Christmas 2011

So this year, I got the opportunity to ride with my parents up to PA.  I talked to my boss to get the time off and once it was okayed by him, the plan was set in stone.  I got my backpack packed up Wednesday evening and Thursday after work I started the drive to Darlington.  I met up with Mom and Dad at their house and had dinner.  Around 8pm the decision was made to make the drive that night so that we could avoid the traffic on Friday.  So we packed up the rental car and headed north at 8:45pm.

The ride was nice.  Mom and Dad rented a new Buick LaCrosse.  The car is very nice.  We stopped a few times for the parents to stretch and Dad to take a short nap.  Dad ended up driving the entire trip.  I was rested nicely from sleeping in the car and so I spent the day catching up with my brother and his  family.   The day was nice and that evening I went to help my Mom and Grandmother with the cleaning business.  It did not take too long and we went shopping afterwards.  I bought the kids Christmas gifts and we headed back to the house.

Saturday, I slept in.  I got up and had breakfast.  We all spent the morning socializing.  Around lunch time, I went to Clarion with Jeff, Kyra, and Dad to shop for Mom.  Dad needed to pick up a few things for her.  I went just to get out for a few.  I ordered Melissa's Christmas present before we left the house.  so I was good with my shopping list.  I had a nice time out with them and we stopped for a snack at Arby's.

Sunday morning we did Christmas here at my Grandparents.  After breakfast we headed for Kendra's and did Christmas again there after having a huge lunch.  I over-ate and was sick the rest of the afternoon.  I made plans with Beau to take Jonathan four wheeler riding on Tuesday.  Dad decided to let Kendra shoot his .380 auto and so the whole group went outside to fire off a few rounds.  It was pretty cool.  Very funny!!

Monday morning Dad and I drove to Ridgeway to pick up Michaela and Jonathan.  Lisa and Amy drove them down to us and were nice.  Last time I saw them, they barely spoke to me.  They were much better this time.  We sat in the parking lot with them for about a half hour and talked with them about their new technology they got for Christmas.  they were so excited about their new phones.

Monday night I decided to take Michaela out for us to have some time together.  I took her to a movie and out for dessert.  We went to see Alvin and the Chipmunks in Clarion and then went across the street to the AppleBee's.  We sat at the bar and talked to new people.  I showed her that not everyone is a stranger. We had a good time.

Today, I took Jonothan to Kendra's and we woke Beau up.  After discussing bikes and 4-wheelers for a while we headed out into the rain and got riding.  We didn't go far but the weather was bad.  We went up on the shale hill and rode for an hour.  Jonothan had a blast and said he was looking forward to doing it again!  I am glad that I took the time to spend with each one of the kids alone.  They need it and I have not done enough of it.  I made plans to take them back to meet Erin tomorrow at 3pm. 

We have not devised a plan for tomorrow yet, but I will post a part 2 to this blog when I get home!  It has been well worth the trip and time off!  I am very happy I came up!!

Twelve Mile River

I need to preface this with the fact that I never ran any part of this before they removed the dams! I have heard for years how this was going to be a great run and how the gradient should allow for some nice rapids. I have driven past the up-river section of theis run and never really gave a lot of thought to it. Well I have news for ya. We are in luck! This is a gem!! As near as I can tell this is a Big Laurel style run right here in our back yards!!



So a group of six of us decided it would be fun to go at low water, 76cfs, and check out the new run that has just been created since the removal of two dams. We met at the Waffle house in Easley, which is at the intersection of Hwy 123 and Hwy 135 for those who need to know that kind of thing. We had a nice brunch and got all reaquianted. It seems like forever since I have seen all the guys!! Once we ate we got a plan together for getting to the river. We still ended up stopping once and verifying the plan! LoL



We went straight to the put in on Hwy 137. The put in is a bridge with moderate parking on the upstream side of the river before you cross the bridge. There is a gate that leads to the northern dam, please do not block this when parking here. If you hike about an eighth of a mile up the gravel road you can put in below the dam. This requires walking around the back of the dam control house and shuffling down a small rock wall but you get to paddle and extra rapid. For the faint of heart, it is a nice seal launch right down in to the water at the bridge from the parking lot!



Once you put in there are some nice small shoals around the corner and then the river begins to go into a gorge. The gorge is small and could also be related to as a valley. You go through some nice shoals and shortly after you will come the location of the old dam at Catachee. Here is your first major rapid and there is some really nice gradient here. There is excellent scenery to river left where the mill was constructed and there is a really cool old log cabin still in really good condition. Once you get throught this rapid there is a nice 2-3 foot ledge that at higher water could present a ledge hole thatI could see being pretty significant.



After passing the Catachee Mill rapid, it really gorges up and constricts down. The river picks up speed through the next half mile or so and there are some really good boulder gardens through this section. One of the significant things about this area is the sediment deposits and makes on the gorge walls from where the lake level was. There are no trees and the sand is layered. You can still see where the water flashed up and receded quite quickly. Just before you come to the location of the last dam demolition site you will encounter a very neat rapid. This rapid is very narrow and the rocks are quite sharp. Here you just follow the river down through the main channel, but it is very similar to Stair Step on Big Laurel. Very fun!



The last rapid is a boulder garden and long set of shoals where the last dam was located. This will have a lot of holes in it as the water level goes up. Very fun. There is a visual gauge painted on the old dam control building and is listed in feet and inches. It is painted in blue and the low water area is almost all gone. However, at 76cfs we could make out that we were right at 0" and I suspect that the run should be very fun around 1' or more.  I am planning to watch the gauge and try to catch it between 150-200cfs.  I will post this info on this site along with on the comments section on AW. 

Go check this run out and report your runs to AW and BoaterTalk.  This is a jewel that just got bestowed on us here in the upstate!!