8/21/2004 Duckies On the Ledges
I woke up Saturday morning glad to be off from work and getting to paddle. With 2 Chota trips happening, I was debating between the Ocoee and the Big Pigeon w/ Robin Ballard (Who doesn't love to paddle w/ Robin!). I completed my morning ritual of going to the computer and checking the America Whitewater Tennessee gauges page to see what's running. I smile as I see the Tellico went over 2ft last night! Not a lot of water, but enough for a decent run. James Cornett soon calls, and upon hearing the Tellico is running, its obvious that was where we were going. The Ocoee and Big Pigeon are both a lot of fun, but with lots of people, and are dam released. Lets just say there is just something about free-flowing water that seems to sooth the soul. James and I usually run what they call the Ranger station run. From the big parking lot downstream of Jared's Knee to Hwy 168. It is a wonderful creek run w/ easy class III's that tend to be forgiving. The scenery is spectacular! The run is completely roadside. Only an hours drive from West Knoxville. You can see why it has become one of my favorite runs.
I met James Cornett at the bridge where we normally take-out, gathered all our gear, and headed for the put-in. The fact that there was not alot of rain the day before and the ground was not saturated meant the Tellico was falling fast. I'm guessing it was about 1.7 when we arrived at the put-in. A low run, but still enough water to be glad we had made the right decision to paddle here. I proceeded pumping up my boat, yes pumping up my boat! Both James and I (Kristi refers to us as the James Gang) paddle Aire inflatables. These are high quality inflatable kayaks capable of running Class 5 water. Please don't try to take your Sevlor, or Marlboro boat on this river! If a ducky may be of interest (wives of paddlers smile as opposed to cry in other craft) I'll be happy to show you what to look for. Anyway, as I was pumping I noticed Cornett talking to someone out of the corner of my eye. When I looked up, I noticed he was talking to Doug Klaras and Renee Harwell. They had just gotten done with a run of the Upper Tellico commonly referred to as The Ledges. The Upper Tellico is visually impressive. Its maximum gradient drops 160 feet/mile! That may be nothing to many hair boaters who run things almost 4 times that steep, but to mere mortals the Tellico looks steep. If you have never seen this run, I encourage you to take a look sometime. As I paddle 50-75 times a year I have felt I have had the skill to do this run for some time now, but never the guts! It wasn't so much the 15 foot drop at Baby Falls as it is the 20 feet over several yards it drops down the sharp slides at Diaper Wiper directly below, and Jared's Knee. Even really good class 5 boaters give Jared's Knee its respect! I had given up an opportunity the year before to run the Ledges with lots of safety, including the legendary Bailey Johnson and a bunch of Chotans, but fear kept me off the water!
As we are chit chatting with Doug and Renee, up pulls Chotas tour de force of hair Boaters. Nick Barron, Kirk Eddleman, Jason Purcell, Carl Keaney, and a couple more I forget their names, sorry! Kirk jumps out of the car saying to me "You gotta do it, you gotta do it!, The level is perfect, and there's plenty of people" I quickly shook my head no. He proceed 2 or three more times, till I replied what will James Cornett do? Then I said something that in hind sight seemed very foolish. “If James will go, I'll go”! Being the fact that James Cornett is a "Good ole Boy" from Lenoir City, it took about thirty seconds for them to convince him to go. So now we were all heading for a run on the Upper Tellico Ledges. I need to point out that Kirk would never try to get someone to paddle something they are not ready for. He has quite a reputation for running lots of thing at lots of levels, but is one of the safest boaters I've had the pleasure to paddle with, and a real asset to the whitewater community.
