Trip Reports '04

Your my boy Blue: The Blue River

Today's level: 2.99ft (from outfitter website)

John, Jay, Beastie and I ran a very short section of the Blue today, from the surf wave, which now I know where it is, to a pull off on the side of the road before the bridge. We should have continued on another mile to the Blue River chapel where access is very good. Well now we know the lay of the land. The run was quick, less than an hour, but the rapid was fun and it splashed the hell out of Jay. I hope to get beck and surf on that bitch real soon. 2.99ft is a great surfing level I would say. I just wonder at what point it becomes too low.
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Beach Fork Cruise: Rio Grande Prep

1500cfs

Today Jay and I ran this. It was a good trip with good flow. I thought it would have been higher since the gauge read 5600cfs 2 days prior. There were some kids camping at the put-in and we talked to a policeman who was also there. The police man paddled, he told us about some trips he had made down the Beech Fork and the Elkhorn. This may warrant expanding the Bardstown Boaters when I move back to Bardstown one day. Anyways. I ran the dam, which Jay has named the Edge Rapid, after Edgewood. The thing was rocking, scary, but after you crash through on the far right it is fun. I almost wrecked my first time, slamming into a a rock and getting sideways on it. Took a little bit of cold water, but managed to get off. The second time was cleaner, opting for a better line. Jay watched from 10 feet away. Good trip today. We must be the envy of all our friends.
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Elkhorn Running While Sick

1450cfs

Jay and I ran the Elkhorn after John backed out at the last second. John has become as bad as other wannabe boaters I know. Anyhow Jay and I still went and had a great run on a day when the waves were in and the rapids fun. But I was sick and got sicker as the day went on. I vomitted getting in my boat, again half way down river while in my boat and then one last time after driving home. Then I went to sleep for 20 hours. Still it was fun to be out there. The weather was very warm and the sun peeked out a few times. Jay had a swim at rootball. Kyle from the Vikings ran with us as well as a man named Richard from Indy. He drives 3 hours to run the Elkhorn. I admire that.

I hope there are some more warm Elkhorn days left out there.
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Beech Fork Festival 2004

festival

20cfs

Zach, John, Jay and I celebrated the spirit of the Bardstown Boaters in the annual Beech Fork festival. We canoed from Manton to the 49 bridge, fishing, drinking and chillin out along the way. We camped on the river and played spades over the fire. The water was low and we had to drag in spots, but the trip was a huge success. We'll do it up even bigger next year!
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Russell Fork Rendezvous

950cfs (release)

Bubba and I went to Elkhorn City this past weekend for the fest. We left early Saturday morning and met up with Darrin, his girlfriend and two others and ran from Flannigan Dam to Garden Hole. Good run with no swims or carnage. The run is very technical on the Russell Fork, while the Pound is easy and has lots of play. That night we did the field party, drank moonshine and go drunk. Had fun there. Day two I hiked into the Gorge section and got to see about 30 runs of El Horrindo. Pretty amazing rapid to say the least. I picked up the crew and then headed home. Awsome weekend.
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Red River Middle Section

130cfs

Jay, Sarah, Beastie and I did this section of water. They canoed, I kayaked. It is a very interesting run. Very easy flat water, with good current and scenery. Jay and Sarah flipped early on, but after that everything was good until we had to portage a mess of trees that were river wide. Overall, it is a great run. I'll head back to it when I want to teach some newbies. Will make a good training ground and has good camping.
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Cumberland Below the Falls

550cfs (falls gauge)
370cfs (williamsburg gauge)

Me and 29 other Viking Canoe Club members ran the Cumberland river. It was a great day boating. The rapids were not too hard or scary. Though they could change a lot at higher levels. Jim Gunn dislocated his shoulder on Screaming Right, playing in the hole as we left after an hour of playing in that hole. The raft company took him out. The shuttle is slow. I guess that by paddleing out you could save time and money, but be extra tired after a long 5+ miles of flat water paddling. I think the lake needs to be lower than 705' for all the rapids to be in.

