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Big water on the Nantahala
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Last week in just
three days over seven inches of rain fell in the Nantahala valley
making it feel more like a tropical rainforest than the Great Smokey
Mountain Range. Every few hours the heavens opened and the rain begin
to pour. Because of the super heavy rain the river rose loads and my
training schedule had to change. Instead of my usual routine of two
freestyle sessions each day I began to mix up my water time with some
fun runs on the upper and main Nantahala. Some play sessions on what
was left of the hole. A few classic big water creeking / river runs
and even some big wave surf sessions on the new wave train that had
formed on the Nantahala falls.
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| Passers by watch as experienced paddlers run the high water falls |
As the weekend
rolled in the rivers stayed super high and we managed to get in an
interesting tree infested run down the Green River Dries and a couple
of awesome fun boof filled laps of the Big Water Creek. Then on
Saturday night we made a quick trip into Asheville. where we had
chance to celebrate the 4
th July with the local kids as
they launched a very close up and definitely unofficial firework
display, right next to us in the middle of town!!!
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Crazy climb in to the Dries
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| Jez boofs the final drop on the Dries |
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Fun Boogie runs down Big Creek
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As the week went
on the weather began to calm and the levels settle on the Nanty. It
dropped from its weekend peak high of 4,000 cfs back to a more normal
,but still high water, level of 800 cfs and the freestyle hole
returned. The big water had moved a few rocks which changed the
feature a bit but in a great way it seemed less pity and a lot more
stable after the rain. I'm not 100% sure if its just because of the
rocks moving or the water still being a little higher than normal or
wether it was just that I was beginning to dial it in, but its super
sweet at the moment.
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The Worlds hole turns into a big wave
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In between
kayaking sessions I got to experience loads of other fun activities
in the valley including mountain biking the Tsali trails, rafting the
main Nantahala run and even zip lining 1.5 miles through the
mountains. The Nantahala valley is turning into a truly awesome place
to be based to train.
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Mountain Biking
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Super Fun Ziplining through the mountains
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Everyday new
people are turning up to paddle and everyones super positive and
happy to be out on the water. I am surprised theres not more paddlers
based here yet training for the worlds. That said... I don't mind at
all its been great having this time to get to know the hole before it
gets super busy. As the days roll on
here at the NOC I am definitely beginning to figure out the feature
and i'm getting more excited about the forthcoming worlds.
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