Hartwell Carson // French Broad Riverkeeper for the Western North Carolina Alliance
The sound of rain and thunder woke us up and it was not long before the lovely Hot Spring Campground became a river. Thunder and lightning caused the raft race to be reschuled and put a soggy finish to an incredible trip!
As the wave trains along French Broad River cut through some of the oldest mountains in the world, we were greated by a river shower. The rain did not slow down most of the group, as we charged ahead to Paint Rock, TN. This meant we had now paddled from the headwaters of the French Broad in North Carolina, all the way into another state. A soak in the natural Hot Springs had everyone feeling warmed up and ready for the raft race the next day.
After significant carnage on the Ledges, everyone rocked through the challenging Alexander Wave (except a swamped Riverkeeper boat). Beautiful weather and swift water brought us to the dam in Marshall, that we portaged in order to camp on Blanhasett Island. We set up camp behind the old highschool, enjoyed a great dinner in town, and played some heated cornhole into the night.
Started the day with a short paddle to 12 Bones BBQ. After stuffing ourselves we headed out to paddle some whitewater. The rain overnight doubled the flow of the river, so the class II and III rapids became much more exciting. There were lots of people in the river without boats and lots of boats in the river without people. Great night of music and Sweetwater and Camp Driftwood on the banks of the river.
A few of our best paddlers set off for home, but we picked up another great group, including a Phd student from Duke, that is studying the environmental impacts of coal ash. One group set off for wine tasting at the Biltmore Estate, and another went to conduct water samples. We got off the river just in time, because hail, the size of golf balls, started raining from the sky. We went out to dinner in Asheville after a presentation by the French Broad Riverkeeper about the paddle trail.
Fun day of navigating around deadfall, jumping out of trees, swinging on rope swings, eating Brixx Pizza, and enjoying good company with a cold Sweetwater. A couple of people accidently decided to swim under a couple trees. It was a bit exciting, but besides a few scars they were no worse for wear.
