Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Ocoee Trip

Upper Ocoee Crew

A three day weekend at the end of May can mean only one thing – a Southeast paddling trip.  While there are many from which to choose, attractive female raft guides, guaranteed river flow, a run full of play spots, and a clean 7’ boof that begs to be run all day, makes the Ocoee River the obvious choice.  And so Curtis and I loaded the boats on the Subaru Friday afternoon and headed to Ducktown, TN to catch up with the crew: Rick, Nicky, Matt, Jenny and the always entertaining Fireman Larry.  As we made the trip down, Curtis had the twinkle in his eye, almost as though he was coming home for what I’m sure will be the first of many trips for the season.
Larry getting his game face on

For the weekend, we had the set-up: a house in Ducktown, great home-cooked meals, help running shuttle, and even a photography crew through the Olympic section.  Two runs on the upper and three on the middle for the weekend provided plenty of memorable moments.  
Larry at Alien

Larry styled Alien Boof with the hand paddles.  Rick just stomped the boof.  I rode out the entire rapid in a bow stall at Blue Hole (completely by accident).  Curtis cart-wheeled Callahan’s Ledge like no other.  Matt rolled up on a rock just above Humongous and teetered just the right way to GO LEFT and save himself from a potentially not so good day. 
Rick on Alien
mid cart wheel

Jenny tried her hand at a ducky on the middle, and Nicky not only rocked on the water, but with the planning and the cooking as well.  Perhaps the highlight of the weekend for at least Curtis, Rick, and Larry was Matt, Nicky, Jenny, and I drinking from the boots – it’s always delicious and enough to make you try that roll just one more time in the future. 
Chris first boof


Getting some


A great weekend in all thanks to a great crew! Enjoy the pictures courtesy of Nicky – with help from a few of the fellows at Alien. The video is courtesy of Matt’s and Curtis’ GoPros.  Jenny shot some video that’ll certainly be featured in the next Nomadic Adventure Films production.  To steal a line from C-Money (Curtis asked to be referred to as that): until next time, enjoy.
- Chris “I Can Use Spell Check” Polley

Ocoee Trip from Curtis Ahlers on Vimeo.

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