In addition to boaters and voyuers, we also had some special guests…lots of dogs!

Total, there were probably six or seven dogs there. Many stayed in the picnic pavilion while we paddled around for a little while and some came down to the river. I was excited to see one of my friends paddling around the lake with his dog on his boat…and his dog seemed to be really enjoying it!

All in all, it was a great night. The dogs got to play and some swam. The humans got to eat burgers and strawberry shortcake after getting in some roll practice. And the dogs got to clean up after us!

On a side note, I paddled the Jackson Rocker…rolled that thing like it was a log! Seriously, it was the easiest boat I have ever rolled. I rolled it with hand paddles, with a stick, with one hand paddle, with just my hands, and with just one hand. Wow! Might have to think about getting one of those.

First of all, my bro did great! Within five minutes of getting in the water, a friend showed him how to do a back deck roll and he pulled a couple off! It was very impressive, especially since it took me months to grasp the concept of rolling. He did great the whole day, and swam a couple of times. He didn’t like being cooped up in the boat, so I am looking to get a bigger “spare” boat that he can paddle more comfortably (until his boat discomfort tolerance increases as it does the more time you spend in your boat, especially upside down learning to roll).

Since it was going to be a slow paddling day with lots of friends around, I decided to bring Zoe with me (and actually one of the dogs who was staying with the shuttle bunny didn’t like her and kept starting fights with her). We donned her doggie PFD and we were off. She bounced around from one person to another as the kids wanted her on their boats but then quickly tired of the responsibility. She got away once and swam to shore. I was very proud, though, when she came swimming back to me and climbed up on my boat. I thought we were really making progress in our training. How wrong I was!!

Shortly after that, she was sitting on my skirt relaxing while I paddled. Apparently she decided she’d rather be doing something else and she stood up and jumped into the water. She swam quickly to the shore, about 20 or so yards away. I paddled after her, laughing hysterically but also getting a little nervous that she would get away from me. Once she is on land without a leash, she is a wild dog and she goes nuts in nature.

With my hand paddles, I just was not fast enough for her and it was so shallow I had to navigate through rocks. She reached the finish line first and went sprinting up into the woods. She ran back and forth, up river and down river, sniffing, jumping, barking, and wagging her happy little tail. I stayed in my boat near shore calling her, trying to wait the happy spell out and hoping she’d come back to me shortly.

Soon my friend joined me at the shore, yelling for her, paddling up and down river a bit to see where she was running. The floatilla stopped just downstream and waited for us. My friend finally got out of his boat and ran around on land chasing Zoe. She loved the chase and ran faster, looking back at him and grinning from ear to ear. She ran down into the water, splashing through and running right past me in my kayak. I almost flipped grabbing for her, and she was just inches out of my reach every time. My friend chased her through the water, running fast across rocks and brush, and dove for her, only to have her slip out of his hands by just an inch or so.

This went on for about ten minutes, maybe more. I finally got out of my boat, even though I knew it wouldn’t make a difference to Zoe, and would probably only encourage her to run since she thinks it’s a game. After I had finally given up and resigned myself to leave my dog in the unknown woods and trust that she’d eventually come back to me, or live out her days in the mountains of North Carolina. About that time, she came running back to us. We were able to throw a leash on her and scoop her up.

She spent the rest of the trip on my friend’s boat, clipped to his PFD. This way he knew she would be safe with him (rather than clipping her to the boat and risk drowning her). It was quite an eventful day! I won’t even describe when she ran away at the camp ground a few weeks ago and went exploring the woods and nearby farms…for TWO hours. What a handful!

http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070719/PETS/707190314/1183

I struggled for a while about what to do with her while I paddled. There are lots of haters who just said, “Leave dogs at home!” Well, I’m a “single dog mom” and live 2+ hours from rivers, so even a day trip is a 10-hour or more event, too long to leave her home alone in the crate. Plus, she loves coming to the river and seeing all her people and dog friends, and we often do over night trips. Now I have a system for leaving her in the car while I’m on the river…it involves planning and lots of preparation to make it work so she won’t get too hot, but it seems to be working great for now. This way, she’s only alone for a few hours while I’m on the river. The rest of the time, she is with me in the car or running around by the river or camp ground. [If you're struggling with this dilmema as well, shoot me a line and I'd be happy to give you ideas that have been helpful to me. But please don't try to debate bringing dogs vs. leaving them at home.]

