This past weekend our crew out east headed over to North Carolina for the Green River Race. This event is truly like no other that we have attended and it was just amazing!
To start things off we arrived early on Saturday to hike in the 3 or so miles down to the main part of the run. This hike was intense and very vertical for the last half mile. So vertical in fact that there are ropes set up to assist in the climb down. The ol' legs were burning early on. We arrived at the river about 10:30am. This is about one hour before the water is due to arrive so we take a look at the major rapids without water and find a place to begin observing. At this point Dru and I wander off, sorry gals, and head to take a peak at "go left and die." This is one of many class V rapids on this section and it was obvious why.
As we wait on the water thoughts of how this is all going to play off shoot around in my head and anticipation begin to build. I want the water to start flowing so I can get my shore side adrenalin fix! Then it comes... The water barrels down and with it, 50 or so kayakers! This was truly a site to see and quite the fuster cluck. They stage in an eddie above Go Left and wait for it to fill. I start shooting pics and take some video. This guy's line was, well not so perfect...
hand paddle stuck.mov
Then we hike back down to Gorilla!
This rapid demands respect. The notch above gives little room for error and the drop itself is not a cake walk. We were able to see world class kayakers tear it up and luckily no one got worked. Well not too badly anyway. This drop is tall tight and it seemed some what shallow. We saw a ton of great fast lines and had a ball shoot tons of video.
green race 125.mov
Yeah that is Tommy, a legend and hell of a paddler!
We watched at the monkey for what seemed like hours. We saw tons of paddlers and only one swimmer. The rescue team was point on and a tethered rescuer was in the water in seconds to grab the guy.
These folks do not mess around. The rapids below the monkey are big and just as intense so rescue is a big deal. After watching at the monkey we hike back up to Go Left and watch some other paddlers come through. It was a great time. We were impressed by the number of spectators and paddlers in the gorge. I think we all were certain that we would indeed come back to watch, and most likely never to paddle! I don't think that this river will ever be on our list, maybe the upper.
The hike out was painful as well because everything we climbed down, we had to hike out. But we made it and a great time was had. We retreated to our little sleeper cabin and played cards. The next morning we took our time and missed our release on the upper, Doh. It was frustrating but overall the trip was great. If you ever want to see some extreme southeast whitewater, come on out to the Green!
rt
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