Question:

Dec 31- It’s snowing out but our present plan is for Pete and I to get in a quick paddle up to the Maryland Chute or up Mather Gorge this afternoon so I can get back in a kayak……We’ll see if I wimp out

I didn’t wimp out…..so Heather, Pete, Rowan and I headed up to Old Anglers…Heather hung out and watched Rowan while Pete and I went off to paddle (she gets her turn tomorrow)….. It was 28 degrees. Ice formed on our boats, paddles, lifejackets…..but it was delightful to be out. I was feeling pretty chicken (sorry Wilko – I’m still working on it!!!). I also felt like a stuffed bear with neo, fleece, drysuit and I was paddling with gloves for the first time……in a boat I wasn’t sure I could roll….. The upshot is we paddled up the gorge….It was very pretty with a dusting of snow on the rocks…..bits of ice about…..herons flying……we talked about other paddles up the gorge…. And we talked about Scott…..(the flowers at the Angler’s put in are still there btw) Coming back down from Wet Bottom a nearly full moon rose – reminding us that it had been a month since the night we had waited for Wilko on the MD OBservation Deck…. Coming down I went through the MD chute and the old whitewater bug caught up with me…..No I didn’t go for any enders…but I was smiling hard!!! We got off just before dark……even got someone to take a photo of us….. And then we returned to the van – where Rowan was still sleeping in Heather’s arms….. An excellent end to 1998. sheila

Response:

The girls and I went off to Florida stopping in route to run a stretch of the Catawba famous for its spider lilies which bloom in the river during May -well worth the trip if you are in the area. Please tell me where this is.  Was this stretch of the Catawba it in NC? BTW, loved the whole report.

Thanks Eric. It is at Landsford Canal St Pk along the Catawba about 1/2 hour south of Rock Hill SC and maybe an hour north of Columbia SC – just a few miles East of 77. The phone number for the park is 803-789-5800. I wouldn’t have known about it except I stayed with a non-paddling "mom" friend in Rock Hill -and she told us about it. Heather and I took her 9YO son in our canoe (he had been wanting to "go" in a canoe for several years!!)….while she walked along the bank with the little kids. It is only about a mile stretch of river over what the ranger called "shoals" …kind of class 1 ledges a bit reminscent of the Staircase at low water. The flowers themselves are white lily like flowers that stand at least 2 feet tall…..and grow all through the river…….Really cool!!!! Prime time is right around Memorial Weekend. sheila

Response:

The girls and I went off to Florida stopping in route to run a stretch of the Catawba famous for its spider lilies which bloom in the river during May -well worth the trip if you are in the area.

Please tell me where this is.  Was this stretch of the Catawba it in NC? BTW, loved the whole report. Eric da Grate

Response:

I’m enjoying reading about other peoples paddling years -thanks for starting this Tom and Ratty – I don’t keep a record of trips – but I will flip through the calendar and see if I can come with a list or highlights: (I do have a nice photo scrapbook thanks to rbp advice on buying the Pentax WR90) JANUARY Icebreaker on the Staircase – Pete and I were tandem in the open boat after not paddling tandem for 15 years. The look on Kanubi’s face as we filled to the gunwales at Bull Falls on a 25 degree day was worth a photo. We made it to the eddy without capsizing! Marsh Creek – a mothra special – a ton of people, 60 degree weather, a fun fast creek with an 8 foot runnable dam at the end. FEBRUARY  pool slalom – Heather got her first "combat" roll during the race when she flipped going through a gate. There was a collective groan and then cheers all around when she rolled as most people knew she had just made her first pool roll that week. The pool slalom was another venue for showing the commardie of our sport…..competitors at the pool in DC ranged from children just learning the basics to Davey Hearn, EJ, Sebastian etc -and everyone was cheered for with the same enthusiasm. We all enjoyed 4YO Dane’s run – as he followed EJ through the gates, even turning around backwards when EJ did. Bought a RIP from rbp er Jason McCoy….mothra picked it up for me when she was on a river trip with Jay. I also bought a drysuit from "geruta". MARCH Patasco Not!: Minor creeks were in major flood…..About 3 miles from our house we came upon a scene that DC news watchers will probably remember -where the limousine driver had been swept off the road and spent about 3 hours in a flooded creek while jon boats, helicopters etc tried to rescue him. He had just been pulled from the water when we got there. We detoured half over the country side avoiding road closures from flooded creeks before finally arriving at the meeting spot and then learning that the gauge was under water….Over the next 45 minutes everyone slowly dropped off the trip before unloading boats – we decided to go to a local coffeeshop to at least redeem the social aspect of paddling. They were all closed! Oh well – Pete and I went home via (not)  Great Falls park – and got to see 3 paddlers run Difficult Run (they portaged the really tough drop taking out just above it – exciting!) Casselman: Sean wanted to spend his 7YO birthday on the river….so he and Pete ran C-2 on the Casselman on a snowy day. Sean said "It was the second best day of my life" (the first best being the day he was born). His hands were so cold that he cried silently most of the way down the river – but he still loved it! And he still loves Allison (from MCC) who gave him cocoa in her warm car at the take-out! Sold my Crossfire. I had it posted on the MCC page….some guys who were traveling south from NY to the New – decided to check the page via laptop and modem to see if there were any boats for sale – they are saw mine – called me on the cell phone -I was on my way out to Leesburg – so I took the boat and we met there and transacted the sale. Gotta love the 90’s. APRIL Goose Creek: Our anniversary and Easter fell on the same day – so we took a family float on Goose Creek, had an egg hunt during the lunch stop…..and Pete sent 9YO Seth into a sticky little hole to sidesurf…Seth got flipped and Heather did her first rescue…Pete wouldn’t go in the hole after Seth’s probe attempt…     A couple weeks later we did lead our 1st annual club bluebell trip on Goose Creek followed by a chili potluck. We also had several evening runs on the "Golf Course" stretch of Goose Creek – class 2 fun Kelly’s Ford: several weekend runs and one weekday run (thanks to homeschooling) during March, April and May MAY Cheat Fest: I got to meet several rbp ers including Jason McCoy, who surprised me by greeting me by name – then said he knew who I was because I was standing by my van with the RIP he’d sold me on top! Dry Fork: fantastic run on a day with "heavy fog" according to trip leader, Rod Pitts (uuummmm in VA we call that kind of precipitation rain!). Just after doing the woman’s dry suit dance at lunch – Tony Allred announces that he found fresh bear tracks and scat in the bushes. Lovely! North Branch: several runs -learned about back enders in the Rip. Met Jim Cavo in person when he recognized Pete and I by our boats from my postings on rbp. The girls and I went off to Florida stopping in route to run a stretch of the Catawba famous for its spider lilies which bloom in the river during May -well worth the trip if you are in the area. We also sea kayaked on the May River down near Hilton Head. The guys stayed home and ran the Needles and the North Branch with Seth in kayak and Pete and Sean in the "Jolly Green Giant" JUNE: Lehigh: a rainy weekend so I opt out and stay home to sponge paint half the house and hit up yard sales….Pete and Sean do the Jolly Green again with the other 3 kids in kayaks! Week of Rivers: new rivers and new friends….got to meet Billy Gray and some other rbp ers….ran the Nantahala several times and the Hiawasee and Little Tennessee. Pete ran the Ocoee. Heather hit her first river combat roll on the Nanty pulling into an eddy -then repeated the performance at the bottom of Nantahala Falls! JULY: MCC Splash Trip on the Sandy Hook to Brunswick section of the Potomac: about 25 boats including David Mackintosh who ran "X-3" with Barbie on his bow and his daughter sitting on his stern. The main point of the trip was to swim at Weaverton Ledges and to shoot squirt guns at each other for the rest of the trip. Yough: Heather’s first run (well except those she did when I was pregnant with her – up until 7