On a trip to the Hiawassee River a few months ago, I decided to bring Zoe along and see how she did on the river. She split her time between a duckey with a friend’s son and sitting on my cockpit. Sadly, I discovered she is not much of a water dog. Her most eager swimming was when she jumped out of the duckey to swim toward an island, where she excitedly ran the length of the small island, back and forth. For the most part, however, she did GREAT! She was a bit cold since it’s a cold river. But she otherwise stayed in the boat and even spent some time surfing a small wave on the cockpit of my boat.

I’ve asked some people for advice about possible rafts to bring Zoe down other rivers me. Again, there are lots of haters out there who said dogs don’t belong on rivers. Granted, it takes planning and you have to know your dog pretty well and give it lots of exposure to the water. But it can be done, and is actually done quite often!

Look! It’s an Ocoee Dog!!

I don’t know who this dog is or who these people are, but I just love this dog!!

Got any pics of paddling with your four-legged kids? Please send em to me! I’m collecting pictures of paddling dogs and would love to post yours. Thanks!

But nothing can compare to facing down and exorcising a major demon. Mine is named Grumpy’s. When I first ran the Ocoee two weeks ago, I thought I’d continue to put in below Grumpy’s for a while. It seemed like a lot of work and stress for very little thrill and an immediate introduction to the river with ZERO warm-up. When we put on here, I had already been paddling for a while and had been having a great day. I was encouraged by a friend to run it and reminded that it was no harder than the moves I had already made that day. I had been working on my ferry skills pretty hard core over the last few weeks, as well. So I gave it a go!

I was pretty nervous–had a case of nerves the whole day but just tried working through them and running the stuff anyway. I ferried over from the put-in ramp, peeled out, and tried to catch the eddy right above the river-center rock. I missed it, but knew there was one right below it so I leaned in, paddled hard, and caught the eddy. From there, it was just a little ferry, then a peel-out, and some wave trains. Wah-lah! In just a few seconds, I was at the same place where I had put-in last time (without the long walk carrying a heavy boat) and I was upright!

It is interesting in kayaking how after a bad or injuring experience (or even just after hearing a few stories and letting them soak in too much) a specific rapid or river can hold all kinds of bad vibes for you. You focus on the percieved danger based on that momentary experience and that perception generates fear and anxiety that can be mentally paralyzing. The Ocoee in general and Grumpy’s had been that demon for me…until Sunday. It’s also amazing how as you progress in skills what seemed overwhelming once becomes considerably easy and you have confidence that you have the skills and abilities to handle what the river has to offer. And once you have trained and prepared, you face down that demon, despite the nervous stomach and shaking hands, and you conquer it.

That’s what happened to me on Sunday and it was the best feeling in the world! I had an amazing day on the river and it was a long day of paddling, and the cornerstone really was pulling into Grumpy’s and handling it just fine, knowing my training and intense practice would allow me to get where I needed to be.

Of course, now I have a new demon on that river…the hole at Double Suck. I got worked pretty good in that one. I’m torn now whether I’ll start skirting it and taking the fun boof on the other side, or if I’ll go for the same line and face that demon head-on next time. Guess I won’t know until I get there but know I’ll conquer it eventually. And I have some new skils to focus on–namely, avoiding, punching through, and getting out of nasty (and retentive) holes. Any advice?

So…what’s your demon? I’m curious to hear stories your stories about your river demons and how you faced or excorcised them. Do tell!

Day 1: We hit the Nanty and met up with some good friends in the afternoon and put on at Ferrebee. One friend brought his Japanese friend, who paddled down with us in a duckie. We also met up with another padding buddy, his daughter (who had just started kayaking 3 weeks before) and his wife and other daughter who were in a duckie. It was a great day on the river and we had a great time chasing the duckies down the river and showing them how to swing their long boats into eddies. Good times! At the falls I met up with another friend and his wife and we all camped at a primitive camping spot. Zoe loved the camping–it was in national forest land, so we let her run free. She ran in circles around the camp site, enjoying her new-found freedom, and explored the areas around the camp site, including the creek nearby.

Day 2: We got up, grabbed breakfast at NOC, and headed over the the Ocoee. We met up with our group at the Middle Put-in, including another hand paddler (3 total in our group) for my Second First Ocoee Attempt. I was scared to death, hands shaking, as I scarfed down a PB&J, realizing I hadn’t eaten for a few hours and would be hungry. The extra cup of joe probably didn’t help. I opted (and was advised) to skip Grumpie’s, the scene of my ill-fated First Ocoee Attempt, and carried my boat down below to put on. [Note to self, drop boat off at the alternative put-in. It's quite a haul carrying Lil Joe.]