The butterflies that haunted my stomach for first few years of paddling we back! I found out later that day that Renee was planning to head back to Knoxville after her 1st run, but had to see duckies on the ledges! I guess she hoped to see something out of LVM. The plan was simple. James Cornett followed Doug Klaras, and I followed Kirk. Plenty of Class 5 safety boaters everywhere. If we were to do something foolish, there would be plenty of help available. My butterflies disappeared as we put on the water. We eddied out above 1st ledge and boatscouted exactly where we needed to go. James & I easily hit our line and made the plunge. The first ledge is only 6 feet, and I wasn't too worried about that as I had gone over a six foot ledge before, but never an 8ft of 15ft that we coming up! The second major rapid was Dirty S. Doug ran the typical high water line of left to right avoiding the hole at bottom. Kirk said we were going to run a different way. Just then James them got hung up in the shallow entrance, but ended up getting down just fine. I followed Kirk through the hero route, which really isn't big at this low level. The 8 foot ledge was next. James went ahead of me, and I remember asking Carl who I could see below in eddy if James made it. After seeing his affirmation, I nailed the line right line. I must of been leaning really far back because my ducky skipped of the top of the water when I landed! Those were good warm-ups but the section w/ Cry Baby in the falls in to Diaper Wiaper wasn't far ahead, and I knew that would be the real test of me and my “rubber ducky”. We went through some easy class 2 creek shallow water and approached Cry Baby. Cry Baby was a breeze and now we are in an eddy on river right about 15 yards above Baby Falls. All you can see is that in 5 yards the river goes over a 2 foot ledge then you see the horizon behind it. This is one of those eddys where if you don't trust the person your with you might get out! I made Carl set a rope at the bottom of the falls. James ran first and was upright and in the eddy below. Kirk gave that smile you always see before something fun is coming, than shot out and over the falls. I pulled out fully stroking hit the first ledge and lined up where I wanted to. It was over, I was upright, I wasn't getting pushed downstream and just a couple of strokes from the eddy! I really thought there would be more to it. Once in the eddy, I realized how big my smile was! James was so impressed that he had to run it again! Diaper Wiper was pretty easy, as for everything else down to the Knee! Jared's Knee is a series of four ledges over about 50 yards with the last ledge having some undercuts. The first 2 were easy class III-'s. The last 2 are harder to explain, but Kirk and Doug did a great job of explaining to us. I ran the last drop backwards, and James ran too far right (When you tell James far right on something serious, he takes it literally) and got hung up in shallow water, but then easily pulled through.
We had finally made it! I was so glad Kirk encouraged me to do it! It has opened up many other runs I had not considered before now. James & I thanked everyone for the great time and continued down the river, running what we had originally planned to. The rest of them went for a second run. We scraped down the river now at 1.5 low, real low. The Middle seemed to lose a little bit of its appeal, but was an enjoyable run. A great day on the river!
I woke up Saturday morning glad to be off from work and getting to paddle. With 2 Chota trips happening, I was debating between the Ocoee and the Big Pigeon w/ Robin Ballard (Who doesn't love to paddle w/ Robin!). I completed my morning ritual of going to the computer and checking the America Whitewater Tennessee gauges page to see what's running. I smile as I see the Tellico went over 2ft last night! Not a lot of water, but enough for a decent run. James Cornett soon calls, and upon hearing the Tellico is running, its obvious that was where we were going. The Ocoee and Big Pigeon are both a lot of fun, but with lots of people, and are dam released. Lets just say there is just something about free-flowing water that seems to sooth the soul. James and I usually run what they call the Ranger station run. From the big parking lot downstream of Jared's Knee to Hwy 168. It is a wonderful creek run w/ easy class III's that tend to be forgiving. The scenery is spectacular! The run is completely roadside. Only an hours drive from West Knoxville. You can see why it has become one of my favorite runs.
I met James Cornett at the bridge where we normally take-out, gathered all our gear, and headed for the put-in. The fact that there was not alot of rain the day before and the ground was not saturated meant the Tellico was falling fast. I'm guessing it was about 1.7 when we arrived at the put-in. A low run, but still enough water to be glad we had made the right decision to paddle here. I proceeded pumping up my boat, yes pumping up my boat! Both James and I (Kristi refers to us as the James Gang) paddle Aire inflatables. These are high quality inflatable kayaks capable of running Class 5 water. Please don't try to take your Sevlor, or Marlboro boat on this river! If a ducky may be of interest (wives of paddlers smile as opposed to cry in other craft) I'll be happy to show you what to look for. Anyway, as I was pumping I noticed Cornett talking to someone out of the corner of my eye. When I looked up, I noticed he was talking to Doug Klaras and Renee Harwell. They had just gotten done with a run of the Upper Tellico commonly referred to as The Ledges. The Upper Tellico is visually impressive. Its maximum gradient drops 160 feet/mile! That may be nothing to many hair boaters who run things almost 4 times that steep, but to mere mortals the Tellico looks steep. If you have never seen this run, I encourage you to take a look sometime. As I paddle 50-75 times a year I have felt I have had the skill to do this run for some time now, but never the guts! It wasn't so much the 15 foot drop at Baby Falls as it is the 20 feet over several yards it drops down the sharp slides at Diaper Wiper directly below, and Jared's Knee. Even really good class 5 boaters give Jared's Knee its respect! I had given up an opportunity the year before to run the Ledges with lots of safety, including the legendary Bailey Johnson and a bunch of Chotans, but fear kept me off the water!
