09.02.08
A Long Day on the Ocoee, but worth every minute! (h2 part 3)
Larry and Christina were able to join us for our last day of paddling on the Ocoee. We’d heard a few horror stories about a certain rapid on this river so a few of us were a bit anxious but Larry, Christina and Pat knew the river very well and were really great about leading us down and giving us all the scoop on each rapid. Most of us put on just below Grumpies but there were plenty of more rapids to come. Our biggest problem was having to wait for all the rafts and there seemed to be a thousand. Each rapid had big bouncy water with a few fun moves to make while making our way down… Diana had a few run ins with a squirt boat and raft but being the rolling master she is was able to roll over the squirt boater and get out from underneath the raft with little effort.
Throughout the day we had a few rolls here or there (nothing like going through the biggest waves of the day backwards!) We took our time and played a bit where we could sneak in but mostly we just had fun going down the many rapids. Near the end of the river we came up on Hellhole, a steep surfing wave. We were impressed when bob hopped in and got in a great surf 
i think everyone had a great day and really enjoyed this river. The scenery was beautiful, we had great people leading us through tricky rapids and all of us felt this might have been the best river we’d ever run… we’ll most definitely be back!!! We ended the night with a yummy mexican dinner in a nearby town whcih included the quickest visit to Georgia ever (Bob had never been). Finishing the night with our usual drive home and trek up to the cabin and quickly going to bed due to the late hour.
Our last morning in NC was a bit more mellow as we had a long drive ahead of us. We scouted out a park and play spot just outside of Sylva where we encountered some really pretty butterflies along the tuck river. We decided not to paddle so we could get home at a somewhat decent hour. The drive home went pretty quickly by playing whitewater jeopardy and passing the honest ball around the car
A Big thanks go out to all who came along – there’s really nothing like a great weekend of great whitewater paddling with a super group of people! Here’s hoping i can get down there again…