Score! Little Tennessee at nearly 700 cfs in July! What luck!


Processed image of greenery at the launch site just off Needmore Road. Muddy water notwithstanding, I was excited to be back on a free flowing river for the first time in months.


Gamma corrected image of the first rapid after we launched.


A typical view of the Little Tennessee below Needmore Road.




Steve Smyth and Artie Green surfing


This is a foot suspension bridge that crosses the river after you leave the road behind. There's a pretty good rapid with some creeky drops the farther right you go just upstream of the bridge. Unfortunately, you can't quite make it out in this photo but it's the first decent rapid of the run.


You know the real fun is about to start when you enter the Narrows.


Rock formations in the Narrows. You can plainly see that these rapids are normally submerged beneath the waters of Lake Fontana during the summer months.


Here, it is easy to see that Fontana is almost 30 feet below normal for this time of year due to the extreme drought further down in the Tennessee River watershed.


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