As we are chit chatting with Doug and Renee, up pulls Chotas tour de force of hair Boaters. Nick Barron, Kirk Eddleman, Jason Purcell, Carl Keaney, and a couple more I forget their names, sorry! Kirk jumps out of the car saying to me "You gotta do it, you gotta do it!, The level is perfect, and there's plenty of people" I quickly shook my head no. He proceed 2 or three more times, till I replied what will James Cornett do? Then I said something that in hind sight seemed very foolish. “If James will go, I'll go”! Being the fact that James Cornett is a "Good ole Boy" from Lenoir City, it took about thirty seconds for them to convince him to go. So now we were all heading for a run on the Upper Tellico Ledges. I need to point out that Kirk would never try to get someone to paddle something they are not ready for. He has quite a reputation for running lots of thing at lots of levels, but is one of the safest boaters I've had the pleasure to paddle with, and a real asset to the whitewater community.
The butterflies that haunted my stomach for first few years of paddling we back! I found out later that day that Renee was planning to head back to Knoxville after her 1st run, but had to see duckies on the ledges! I guess she hoped to see something out of LVM. The plan was simple. James Cornett followed Doug Klaras, and I followed Kirk. Plenty of Class 5 safety boaters everywhere. If we were to do something foolish, there would be plenty of help available. My butterflies disappeared as we put on the water. We eddied out above 1st ledge and boatscouted exactly where we needed to go. James & I easily hit our line and made the plunge. The first ledge is only 6 feet, and I wasn't too worried about that as I had gone over a six foot ledge before, but never an 8ft of 15ft that we coming up! The second major rapid was Dirty S. Doug ran the typical high water line of left to right avoiding the hole at bottom. Kirk said we were going to run a different way. Just then James them got hung up in the shallow entrance, but ended up getting down just fine. I followed Kirk through the hero route, which really isn't big at this low level. The 8 foot ledge was next. James went ahead of me, and I remember asking Carl who I could see below in eddy if James made it. After seeing his affirmation, I nailed the line right line. I must of been leaning really far back because my ducky skipped of the top of the water when I landed! Those were good warm-ups but the section w/ Cry Baby in the falls in to Diaper Wiaper wasn't far ahead, and I knew that would be the real test of me and my “rubber ducky”. We went through some easy class 2 creek shallow water and approached Cry Baby. Cry Baby was a breeze and now we are in an eddy on river right about 15 yards above Baby Falls. All you can see is that in 5 yards the river goes over a 2 foot ledge then you see the horizon behind it. This is one of those eddys where if you don't trust the person your with you might get out! I made Carl set a rope at the bottom of the falls. James ran first and was upright and in the eddy below. Kirk gave that smile you always see before something fun is coming, than shot out and over the falls. I pulled out fully stroking hit the first ledge and lined up where I wanted to. It was over, I was upright, I wasn't getting pushed downstream and just a couple of strokes from the eddy! I really thought there would be more to it. Once in the eddy, I realized how big my smile was! James was so impressed that he had to run it again! Diaper Wiper was pretty easy, as for everything else down to the Knee! Jared's Knee is a series of four ledges over about 50 yards with the last ledge having some undercuts. The first 2 were easy class III-'s. The last 2 are harder to explain, but Kirk and Doug did a great job of explaining to us. I ran the last drop backwards, and James ran too far right (When you tell James far right on something serious, he takes it literally) and got hung up in shallow water, but then easily pulled through.
We had finally made it! I was so glad Kirk encouraged me to do it! It has opened up many other runs I had not considered before now. James & I thanked everyone for the great time and continued down the river, running what we had originally planned to. The rest of them went for a second run. We scraped down the river now at 1.5 low, real low. The Middle seemed to lose a little bit of its appeal, but was an enjoyable run. A great day on the river!