Cumberland Falls - Class V-VI - Put in below here
Eagle Shoals - Class I+
No Name - Class II
Initiation - Class II
Center Rock - Class III
Bradfords Rock - Class II
Willy Nelson - Class II
Dog Slaughter - Class II
Surfers - Class II
Pinball - Class II-III (Level Dependant)
Screaming Right Hand Turn - Class III-IV (Level Dependant)
Stair Case - Class III
The Last Drop - Class III
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Elkhorn Run

271cfs

Jay, yesterday after work. The only real significance of this run is that Jay demoed a boat, an RPM, and has decided to buy it. Also of note is that though I think it I have been on the Elkhorn at lower readings than 271, I am certain that the water was lower than I have ever seen it. There was no current in the flat stretches and the rapids were pretty bare. I think I'll stick to 400cfs and above from now on.
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Kings of the Rockcastle

David Jury, John Mathews, Ryan Hamilton, Spalding Hurst

Saturday 400cfs
Sunday 275 cfs

I've had the idea of doing a two day over night boating expedition all summer long.  Well this particular weekend we decided to do it.  I chose the Rockcastle because it is a long stretch which provided time for camping and taking in the scenery of the most beautiful river in Kentucky.  The class II rapids of the lower narrows would provide some excitement for us and the new boaters.  I thought the lake level would be high and the long stretch of drops at the end would be buried under the lake.  This however was not the case.  So with the lower narrows running and the water level at a very technical 400cfs I would have to bump Sundays run up to class III.

We started out way up at Rockcastle Adventures.  We hired the guy here to run our shuttle.  They ended up locking my keys in some random car at the take out, but I got that sorted out.  There was also a large group from Bowling Green putting on about the same time as us.  So we set off at noon at Saturday.  We are paddling the two Blue Hole Canoes, the Crossfire and my Inazone.  The canoes carries all of the gear, food and beer, held in 4 dry bags and a cooler.

The first day of paddling is all flat water and class I riffles.  So no excitement, but David and Ryan got to feel out their boats.  After 9 miles of paddling, a little more than half way we decided to camp on a huge rock in the center of the river.

On day 2 we began to see some class II rapids.  David and Ryan did really good with these.  Then we came to Beech Narrows.  John ran it no problem.  I had to decide if my kayak could punch the hole that it was forming.  After attempting the run I found out I could not clear the hole.  I almost rolled out but instead washed upside down into the next rock.  I thought I might get pinned so I bailed and had my first swim this summer.  Sucks too cause I should have held on a little longer and rolled.  I would have had only one chance though cause the next rock that my boat ran into was even worse.  Good experience though.

Then we came to a whole bunch of class III stuff through the lower narrows.  This type of run would have been heaven for John and I, but after a few flips from David and Ryan they did not want to run anymore of the rapids.  So We had to continually run there boats down with no one in them, then recover them and wait for them to walk along the banks.  We made, but it was tiring and it took along time.  John also got pinned somewhere in there.  I didn't see it until right before he got his boat free cause I was up stream towing a canoe back to Ryan.

The trip was awesome.  I can't wait to go back and run the lower narrows again.  These rapids are just sitting right below the noses of a lot of Kentucky boaters it seems.  It is an easy day trip to some great whitewater when the lake level is low.

I'm just glad we got our 2 day adventure in before the summer ended.  Maybe we can squeeze one more in there.
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Beginners run on the Elkhorn

1500cfs

David, Ryan, Chris, Toby, Patrick, Jay, Spalding

We had a great turn out on Saturday for a run on the Elkhorn. This was 5 first runs on the Elkhorn and we had lots of carnage to attest to that. David swam, Ryan swam and Chris swam... more than once and more than twice. Patrick swam once and almost broke a boat. Jay went from beginner paddler to advanced rescue river runner through the course of the day. Toby just tore it up, never flipping. David lost his glasses and along with them his desire to run rivers. But we are working on changing that. Truth be told after the first 2 rapids everything got much easier for everyone and soon they all mastered the waters. Now hopefully we have a strong Bardstown Boating core ready for some more action.
Also, John and I scouted Tewell Creek near Bardstown. Turned out to be a dud of a creek and some old man told us to never return there. He'll be dead soon, but we won't be back anyways since the creek didn't pan out. We are currently exploring every body of water through Nelson County, searching for our flagship whitewater run.
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Pigeon

