~Christopher McCandless~
The Nolichucky...........I love that rivah. I hold it dear to my heart. It haunts me with memories of some of the best times in my life. I learned to paddle it with Marcelle, soon after we arrived to Asheville, and we returned many times together. The mountains and gorge walls provide scenery that is next to none on larger rivahs in Western Carolina, and after three seasons of guiding it, I know all the secrets she has to offer. The Nolichucky will always hold a special place in my heart.........it also has some of the most finicky water levels known to man, and can be hard to catch at the correct level......on this day it was running at a perfect low flow, great for curing NASCAR hangovers.
The Man and I rolled into Erwin around 11am. We saw no lynched elephants, so we knew the town was safe. (seriously, look it up) After many, many expeditions through the gorge I knew the best process for setting shuttle. The shuttle is forty five minutes one way, and you have to back track to get your car if you just drive to the top. Because of this, it is best to find a local to ride with you to the top and then drive your car back down so it is waiting for you at the bottom. If you do this then you can jump off the rivah at the end of the day, hop in your car, and head home without needing to worry about shuttle.........I knew just where to go to find our driver.......Johnny Wise Hostel. Johnny Wise is an old hostel in Erwin situated directly on the Applichain Trail as it exits the Unicoi Mountains and comes down into town. (Hot Springs, North Carolina is even better. The trail runs right down the middle of Main Street. You can sit in the bar and watch backpackers pass by you as they walk through town.) Johnny Wise, just like the rest of Erwin, hasn't changed in the past decade, and probably hasn't changed in the last fifty years. We met up with a ZZ Top lookin' Tennessee good ole boy, made the deal, and were on our way to the top before noon.
When we arrived we represented exactly what we were.......under prepared, hungover, Virginia rednecks, staggering into the put in straight from Bristol. We had borrowed customer gear, one pair of rivah shoes between the two of us, mismatching paddles, and gave the impression that we had no clue what we were doing. We looked exactly how two dudes in a raft coming from the races should look..........I think the guy who dropped us off was worried we weren't going to make it out alive.
This is an important observation. See, it is the opposite of the pathetic scene that takes place everyday on the James. Here, all the little kiddies buy brand new gear with mommy and daddy's money, get a shiny new boat, and show up at the takeout looking like world class paddlers........(not to mention every kayaking chick down there has learned to sleep there way up the kayaking chain.....thank you FSW for setting the precedence on how to be a kayaking whore. It seems others are now following your lead) The problem is, none of these kids have a clue as to what they are doing. They just look like they do.........kind of like a poser. Well, The Man and I were the opposite. We looked like amateurs, dressed like amateurs, and talked like amateurs.........but when it came time to play we were on point...........some of the kiddies at Fourteenth Street should take a lesson from this...........and all of the little groupies should learn alternative methods to moving up the kayaking chain. I don't know, maybe pay for a lesson from someone instead of simply sleeping with them. It might be a good start.
The trip and set up were tiring, especially with hangovers, but once we put on the rivah, time, stress, and everything in the outside world was left behind. We were on rivah time now, and it couldn't have been a more perfect day for it. We floated down rivah, under the train bridge, rounded the corner, and dropped into the gorge.
The Man and I rolled into Erwin around 11am. We saw no lynched elephants, so we knew the town was safe. (seriously, look it up) After many, many expeditions through the gorge I knew the best process for setting shuttle. The shuttle is forty five minutes one way, and you have to back track to get your car if you just drive to the top. Because of this, it is best to find a local to ride with you to the top and then drive your car back down so it is waiting for you at the bottom. If you do this then you can jump off the rivah at the end of the day, hop in your car, and head home without needing to worry about shuttle.........I knew just where to go to find our driver.......Johnny Wise Hostel. Johnny Wise is an old hostel in Erwin situated directly on the Applichain Trail as it exits the Unicoi Mountains and comes down into town. (Hot Springs, North Carolina is even better. The trail runs right down the middle of Main Street. You can sit in the bar and watch backpackers pass by you as they walk through town.) Johnny Wise, just like the rest of Erwin, hasn't changed in the past decade, and probably hasn't changed in the last fifty years. We met up with a ZZ Top lookin' Tennessee good ole boy, made the deal, and were on our way to the top before noon.
When we arrived we represented exactly what we were.......under prepared, hungover, Virginia rednecks, staggering into the put in straight from Bristol. We had borrowed customer gear, one pair of rivah shoes between the two of us, mismatching paddles, and gave the impression that we had no clue what we were doing. We looked exactly how two dudes in a raft coming from the races should look..........I think the guy who dropped us off was worried we weren't going to make it out alive.
This is an important observation. See, it is the opposite of the pathetic scene that takes place everyday on the James. Here, all the little kiddies buy brand new gear with mommy and daddy's money, get a shiny new boat, and show up at the takeout looking like world class paddlers........(not to mention every kayaking chick down there has learned to sleep there way up the kayaking chain.....thank you FSW for setting the precedence on how to be a kayaking whore. It seems others are now following your lead) The problem is, none of these kids have a clue as to what they are doing. They just look like they do.........kind of like a poser. Well, The Man and I were the opposite. We looked like amateurs, dressed like amateurs, and talked like amateurs.........but when it came time to play we were on point...........some of the kiddies at Fourteenth Street should take a lesson from this...........and all of the little groupies should learn alternative methods to moving up the kayaking chain. I don't know, maybe pay for a lesson from someone instead of simply sleeping with them. It might be a good start.
