Christmas

This was an extended weekend for me. I had Thursday through Sunday off. I had been looking forward to it for two weeks! I am very glad the Holidays are just about done! I am so tired of spending money! I was beginning to think my wallet and bank acct had holes in them with plumbing directly attached to stores! Hopefully now we can go back to saving and replace what we spent on each other!

Thursday, I went and met some friends on the Upper Green. I was so shocked to still see snow! There was lots of it. Some of the secondary roads were still covered in the shadowy places! Galimore Rd., which leads down to the parking lot was still mostly covered. The parking lot did not have a single spec of gravel showing! We all talked about how to run shuttle because apperently someone had seen that the put-in was not plowed and the plow trucks had blocked the entrance with a large pile of ice and snow. We all piled into two vehicles and headed for Pot Shoals Rd.
Once we all got unloaded we were able to park the cars with out needing to run a second shuttle. We all proceeded down the river and had a great run! The weather was beautiful!

Snowy Weekend

This weekend was a blast! It was filled with fun and new experiences. I kayaked both days and Saturday did a new river. So let me get into the details of this weekend.

Thursday evening the temp started dropping and clouds moved in. The weather guys were calling for a chance of snow, here in Greenville, SC, and were looking at a really good chance of accumulation for the mountains of NC. So we all get up Friday morning to find out the Hendersonville, NC store was closed and they were still getting snow all day. We, unfortunately, didn't get a dusting. We saw some flakes occasionally, and lots of sleet. So later that night when Ashley, I , and some friends all went out for dinner and Christmas shopping the roads were fine. It actually warmed up a degree or two after the sun went down.

Saturday, I had plans to paddle the Tyger, in Spartanburg, SC, with some guys from Columbia, SC. At 8am one of them called me and cancelled, due to the temperature. So I called around and made plans to try and get into Green River cove. I figured since we didn't get any snow down here, they probably didn't get socked in. That was my first mistake. So I get a few guys lined up to meet me in Columbus and go paddle the lower Green and see the snow. I loaded up my gear into my pick-up truck and got under way. I took Hwy 25 up the mountain and just before I got to Hwy 11 the snow had started to stick a little and there was some in the ditches. As I passed Hwy 11 there was about an inch covering everything. (as you can see by this photo)

So I continue my journey up the mountain and as I go the snow gets deeper and deeper. By the time I pass the state line into NC I am looking at about 4" of snow on the ground. (as you can see here)

So, we all finally make it to Columbus, NC and realize the state has not plowed anything but the Interstate and the major Hwy's. So there is no way in the cove. I made the mistake of bringing the pick-up rather than bringing the Jeep. Had I taken the Jeep, I probably could have gotten everyone in and made it into the cove. Oh well. We all met in front of the park just down from Brick and threw snow balls and made a new plan.

We decided, after much deliberation, that we would drive back down out of the snow and go paddle the Middle Saluda. I had not run this section before. So I was rather excited. I like running new stuff and I also like the mountain creek style paddling, which is what they told me this would be. So we all followed each-other over to Cleveland, SC and changed clothes at the F-mart. We set up the shuttle and were in the water by 1pm. This run is very interesting. It has some nice medium sized drops, some boulder garden areas, and some flat water, with farmer's fields coming up the banks. I really liked it. After we got off the river and had a beer, we went down into Traveler's Rest and hung out in Sunrift for a while. I bought two new hats and a 2-pack of wool socks. Before leaving, Jake and I made plans for Sunday to try again to get into the cove. I told him I would be bringing the Jeep and I would get us in weather they plowed or not.

Sunday, Jake and I had made plans to meet up in Columbus, NC again. Then Rick said he was in and would meet us there too. So we all get there about 11am and start the trek into the cove. They have plowed the secondary roads about 1 lane wide, so everyone was able to get down to the take-out. Rick and Jake ran their vehicles up on to the snow bank so they were off the plowed path. We loaded their boats onto the Jeep and figured we could push their vehicles back onto the road when we got off the river. So we headed up towards Fishtop and stopped at Fred's. He had his new bood stove glowing and fresh pork chops cooking in a pan on top! He offered us some, but we declined since we all had eaten just before meeting in Columbus. We told what we were doing and he said he would join us once we got down to his place via the river. Then we headed on up to Fishtop.

Once at Fishtop, we were really about to start the fun! None of us had done a snow paddle before so we were all really excited. The parking lot had about 6" of snow laying on it, and so did everything else. Rick and Jake carried their boats down the trail but I opted to use mine as a sled and got in and slid down the hill to the creek. We all forded the creek with out incident. There is normally a large sand hill that you walk down and get in to your boat next to water. Today, it was covered in 6" of snow. So we got in our boats at the top of the hill and really SEAL launched! We played in eddies and paddled our way down to Superman's Rock. There I decided to hike my boat up the trail and sled down using the river bank's new 16" drop off as a launch ramp. This turned out to be one of the best play spots of the day! Rick, Jake, and I all did this several times. We then paddled on down to Fred's and he joined us. WE had a good time the rest of the way down the river enjoying the beauty of the snow and the peacefulness of the river. We were all quiet for the better part of the trip. It was very nice. When we got down to the 2nd bridge, Rick and I had scouted the long steps that make up the Tubing take-out. They go down about 40' and are carved into the side of the hill. Rick and I hiked up it and Rick decided to be the test pilot for this slide. He did just fine and so I went down! This was the best part of the day!! Rick and I both ran it twice and wow! It was soo fast!

Well, thanks for reading about my weekend.

So, I am so glad to get the chance to write again. It has been a while. Ashley is doing great. I have been trying to get to this for a while. I have several runs to tell you about and things to mention. I guess I will list these kind of differently from the rest of my blogs but here is!

Hominy Creek: This is kind of fun! Very narrow, hard to get in! The water was at a good level and there were no strainers that had to be portaged. It was a class II at best, so anyone that says its bigger than that is crazy! Lots of flat water.

Enoree River: Great run, really close to home. Rain dependant. Very fun. The first dam that you come too is pretty big! I let the cold and my nerves get to me and walked it. I am not really good with first descents. I let my nerves get to me! Not too big of a deal though. I will get it next trip. There is rebar and huge bolts sticking up from the bottom just past this dam. At levels a little higher they could really present a problem.

Thanksgiving: We had a good time with Glen, Pam, and Bethany. Ashley worked the morning shift and we spent the afternoon with them. The rest of the weekend Ashley worked and I paddled.

The weekend of the 5th: We spent a ton of money, but had a great time. We went out with friends for dinner and after-dinner drinks. Then ended up at a strip club and closed the place down! I am sure you can imagine the money spent!

This last weekend: I paddled both days, had a swim, and did a new river. All in all a good weekend.

Holidays

There has been so much going on I have not had time to write! Did some paddling over the holiday weekend and added it to the list but other than that, I have not had time to think about writing. I will try to catch you up to date later this week. I have a Halestorm concert tonight at the Handlebar. Hopefully, should be able to catch you up and tell you about the concert Thursday or Friday!