Whitewater Rafting................

[BigPoppa]

Soooo.........I went WWR today for the first time. And I think I love it.

Went down the Middle Ocoee with a guide company. Now I think I want to buy my own gear, maybe take a class, do different rivers, etc.

Anybody on here a WWR aficionado ?

Any "tips...pointers...ad - vice..." ? (We Are Marshall)

[Guest bkelm18]

I've been WWR once on a river in CA. It was like an 8 hr, 11 mile trip. It was awesome.

[Im Neero]

I've rafted the Ocoee a couple of times, probably will again later this summer. It's loads of fun.

[Guest dotsun]

I've been down the Nantahala over in NC a few times, absolute blast. My tip of the day is if you hear banjo music, paddle faster.

[BigPoppa]

I've been down the Nantahala over in NC a few times, absolute blast.

Looks like the "Nanny" will be next for me. August, maybe.

As for the banjer music........I'll be out before the sun sets.

[Guest dotsun]

I hear it's not as exciting as the Ocoee, but you don't need a guide. We usually stay at a campground over there that gives you a raft and does the drop off and pick up.

[Marswolf]

I've done the Nantahala in a 2-man canoe. Never been rafting at all but have been offered a job with a rafting company. That was years ago Nantahala Outdoor Center now owns that operation on the Nolochucky, out of Erwin.

One story about rafting on the Chucky. I was out running around one weekend with a drinking buddy and we decided to go over to Erwin and check out the rafting center. To get there, you have to drive under a railroad trestle that is right by the water's edge. When we got to that point, the water was over the roadway and there were a bunch of people parked there who had taken out their personally owned rafts.

One guy was obviously upset. He came over and asked if I wanted his raft. He didn't want to sell it. He was giving it away! Said he had been upstream when they heard thunder up on the mountain. Next thing he knew there was a wall of water coming for them. Making it out alive, he wanted nothing more to do with rafting. I talked him into keeping his raft.

Some parts of the Chucky can go from a Class II to a Class IV in seconds. Pick your day.

[Guest GUTTERbOY]

I did the Ocoee with my dad and my uncles about eight years ago. Lots of fun- in fact, we ought to go again, especially now that I live substantially closer to there.

[Guest Centennial]

The Ocoee is great fun. I also enjoy rafting or tubing the Hiwassee for a more relaxing time.

[deerslayer]

We did the upper and lower Ocoee last year. It was loads of fun--we even got to see a guy break his leg at the Olympic section.

[analog_kidd]

I am a lifelong whitewater kayaker, and spend a lot of time on the Ocoee. The Upper Olympic section is definitely a blast. I prefer it to the middle section, because of it's technicality.

The Nantahala is very tame compared to the Ocoee. But, they let you take out the raft all by yourselves with no guide, and that can be a lot of fun. Just be prepared to hit a lot of rocks and get stuck. Go with a fun group of people who don't care about getting stuck, and you'll have a great time.

If you want to kick it up a few notches, look into the Cheoah River. It is close to the Nantahala, near Robbinsville NC. In fact several of the Nantahala raft companies offer trips down it. If you thing the Ocoee is exciting, you'll be completely out of adrenaline by the end of this trip. It is the biggest thing in the Southeast. Unfortunately, it is a dammed river, and TVA has to open the gates for the river to flow. So, we only get about 20 or so days of boating on it. The next scheduled release is in teh fall sometime.

Getting your own stuff can be very expensive for rafting. If your up for it, I'd recommend looking into kayaking. You can take them places that rafts will never go, and the gear is less expensive. You can probably get a complete setup used for under $800. A raft rig is going to cost more than double that.

Have fun!

[Guest SUNTZU]

I took my fat carcass down the french broad in Hot Springs using this...

http://tinyurl.com/3qexgh

I was extremely surprised that I made it to the bottom of the class IV parts. I was wide eyed on some of the falls, especially when I first found out I was going over them. At the end of the day, the hardest part was getting out of the kayak.

P.S. My girlfriend thinks that she can go down the Olympic section of the Ocoee with an inflatable Sea Eagle kayak. Can someone send me pictures of what this looks like, I really don't want her to die doing something stupid. Thanks.

[analog_kidd]

I was on the Ocoee once when some punk and his girlfriend took a couple of those down the river, only they were the Walmart specials you'd find in Sporting Goods. Anyway, a couple of rapids down and the girlfriend was so freaked out that she was shaking uncontrollably. even so. the boyfriend was still trying to get her to continue on. They were all over the place on the river and had absolutely no business being there.

Some time later that day, I found a bag floating by. I snagged it and looked inside, found some keys and ID. I looked up river and there is the guy standing on the rocks, franticly searching for his bag. The big doofus is looking up-river, like the bag is going to float back upstream. I finally got his attention and showed him the bag and he ran down the bank toward me. I guess he lost his raft too.

Anyway, just to have a little fun with him, I moved his keys and ID to a different pocket, and left the original one unzipped. It took him 10 minutes of freaking out, thinking he lost his only keys, before he thought to looking in the other pocket. I'm so mean .

I told him he should find a new hobby, and paddled off.