The trip and set up were tiring, especially with hangovers, but once we put on the rivah, time, stress, and everything in the outside world was left behind. We were on rivah time now, and it couldn't have been a more perfect day for it. We floated down rivah, under the train bridge, rounded the corner, and dropped into the gorge.
~Laura Gilpin~
The Nolichucky hits you with it's best whitewater early on in the trip. We dropped into Last Chance, named because it is your last chance to turn around. We then slipped through On The Rocks, Jaws, Snappy, Canyon Doors, and then pulled into the top of Quarter Mile to take in the scenery. (continuous Class III-IV for about two miles)
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| Scouting and laxin' at the top of Quarter Mile |
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| I think this pic proves that our weekend was a success! |
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| So sweet, and so beautiful. I love WNC with all my heart, and I miss it everyday. |
On the hike out The Man decided to take the high trail and I took the crick trail. Well, the terrain in there is very, very rugged, and somehow I missed the fact that The Man had passed me, so I turned around and went back up the trail looking for him. I was thinking the worst.......that he had fallen and knocked himself out, or had torn his knee apart. I actually become a little worried after a while, but as it turns out he was sitting at the confluence the entire time waiting for me. The Man always comes through, which is why he is and always will be The Man! (Warning........selfy pictures ahead!)
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| Lost in the wilderness looking for the man. I look concerned........kinda was. |
The paddle out of the Nolichucky is easy Class II-III, and eventually easy Class I-II, but the scenery is spectacular.
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| Proud of our custy PFD look |
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| Results of a rough and rowdy weekend........and a safety meeting. The end of the gorge is behind me. |
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.”
~T.S. Eliot~
The paddle out was entertaining. I gave The Man his first lesson on guiding a raft. It consisted of me laying down in the raft and sleeping. He was in charge, and if I woke up because of errant lines, he failed..........don't underestimate this style of teaching. It works, as long as we survive. (my first lesson ever on the rivah consisted of Randbo kickin' the shit out of me in the raft and then throwing me in the rivah and making me swim every rapid. The Man should consider himself lucky.......oh yea, Thanks Rand!) The paddle out was slow, relaxing, and absolutely beautiful. It gave me time to look back on the weekend and the last six months and ponder the lessons I learned and the memories I had made. Throughout this summer I have immersed myself in many different cultures and groups of people, of all different kinds, and if there is one thing that I am proud of about who I am it is that I am an open minded person about the world. I have helped shape an African American Community, discussed the social dynamics of a strip club with a stripper, taken midnight Absinthe shots with a random group of beach party goers, helped a homeless man find a friend and some meaning to this crazy world, listened to the colorful stories of a dude on LSD, introduced a trapeze artist to the secrets of RVA :) , herded geese for a living, watched our paddling community say goodbye to one of it's leaders, taught my best friend about the joys and secrets of whitewater, partied my ass off with the greatest rednecks in the south, and shared a fireworks show with a chance encounter on a random hillside in a random spot. These are only some of the experiences I have immersed myself in since moving to The Island, and they never would have happened had I not had an open mind about the world around me. I sold out an entire community of people just like me..........why? Because I didn't like who I was when I was with them, and after seeing them from the outside, I realized why..........they are not good people, and the things I hear to this day show me that my decision was the right one to make. It is a big world out there full of interesting people. We should open up our minds and our hearts a little more to each other, because the hate I see in this world today is just plain wrong. Respect the feelings of others, and when you commit to something in this world, stick it out..........you just might be surprised what a little suffering can lead to..........know what I mean?
The week ended with a long drive home through the mountains that I have grown up in. We even stopped for a little dinner in the greatest college football town on earth.........Blacksburg, VA. The sights and sounds of the weekend echoed through both of our minds, and the people that I met will hold a place in my heart as I continue on my next adventure..........and my next adventure may be the greatest one of all........we shall have to wait and see. Who knows what the future holds. If there is one thing that I am learning through all of this, it's that we make our own future, and mine will be sought with adventures.......that I can promise you.
"The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places."
~Ernest Hemingway~
The final thoughts I had on the Noli were of the boys. They would love the Nolichucky Rivah and one day we will be in there together, stylin' rapids, climbing canyons, swimming the waters of WNC, and spending the time that is being taken from the three of us now. I look forward to those days and know that they will be there........but until then it is my time to experience life, and that is exactly what I have been doing, and plan on continuing to do. But there is one message through all of this that needs to be remembered, and it is a message for my boys...............
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| There is only one place I would rather be fellas, and that place is with you. I love you both, more than you could ever know. |
The week ended with a long drive home through the mountains that I have grown up in. We even stopped for a little dinner in the greatest college football town on earth.........Blacksburg, VA. The sights and sounds of the weekend echoed through both of our minds, and the people that I met will hold a place in my heart as I continue on my next adventure..........and my next adventure may be the greatest one of all........we shall have to wait and see. Who knows what the future holds. If there is one thing that I am learning through all of this, it's that we make our own future, and mine will be sought with adventures.......that I can promise you.
~Ernest Hemingway~
See ya on the rivah..........hopefully discovering our next adventures. PEACE
~Additionally, I almost forgot. I came away with a souvenir from the weekend........whatcha think?
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| Hell yea!...........'Merica |
