A River Experience: Part Two

By Brooke Nelson

In A River Experience: Part One in last week’s Score!, Brooke Nelson detailed the adventures of her sons, Drew, 19, Cole, 16, and Graham, 10, their friends, Austin McMillan, 16, and Katie Saunders, 18, and her husband, Tom, as they experienced the Nantahala Outdoor Center’s Guest Appreciation Festival in the North Carolina mountains the last Saturday in October.

This week, the story culminates in the ultimate whitewater trip on the Nantahala River.

Although my guys are very comfortable hanging out upside down underwater, they wear helmets to ease the encounter with the rocks hidden under the surface, and as required on all rivers, they wear the most advanced PFDs (personal floatation devices).

Cole can do 25 rolls in a row, but he paddles sort of squirrely afterwards.

Drew and Cole kept close to their novice kayaking friends. They knew this was the first big whitewater either had encountered.

Austin had his roll down pretty well in practice, but he had never had to do a combat roll, an unexpected flip in free-flowing water.

Katie had not either, but both jumped into the queue to surf, eager to garner experience before attempting the whole river on Sunday.

Cole says he loves kayaking because it is a different kind of “rush.” “When you’re playing football or other team sports, you’re competing against people,” Cole said. “In kayaking, you’re competing against nature.”

An hour later, with the water level dropping along with the temperature, the paddlers popped their spray skirts and climbed out of their boats, ready for a good hot meal. Drew and Cole bragged on their friends’ efforts, encouraging them to be more aggressive and to practice their techniques.

We cooked out over our open fire and shared backpacking and river tales, but not too late, as the snuggly bags in our tents were calling our names. Sleep came quick and hard, and before we knew it, the Sunday morning sun was peeping over the mountains, warming our tents and enticing us to wake up and hit the river.

On Sunday morning, Graham, Kaye Saunders, Katie’s mom, and I dropped off the rest of the group at the start of the Nantahala River. Each lined up his or her kayak and began taking stock of what they would need for the day.

Tom watched intently to make sure his charges had all their gear before he guided them down the waterway. He attached his throw bag, a rescue device incorporating a 60-foot rope coiled inside a nylon bag that can be thrown to an endangered kayaker while the thrower holds the other end.

Drew and Cole were thrilled to see their friends getting to experience a sport that they both love.

Katie and Austin seemed both excited and apprehensive at the same time, not quite sure what to expect from the daunting run, since it was their first experience on whitewater.

We made plans to rendezvous three hours later at Nantahala Falls, directly before the take-out point. And then we were off; them down the river, Graham and I to rent a raft since Graham is not quite experienced enough to challenge the Nanty yet.

Maybe next year.

Our raft rental came with a guide named Ardis.

She was a grandmotherly looking little old lady with a wild head of massive, grey curls, but we quickly discovered that looks can be deceiving. On our trek down the river, I learned more about the Nantahala Forest area than I had in all the previous trips combined.

Ardis had been a kayaker and a river guide for more years than I had been alive. Her love for the river and the area was evident as she named each rock and told its story.

“That rock is named Jaws because it eats paddlers,” she informed us with an “I’m not kidding” glance toward me.

As she pointed to an undercut rock, where the water actually flowed under it, she told the sad story of a 17-year old wannabe river guide who swam too close to it after being flipped out of his raft, was sucked under the slab and trapped, drowning within minutes.

They had to wait until the dam was shut off and the water level lowered before retrieving his body.

A fascinating character, Ardis told us she holds the Senior Olympic records for spin casting, where you cast a lure into a circle at varying distances, and shuffleboard.

“Have you ever seen Cherokee Indian caves?” she asked conspiratorially.

Graham and I exchanged glances, and said, “No. Can we?” After beaching our boats on the side of the waterway, Ardis spryly led us up a steep climb to a series of multi-room caves.

“This is where they hid during the Trail of Tears,” she said dramatically, pausing to survey the river from our vantage point high on the hill.

After making our way back down the river, Graham and I positioned ourselves on the haphazard mounds of granite that nature and time had thrown on each side of Nantahala Falls, to wait for our crew to be dumped down the massive waterload of the falls. This is a great spot to observe experienced paddlers surf the torrential rapids. Some would get caught in the extreme current and overflow, violently overturning only to bob back up and be spit from the thundering waves.

Our boaters came through the chutes one at a time, each paddling confidently picking their line over the top, then down the flow. In a flash, they were through. Cole and Drew took some time to play, pick up pointers from more advanced paddlers and perfect their own skills.

“When I’m going down the river, I look around and think about how beautiful nature is,” said Katie.

“I think about how much fun I’m having, and I think about how lucky I am to participate in a sport that many people never have the opportunity to try.”

Drew agrees. “Many of my friends are very envious of all the different activities I get to do and wish that their parents had given them the same opportunities.”

“Many people love to go to the beach or Disney World,” Drew continued, “Give me a river to kayak in, a mountain to climb, an ocean to dive in, or a trail to run any day.”

We met at the take-out, loaded the boats and gear, and headed back to Anniston.

Once again, paddling stories filled the old Suburban as it careened south, pointed toward home.

Drew’s evaluation of their friends’ efforts? Excellent job! Both of them learned so much in a short period of time. Cole said he really enjoyed watching them excel. In fact, Cole said that one paddler on the river remarked that Austin did so well, he couldn’t believe it was Austin’s first time on the Nantahala.

Next trip, next time, next river were the wishful themes of hopeful children.

Absolutely, we are already planning the next outdoor adventure.

Austin summed the whole weekend up with two words. “It’s awesome,” he said.

If you have never had a chance to experience the wilds of the Nantahala River area and whitewater adventure interests you, circle Oct. 28–29 on your 2006 calendar and plan to have a great time.

For more information: www.noc.com