where the Nolichucky River in Tennessee took out an Interstate bridge going that way. They have now got one lane in each direction open.

 

[clemency]

I've got friends just over the NC line from SC's Table Rock State Park. They've got bugout bags in the car and are keeping the pets close at hand. My son is leading an Outward Bound course near NC's Table Rock. He's getting daily updates from the mothership, and also has contingency plans in place (though all looks good in his neck of the woods).

Living in New England I don't worry about wildfires much. But the NC mountains are a temperate rainforest and yet are still on fire, so I'm rethinking that.