Milton (also a hand paddler) stayed on my like white on rice. I followed his lines most of the time and he gave great direction, telling me what was coming up and where we were going to. I opted not to play much since I was so nervous, and there always seemed to be some nasty whole or drop just below where we were playing.  We cheated Broken Nose and Double Suck. I flipped just below Tablesaw, on the river left crazy eddy lines. And I had a little out of boat experience just below Surprise Ledge - what a surprise it was!! There was one near-out-of-boat experience when I plopped right down into the hole below Cat’s Pajamas and the recirculating currents wouldn’t let me stay up or get out. Milton was on it and gave me a quick bow assist seconds before I was about to pull my skirt. Phew! I was pretty tired at this point, so I skirted Hell Hole and took out there, ready to drink some cold beer and celebrate my victory over the river that kicked my butt a year ago. Wahoo!!

Plans for camping that night and hitting the O again the next day fell through, so I headed back toward the Nanty to camp. It was a sleepless night, thanks to some local kids and a dirtbike.

Day 3: It was a rainy morning, so Zoe and I relaxed and slept late. My phone rang and my buddy Jamie was headed that way. We met up and hit the Nanty, just the two of us. We haven’t paddled together in a year so it was a lot of fun (a lot has changed in a year!!). It was cold, windy, overcast, and the river was covered in a blanket of fog. This made the whole run read and run since we could only see about 10 feet in front of us. We had a blast! It was great to paddle with an old friend and since it was just the two of us, we didn’t have to wait on a big group to finish playing. If we wanted to play or catch eddies, we did and then we went on. Afterwards, some of his friends met us for camping that night.

Day 4: We took three newbies down the Nanty in duckies (with three kayakers). The guys really enjoyed it! We had them catching eddies before too long, which was pretty fun in the duckie. It was a fairly short run since one of the duckies kept paddling down river when everyone else had caught in eddie. We kept hearing, “There he goes again! Let’s go.” Sigh. Still, a good time for all and a good day for the newbies–all of whom ran Nanty Falls perfectly! We all relaxed around camp and Zoe I went for a little excursion to the river to let her run around free for a little while, and I got some down time to read a book and relax.

I was not sure what I would do the next day. This group was not sure they would paddle any more this week and we tossed around ideas like hiking near the Tellico. My friend called and invited me to the Charlotte WW park the next day. I decided I would get some sleep and see if I was up for anything–after FOUR days straight of paddling I was pretty tired. The most I’d ever done before was three days and Day 3 was always a little rough.

Day 5: Woke up at the camp excited about the day and ready to paddle! Since I had no options to run any rivers that day, I called my friend and said, “I’ll be there!” I loaded up camp and Zoe and I hit the road, arriving in Charlotte three hours later. I found the ww park with no problems and was ready to paddle, even though I was pretty sore and tired. My first trip down the wilderness channel I flipped and couldn’t roll up, so I bailed, then proceeded to swim, swim, swim, through the gates, through M-wave, finally catching an eddy near the end of the channel. I got some pep-talk and lecture in the pond and had to practice tucking and staying tucked for 15-30 seconds. Much to my surprise, I was able to hang out upside for nearly 30 seconds!! This little tid-bit made quite a difference in my subsequent trips. Hit the channel again and flipped yet again. The water was so turbulent there, I was getting churned and my head/neck getting thrown around. I tucked tight and waited until I felt the water around me calm down. Then I rolled right up! It was great!! After a few good runs on this side, my friends talked me into the Competition Channel. I really didn’t look at it so I had no idea what I was in for. I made it part-way down, flipped in a hole, rolled up and dropped into another hole. After a few attempts, I bailed and swam big drop, finally getting pulled out (literally!) by a raft guide on the side with a rope. I still have bruises from this swim and it was pretty crazy - getting pulled under water, hitting my boat, gasping for air. I was later told by an observer (and one of my rescuers) that he did not think for a second that I didn’t belong there and that I looked good, holding on and really trying to get up. What a compliment! I’ll beat that Competition Channel. One day.

Zoe and I got a hotel room north of Charlotte. I cleaned all my gear, did a load of laundry, soaked in epsom salt and lathered myself if IcyHot. I was determined to hit the ww park again the next day! The night’s sleep in a real bed was magical.

