I have been wanting to get a look at the Tuckasegee for quite some time. After some equivocation about what to do with my holiday weekend, I finally decided to plan a three day paddling extravaganza before heading up north to flatland for a no-whitewater excursion for Dad's 60th. The plan looked like this: Ocoee Friday, Tuckasegee Saturday, and Nantahala Sunday. I found no one I knew on Friday at the Ocoee and decided to surf below Slice-and-Dice for the afternoon. Water temperature was great, crowds were relatively light, and I was finally getting the hole dialed in again before I left. The water didn't seem any more contaminated than usual to me. I guess I spent three hours there working it to the point of exhaustion.

Saturday I left early and headed up to the Tuckasegee, which is about 20 minutes beyond the Nantahala if you are coming from the Chattanooga area. The plan was to meet up at the NOC outfitter store before heading deeper into NC. Nix! Sandra was waiting for me at 11 but no one else was to be found. Now on the way into the gorge, I had passed the boiled peanut shack and noted that it was on fire! A sherrif's deputy was there and held up his hand just as I was passing as if to stop the traffic. I should mention that fire trucks were just approaching around the bend at about that time. I couldn't possibly stop so I kept going but the car behind me chose to slam on his brakes in the face of law enforcement. Now with fire trucks approaching, a shack on fire next to the road, some guy trying to put it out with a garden hose, and a red-headed deputy holding up his hand in the universal semaphore for "STOP," a carload of paddlers somewhere further back ended up hitting the back of a car, causing impressive damage to the front of their vehicle. Very unfortunate! Fortunately everyone was OK but this delayed one group. Another driver was pulled over for a speeding ticket somewhere along the way. One other paddler was arriving from Beyond the Great Divide (the Smokies) and arrived almost on time but couldn't find us (we eventually found him an hour later), and another paddler slept in and left an hour and fifteen minutes late. If I hadn't received a voice mail and a couple of phone calls, I would have written the lot off and went on to the Tuck with Sandra. We ended up about two hours behind schedule, and I think that's a new personal record for me.

Having seen a previous posting on the GCA listserv, we decided to use the Carolina Mountains Outdoor Center to handle the shuttle duties and I have to say I couldn't have been happier with the outcome. It was cheap, quick, and effective. I did have a little trouble finding it since I haven't known where my eye glasses are since 2002 and we had to circle around and come back. I also had a little trouble with the drive to the put in where we dropped off our boats and a couple of paddlers. It seems that you can drive there along a certain route but cannot return along the same route (and that is an understatement). The result for me was that I ended up almost returning to the put in before driving my car back down to the take out. I hate it when that happens.

There was some debate about whether or not the Tuck would be at a good level Saturday, but the level was fine and appears to have peaked just above 900 cfs. Read the AW page in detail to see an explanation about what constitutes a good level. The gauge recommendations are a bit messed up as the wrong gauge is associated with Section 3. 900 cfs is listed as the minimum but I have a good source that says 800 is the min and I agree. We had a great time. I don't think I would care to paddle it too much lower but it was still good.

I don't know the names of any of the rapids but I was surprised at the quality of four or five of the drops. I expected mostly I+ rapids but some of the rapids were a strong class II or II+ with just a slight feeling of power in the flow. Our beginner in a sit-on-top ended up swimming three times and we had one kayaker miss a roll below that rapid with big pillow in it but everybody took the swims in good spirits and had a good time. We also paused for a moment to enjoy a movie trivia moment beside the fake train wreck from the Harrison Ford flick "The Fugitive," which is on river right. Best of all the water was about 15 or 20 degrees warmer than the Nantahala. I thought it was well worthwhile considering that I was planning on spending two days in the area. Why paddle the Nanty twice when you can mix it up over two days on two rivers?

Saturday night, Lois and I headed to the Nantahala Wesser Campground behind the Gem Mine and enjoyed corn on the cob, steak kabobs, tuna pasta, Mike's Hard Lemonade, and Coors Light. The weather held and I personally had a great time. Sunday we met up with some more paddlers from TN and ran the cold Nantahala. First timer Jason had a great run including the falls and the weekend ended with Monte Alban Mexican food in Andrews. It was a great way to spend the weekend but now I have only one thing left to say: I'm exhausted!

Tuck Paddlers:
Allen (Ringgold)
Lois (Lookout Mountain)
Becca (Ringgold)
TJ (Chattanooga)
Jason (Hixson, TN)
Allen II (Pigeon Forge, TN)
Sandra (Cleveland, TN)

Nanty Paddlers:
Allen
Lois
Becca
TJ
Jason
Charles (Dalton)
Frank (Chattanooga)
Vicky (Sweetwater, TN)

Shawn and Kathy Lancaster in the Tuckasegee River Gorge from June 2006. Photo by Carolyn Rand.