Paddlin’ Ed

Heavy rains in areas up just into Va. during the last 24 hours pumped a couple of inches of rain in some areas, one of these being the watershed for the North Fork of the Mayo. So on New Years Eve, Monday December 31 we had plenty of flow in this local stream. That morning I met up with a conglomeration of paddlers from SRVCC, TRR, and CCC clubs who had networked via internet the night before to meet up for the run.

The flow this particular morning had dropped some over night but was still quite strong for this river at 800+ cfs or around 2.75′ on usgs gauges. While it dropped some during the day we still finished late afternoon with a flow of 600+ cfs or 2.34′. It was a beautiful day with clear blue skys and fairly decent temps into the high 50′s – low 60′s for this time of year. While we had to dress warm, in winter gear the trip was quite comfortable with great flow.

In our group was Bob k-1 & Joann both in- k1, James C. oc1, Trent oc1, Bob M. OC-1, Connie 2 – oc1, Woody oc1, David c1, Ann oc1, myself (paddlin-ed) in oc1. I had decided since the temps where pretty nice and the it was a sunny bright day with good water locally I would break out the open canoe and get a little OC-1 time in.

Well we geared up and dressed out and shuttled across the NC/VA line a short ways to the put in, dropped boats and put on. Everyone was really up for the run and glad to be out on the river. We where quickly off on our run down river, stopping at some of the normally small ledges/hydraulics which today with the flow serveral times normal where now nice play spots to surf and play. I took some turns in most of them. This was the 1st time I had paddled along with Bob M. and Connie with them in OC-1′s, I had paddled OC-1 for years before taking up kayak and was paddling OC-1 in years past when they took up paddling in kayaks originally, so it was interesting to see them doing open canoe. Ann, who was along in OC-1 and pretty good was a new acquaintance on this trip and nice to paddle with.

On down stream at the 1s big ledge which some refer to as an s-turn rapid as normally it has to be run far left, over some small drops and weaving through the passage through chutes and stroking to pull through and around rocks in the stream bed. Most everybody worked through ok, a few got caught up on the rocks for a few moment and scoohed off, Ann came through and got rolled over, but did a magnificent job of hanging, bracing, and then rolling back up to finish up right and on line. Connie came off a ledge and had an altercation with rock below and held a brief meditation and immersion session, quickly gathering up her wayward conveyance and resuming her position upon her OC-1 saddle.

From there we all worked our way down playing various ledges along the way and stopping at what some call sliding board rapid or ledge for a bit and brief stretch. Upon resuming our paddling positions, I opted down the left chute of the ledge, clipping the small eddy behind the ledge up high to stay high and run down through the eddy platform below and avoid being wash sideways into the hole far left below. Ann pretty much followed my line. Connie and Bob M. demo’ed doing the center ledge, with Connie show some interesting technique a bit far right and having to scooh off almost sideways. One or two ran line far right through the hydralic and hole. At the bottom several of us played and surfed a bit in the hydraulics and hole below the ledge.

Well we all played on down to the confluence with the south fork into the “mayo” proper just above Anglin Mill Bridge. There where plenty of opportunities for alternate lines working down all the ledges above the bridge with the high flow. Below the bridge we ran down to just above the “Boiling Hole” drop/ledge on the far left bank. A few opted off just above the ledge, Trent went down and set up with his camera, and we all took turns running the drop. I lead off followed by Ann who had asked to follow my line, we both landed in the left eddy beside the boiling hole and watched as the others dropped down. Most everyone got down ok with only minimal carnage.

From there we headed down to the dog-leg, a series of stacked ledges from left bank to right of center with some complex openings over on the right bank. The fun here is to work the ledges on the left and run out around a “dog-leg” turn and drop into the slot on river right executing about a 270 degree turn in the narrow necked down drop into the right slot and then miss the rock and hole below. I lead off and not having run it in a while dropped ledge to far down and had to run and alternate drop, then I pulled back up the ledges and ran again working the ledges and chute and doing the dog-leg thing. A few others worked the ledges and ran to dog-leg, most went far right and ran the cleaner line directly into the slot.

From there we all paddle over the beach just below, took off, dryed off, changed, loaded up and said good by after a great day on the river.

Paddlin-ed