Day 6: Zoe and I slept late, then ran around and did some errands. I toured around Charlotte a bit, visiting my grad school, UNC Charlotte. Zoe and I explored some garden trails on campus and I visited with my professor for a bit. Then we headed back to the ww park for more abuse. It was hot and there is essentially no shade here, so Zoe and I were pretty hot. We walked on some trails and walked around the park. I marvelled at the Competition Channel and retraced my swim and failed roll attempts. Milton and the crew arrived and I suited up to do a few laps on the Wilderness Channel. I was hesitant and a bit nervous at first, but I warmed up and my confidence went up. I got surfed below M-wave, but held on and pulled myself out, without flipping. After about 5 runs and countless combat rolls, we headed in close to 9 PM. After some greasy burgers and a milkshake, we crashed at a friend’s house.

Day 7: Zoe and I got up and hit the road, headed back to the Nanty to meet friends who were camping and running the Cheoah the next day. We napped in the NOC parking lot while we waited. They arrived and talked me into paddling. As we were about to push off into the water, my buddy looked at me and asked where my PFD was. Doh! I was able to get the shuttle bunny to come back to get me and I didn’t paddle. I figured if I was too tired to remember my gear, I was probably too tired to paddle. 6 out of 7 days ain’t bad, after all. After watching everyone else run (including a newbie who sailed through the falls!) we reconvened below NOC to watch some guys run Big Wesser, the “Un-runnable Rapid.” [See subsequent post with video footage.] It was quite entertaining!

Day 8: Had a big group camping last night. Most of them went to the Cheoah. Two friends and I headed over to the Pigeon. We had a great run! It was so much fun and I had none of the paralyzing fear that I had the first time I was up there. I led for much of the trip and picked all my own lines, and just laughed and laughed going up those big wave trains! We did two runs then got some BBQ at the gas station at the take out (yummie!). Zoe hung out with friends at the Cheoah and had a big time!

Day 9: We packed up camp and everyone headed out for the Cheoah. I was trying to round up Zoe, who was running around in the woods. We found her only to have her run back into the woods. She barked for a minute, and the bark turned into a wimper so we thought she was hurt. Nightmare visions of bears and snakes filled my mind and we ran up the steep hill after her frantically. As soon as we got up there, she emerged, smiling at me as she ran away. We met up at the bottom and got her loaded up. After breakfast (and a quick shower to wash off all the poison ivy I had probably just run through) we headed over to look at the Cheoah and film our friends going over Bear Creek Falls.

What a beautiful river! It looked like a lot of fun and I can’t wait to run it. The Cheoah next year is my new goal!

Well, it was getting late so time to head back. We stopped at a friend’s cook out for a bit, then Zoe and I pulled in our driveway about 10 PM. I unloaded quickly and went right to bed so I would not be too worthless the next day at work. I was not home long before I was missing the mountains and the brief week Zoe and I had being totally free, without an agenda and wherever the rivers took us. I felt energized by all of the paddling and was surprised that I was not more sore. Ironically, two days later I was in pain. Guess it pays to paddle more.

Now I have fantasies of moving to the mountains, paddling during the week, and having some land for Zoe to run. I’ll have to settle for the suburbs right now and I don’t know where we’ll end up later. But I know that was an amazing week that changed me - and my dog. She came home acting differently, more obedient actually. I also came home with some friends and letting go of some old ones. Paddling six days straight was not easy. My body was exhausted and the last few days I really had to push myself through it. It took stamina and a lot of perseverence, the extent of which I did not realize I had before this week. Now padding two days in a row does not seem like so much. My skills also had a big jump, as did my confidence. I don’t think you can paddle that much consecutively without experiencing a big jump!

What a week. Back to the real world and counting the days until Saturday’s paddling trip, once again.

 Day dreamin in Georgia…

So next weekend (June 30th) I’ll make a second attempt on the Ocoee. Unfortunately, I have plans this weekend so I can’t really paddle and prepare myself. I have to trust the six months of work and effort I’ve put in, and trust my skills that I know I have. Since I made this decision, 1-2 days ago, I’ve been telling all my friends and talking about how nervous I am (I have butterflies already - a week before). So I am listening to my own words. Time to stop analyzing it, talking about it, fretting about it, and just SHUT UP AND PADDLE.

 Nuff said. I will let you know how great it is!

 SYOTR,

Amanda