We finally had one of our more local rivers available to run on Sunday. The Big South Fork was at about 2800cfs so Josh and I decided to get down there before the drought resumes. We met up with Bryon, Adam and Jason from the Vikings and ran from the confluence to the O & W Bridge. It was a great day of paddling, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else on a warm Sunday afternoon.

No problems with any of the rapids, the level was a little on the washed out side, making things easier for the most part. Josh did have a little shoulder scraping on Cheese Grater rock below The El.

Here is an account of the weekend at the Big South Fork from Barry Grimes. He details the permit situation at O&W and explains why the Big South Fork was so muddy this weekend. Link

Tags: Big South Fork

Level: 1500cfs

I ran the Big South Fork this Sunday. I drove down on Sunday morning meeting up with Adam, Bryon, Chris and Troy from the Viking Canoe Club along the way. The sun was out and the weather was great. I took my Huka out for it's first real run and it performed very well through all the rapids of the BSF.

We put on at the confluence and ran down to O&W. I ran the left side boof at Double Drop with no problems, washing machine was pretty easy at this level and on The El I was surprisingly able to keep upright all the way through it. All the rapids seemed quite manageable at this level. Might have been even more fun in my play boat since there are a lot of play spots.

It's a long day of driving to do the BSF as a day trip, but always worth it. Next time I won't forget to bring my camera either.

Pictures and video from the day.

Tags: Big South Fork

930cfs

This past weekend we camped at O&W at the Big South Fork. On Saturday Patrick, Darrin, his mom and I hiked the Honey Creek Loop. There was spectacular scenery through this hike. You can probably see it best from the pictures. That hike had us pretty tired so we saved all the kayaking for Sunday.

Ben Ballard came down on Saturday night to run the canyon with us. Darrin, Patrick, Ben and I ran it. This was Patrick's first whitewater kayaking experience and he handled it pretty well. He's got the bruised knuckles to prove it.

The weather was absolutely perfect on both days. And the Big South Fork recreational area was as beautiful as ever.

Flickr Pictures - Slideshow

Tags: Hiking | Big South Fork

Josh, Jay and I met up at the Canyon on Saturday for 2 great runs on a warm Saturday in November. Mike Goodman and Mike Brady ran the gorge and we saw them at the bridge, but other than that I was very surprised that no one else was out there paddling this day. We did have a crowd of 4-wheelers at the bridge to watch us run the last rapid of the day. The water was very cold, but it was around 65 degrees so it was a very nice day to be out there.Read More...

Tags: Big South Fork

To begin our big memorial day weekend hike of the Sheltowee Trace Justin and I got in some kayaking on the canyon section.  The level was a little higher than I thought it was at the time.  It looked very low and scrapy while running it, which it was but not as low as I had thought. In fact I have run it at a lower level before.  Jake's Ledge Hole looked bad, but it actually had a very easy line through the middle.  The left side pour over was probably good to go as well.Read More...

Tags: Hiking | Big South Fork | Sheltowee Trace

I went back to the Big South Fork on Saturday...Read More...

Tags: Big South Fork

This was our big three day adventure...Read More...

Tags: Big South Fork | Clear Fork

Take a virtual ride on the Big South Fork as we prepare for Jay's bachelor river trip. I added place markers along the route of the Clear Fork and the Big South Fork that we'll be taking.

Clear Fork & Big South Fork Google Earth Placemarks

You can also check out the river on your Google Earth application by using the preset BSF placemarks above.

Tags: Big South Fork

Big South Fork, Canyon Section

680cfs

The weather looked right. The water looked right. We were off from work, so that was looking right too. Now all we had to do was go, so we did.

On Monday Jan. 2nd 2006 Jay and I headed for the BSF. The weather was having a hard time reaching the predicted 60 degrees and in the canyon things were a little bit colder than up above. The fog was everywhere as well. But all of that just added to the mystic.

The run starts at Maria's Rock and ends with the O&W Bridge. The rapid highlights are Jake's Ledge hole and Moon Shot which is right after. I flipped in both of them. The water was freezing. Good times though.

The drive from Frankfort to the Canyon took 3 hours. Driving home took closer to 3 1/2 when huge thunderstorms began hitting Kentucky.

Tags: Big South Fork

This was taken from a post at BWA's forum:

Premium Coal Co., a coal company from Kentucky, wants to blow up Buffalo Mountain in the New River watershed. Not only will the mine destroy five intermittent streams, it will destroy the watershed on the mountain and result in a massive release of sediment into Ligias Fork.

Ligias Fork is a direct tributary of the New River, which was recently designated critical habitat for five species of endangered mussels. Mussels require pristine waters and will die if the water becomes sedimented. That means that Governor Bredesen and TDEC are about to violate the Endangered Species Act (applicable to state agencies) by issuing a permit allowing Premium Coal to murder five endangered species and annihilate their critical habitat.

Even worse, however, the New River joins with Clear Fork to become the Big South Fork, one of Tennessee's (and Kentucky's) most beautiful wild rivers and the centerpiece of the Big South Fork National Recreation Area, managed by the National Park Service. Designated an Outstanding National Resource Water by TDEC, the Big South Fork is supposed to be protected against pollution and degradation. Indeed, federal law and TDEC's own rules forbid new discharges of pollutants, including sediment, into the Big South Fork, unless the discharger can affirmatively demonstrate that the discharge will not result in degradation or pollution.

Unfortunately, however, TDEC and Gov. Bredesen have embarked upon a pattern and practice of throwing the Clean Water Act, the Tennessee Water Quality Control Act and TDEC's own rules out the window. TDEC and Bredesen have already issued illegal permits to allow the destruction of tens of thousands of feet of headwaters in the New River watershed and for the discharge of untoward amounts of sediment. In doing so, they've ignored both the plain language of the Tennessee Water Quality Control Act and the pleas of the Park Service to address the cumulative impacts of the mining in the watershed on the Big South Fork.

Premium Coal's mine will destroy even more headwaters and result in the release of even more sediment into the New River and the Big South Fork. This will cause pollution in violation of the Water Quality Control Act and degradation in violation of the Clean Water Act, the Water Quality Control Act, federal regulations and TDEC's own rules. In other words, the only way that TDEC and Bredesen can issue these permits is to flagrantly break the law.Don't let them continue to get away with it. The only way to make them stop is to speak out and tell them "No."

Tell TDEC and Bredesen that their duty is to uphold the law and protect the public and citizens' rights to unpolluted waters and to use and enjoy one of Tennessee's most beautiful wild rivers and National Recreation Areas. Come to the public hearing and stop Premium Coal Co. in its rapacious, coal grubbing tracks.

What: Public Hearing on Premium Coal Co.
When: 7 p.m., November 15, 2005
Where: Cove Lake State Park

Tags: Big South Fork | Environment

May 14th
150cfs
Clear Creek
Barnett to Jett

This past weekend at the Viking clinic was a lot of fun. All the students did very well and the ones that were in the water alot kept a great attitude about things. We had very low water in the Obed system on Saturday and ran Barnett to Jett. Needless to say, it was a long, slow day on the river, but the students in our class progressed alot even in the difficult conditions.

May 15th
575cfs
Big South Fork
Canyon Section

The second day, we went to the Big South Fork and ran the canyon section below the gorge. This is a big step up from the day before with substantially bigger rapids and much, much more flow.

Tags: Clear Creek | Big South Fork