1200cfs
Release Level

John and I ran the Pigeon along with 13 others of the Viking Canoe Club.  It was a good run that I felt was challenging while still being pretty tame.  I started off the day flipping at the first rapid then attempting my roll 6 times before getting it.  I wasn't going to swim on the first rapid as an introduction to all the Vikings.  I combat rolled a few other times as well and in all had a great run.  Got some surfing done as well.  I do need to learn some new rolls and hopefully some roll sessions will be available to me soon.  On the hardest rapid, Lost Guide, I had a roll that really saved me.  After hitting a small slot you have to paddle hard river left to avoid some rocks.  I flipped after the slot, but quickly rolled back up and had just enough time to paddle river left.  There were two swimmers about as I did this.  No one else saw it, but I am proud of that moment.  We skipped out on the French Broad because the level was low.
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Elkhorn

280cfs  Just another day on the Elkhorn.  Jay was with me again.  We have started parking before the flat water, it really makes the trip more enjoyable.  The 4 Runner is the perfect kayaking vehicle as well.
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4th of July Elkhorn Run

Well it was actually on the 5th, but Jay and I rant the Elkhorn on Monday at 480cfs. A small bit of rain and lightening came in, but nothing too threatening.
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Beech Fork Camping and Canoeing

Finally got this thing in for the year on Friday and Saturday July 2nd and 3rd. The Beech Fork was low at 120cfs but always runnable. The rapid was too low to pass over, we had to carry over it. David Jury, David Jameson, Jay Thomas and I went. Add to that Beastie and Keiser. Great trip, I want to do this sort of trip again soon on a more sceneic river, like the Green.
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Welcome to the Elkhorn

On Saturday June 27th 2004 I took Jay down the Elkhorn for his first trip on what should be one of many more to come. We had a great run at 1000cfs. We met up with some BWA boaters and ran with them. One of them even ran the dam against the corner wall. We'll be back very soon, I'm sure of it. Maybe now Jay will be more persuaded to buy a kayak of his own now that he has seen such a great creek so close to home.
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Ocoee to the Hiwassee

Saturday, June 12th 2004

After not getting the raft down to Tennessee last year, this year we made sure to continue the tradition of rafting the Ocoee. It was the usual suspects this year with added newbies of Casey, Brandon and a couple of burg boys who had never gone whitewater rafting before. We made three trips on the river on Saturday, everyone left on Sunday. Ryan, Brandon and Casey punked out on us on Saturday and went home early. I stayed and kayaked the Hiwassee on Sunday. Casey and Chris Voit swam. River Rats was very good to us this year. After Brandon and Ryan kept everyone up all night they let us stay the next day, but they moved us under a pavilion out front. I am beginning to feel that I can run the Ocoee soon.

Sunday, June 13th 2004

The next day I went up to the Hiwassee and kayaked with Meagan and Darrin. The Hiwassee was cool easy run, which what I was looking for. Good little surf spots, side surfing and some ledge drops.
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Elkhorn Creek: after the storms

3300cfs

After work on Thursday I ran the Elkhorn. The waves were big, this is a great level for the Elkhorn. The damn was a little tight. Not much room at the portage.

