For the past year or so I had been trying to set up time to paddle the
Ocoee River with Evan and my friend, Meryl. The three of us all know each other
from working camp together, despite the three of us never actually working
together at the same time. Weird. A few weeks ago, after getting off of the
Green River I ended up texting Meryl to set up time to finally take her up on her
offer to run one of, if not the Nation’s most popular whitewater river.
I ended up driving 5 hours to meet up with her and a few of her friends
Saturday to paddle the Middle Ocoee. Despite only getting a few hours of sleep
my excitement made the drive seem extremely short. I ended up meeting up with
Meryl and couple of her friends around 1:00. As with every river, I was anxious
before dropping in. It was a river I had heard about, but hadn’t seen too much
of. The entire first day I felt a little reserved as I took my time
familiarizing myself with the river and its characteristics. After dropping
into Grumpy, the Class III right at the put-in I was hooked. By the end of the
day I knew that the trip to Tennessee had been worth it.
The next day Meryl took me to the Upper Ocoee. This time we were joined by even
more friends of hers from the Tennessee Valley Canoe Club. It was easily the
largest group I have ever paddled with. I knew the Upper had a different
reputation than the Middle, thanks to the Whitewater Center that was built for the
1996 Olympics. The first day, I admittedly was still working the last bit of
rust off of my technique from 6 months off during winter. By the time we
reached Alien Boof I felt back in form. After four laps of Alien Boof I
actually felt better than ever.
The rest of the trip was incredible. We ended up running the Middle
Ocoee after a quick break and it felt great. I ended up playing in the features
more aggressively the second day and felt completely refreshed once the day
ended. After this past weekend I think it is safe to say that I have found a
new river to be listed among my favorites. It was also extremely nice getting
to meet super amazing people who were willing let me accompany them down the
river. (It was also great to get to paddle with such talented kayakers.)
I honestly can’t wait to head out that way again. In the meantime, if you aren’t aware take the time to pop over to Save the Ocoee and read about what you can do to help preserve recreation uses of the Ocoee River because the agreement between TVA and Tennessee is almost up and everyone’s support matters.
I honestly can’t wait to head out that way again. In the meantime, if you aren’t aware take the time to pop over to Save the Ocoee and read about what you can do to help preserve recreation uses of the Ocoee River because the agreement between TVA and Tennessee is almost up and everyone’s support matters.
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