Recent Trips (Bear, Suck Creek Christmas)

Cloudland Canyon

Nervously Scouting

Me in the first tier of Stairway

Jason portaging Knucklehead

Jason explaining something

Corey Hall - Big Bang

So far this kayaking season is shaping up to be one of the best I can remember. We are about 8 inches over average for rain currently in Chattanooga (and probably everywhere in the SE). In kayaking I have set a couple of goals for the next couple of years and was able to tick one off last week with a run of Bear Creek running off Lookout Mountain. Although it was a minimum level (10"), it was still incredible quality and by far the best run I have done in the southeast and possibly anywhere. I was with a great guide and am looking forward to trying to get the lines down considering it is very close to my house. Christmas day I was able to go kayaking with Jason one of my best kayaking friends. This was a rare treat as it is hard to keep the man away from the Tellico. We had good run down Suck Creek and although pressed for time, I had a great time. I have this new Olympus Stylus waterproof camera and am trying to figure out how to use it so my pictures are not the best, but it sure is convenient.

Bouldering LRC

My brother-in-law's brother Seth was able to get over to Little Rock City for a bouldering session recently. Although we had damp conditions we were able to salvage some quality problems, most of which we hadn't been on before. The bouldering at LRC is exceptional and it is incredible how many countless high quality sandstone boulders are packed into one place. Here are a couple of sub-par images of Seth.

Oliver

421 Tennessee

Baker Gap

Roan Creek

Tennessee roads are high quality.

Shady Valley

South Holston Valley

Powell Mtn: Stony Creek below Chimney Rock Fork.

This is a section of streambed that has quite a bit of bedrock. Probably pretty interesting class 3+ with a few hundred cfs. This is about a half mile below the confluence of Stony Creek and Chimney Rock Fork. The section between Glady Fork and Chimney Rock Fork has similar gradient but alot of wood and an uninteresting features. The section of Stony Creek from Marsh Fork to Glady Fork has the most potential, but is the most remote as well as being prohibitivly narrow. Because the previous pic is wide angle, the gradient is a bit steeper than it appears.