In attendance:
Bubba
Megan
Darrin
Spalding
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Cheating Death on Harrods Creek

1400cfs (6 feet)
Little Goose Creek was at 89cfs

Last night John and I ran Harrods Creek.  We have been getting lots of rain and to go with it lots of storms.  Harrods Creek isn't bad to run at this high level.  It's all easy class II, but you have to watch for downed trees.  The thing is we bumped it up a level last night because we got caught in a storm while on the water.  Tornados were in the area and it was hell on the water. It starts off fine.  I can see the storm in the distance but figure we will be off the water before it gets bad.  Not long after paddling through muddy class II drops, the storm catches up with us.  Lightening is striking every where.  That was the worst part.  The Lightening.  We keep going hoping it will pass.  We come to a tree laying across the river.  We have to portage.  I am the first to re-enter my boat after the portage.  I go downstream a bit around the bend and stop and wait... and wait.  Then bam!  Lightening strikes very close.  It was incredibly loud.  I wait another second.  John still hasn't come around the corner.  I start to think he has been struck by lightening.  I jump out of my boat and run around the bend.  He hasn't been struck, but it is almost worse.  The canoe is flipped, broached and swamped.  And there is John in the water pulling on it every which way trying to get it free.  To make a long story short it didn't look like we could get it free.  But we did, using my throw rope and John's strength we got that thing out.  I'm glad we did, I don't know what we would have done otherwise.

Now the rain is coming harder.  We can't see shit.  It is dark as well.  Don't go kayaking at night kids.  And don't go kayaking in storms.  But we make to the end and don't get hit by lightening once.  Thank you Jesus!  It would seem that all the madness is over now that we are out of the water, but it is not.
Now it's raining harder, trees are falling down everywhere.  John can't see out of his car window for shit.  We head back but are blocked by a tree that has fallen across the road.  We turn around and go the long way.  The way that has little trees spread all over the roads.  Every ¼ mile we have to stop, get out, get soaked again and move trees out of the way.  We do this for an hour until we finally reach my car.  But right before we do John's headlights go out.  So now he has no headlights, and today he has no car cause thing wouldn't start this morning.
So we begin putting the boats on my car and the damn roof rack slides apart into four pieces.  So in the rain, in the dark we have to take the boats off, reconstruct the roof rack and put the boats back on.  The we slowly drove home as the storm finally began to pass.  John had to follow me closely because he had no lights.
It was a good trip, scary but good.  It was stupid to be out in the storm, but I don't watch the weather channel so how could I know that shit was coming.
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Elkhorn Creek: Why I don't golf.

On a beautiful Sunday after noon David had to sell us out on the trip because his brother was having a baby.  Besides it was his birthday so he can cancel if he wants to.  One day David will join our ranks.  But until then John and I are going strong with our river trips.  Michael and Zach joined us again, Zach got his first combat roll.  John brought a friend from work, Katie with the cool ass Jeep.  Hopefully she is down with boating now and can paddle again soon.
Water Level: 1000cfs

Great water level.   A lot of good waves at this level.   Lunch Stop is smaller, but that next wave spot is good.

Attendance:
John Mathews
Michael Mathews
Spalding Hurst
Katie Renfroe
Zach Wimsett
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Back To The Rockcastle

Jay, John and I ran the Rockcastle river on Saturday May 8 th .   The level was at 600cfs.   John ran the Beech narrows, the class IV rapid of the river.   It looked pretty scary, but John made it look easy in the Blue Hole canoe.   Check the video below and pictures in the gallery.   The trip was awesome.   The Rockcastle is a perfect river to run.   The lake was up and so the last rapids on the lower narrows were not there.   But in all we had a great river trip.   Jay got his first roll on his third time trying.   I am a good teacher I guess.   I can't wait to return.

Water level: 600cfs

Attendance:

Jay Thomas
John Mathews
Spalding Hurst
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Elkhorn Trip

The Mathews clan, Zack and Myself did a run on the Elkhorn this day.   The weather was perfect and we had a great water level.   I paddled the Crossfire because my Rpm has made it's way down to Texas with Eric Abell.   This marks the first "American" boat trip for the year and really the inaugural boat trip for the club.   It can only get better from here.

Water Level:   1330cfs

Attendance:
John Mathews
Johnny Mathews
Michael Mathews
Spalding Hurst
Zach Wimpsett
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Big Water Elkhorn

3500cfs

Don't remember this one very much. Must have ran it with Bubba.
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