Weekend Wrap-Up

Friday, March 2nd

4 laps - Greenbrier Creek - 1,080 Vertical Feet

Josh, Stuart, and I met at 8:45 am and made their way to Big Creek. When we checked the gage, we found the creek at 3.3. We all decided that the creek was just a little to stout for us, so we pulled out Leland Davis's North Carolina Rivers and Creeks Guidebook and started to figure out other options. We eventually settled on a creek just 20 miles from Big Creek, Greenbrier. None of us had run the creek before, so this class III/IV river was a complete mystery to us. In fact, until just that day, I had never heard of it before.

This river is truly a gem in the Smokies. It is very continuous in nature with some great III/IV drops. After three laps, we decided to drive up the road and check out Ramsey Cascades, a tributary of Greenbrier. It was listed as Class IV/V, but what we saw was anything but solid Class V with consequences. We made our way back down to Greenbrier and started our fourth and final lap on the river. Virgin run on a creek for all, no swims, a few random rollers, and over 1,000 vertical feet. Good day, good day. Pictures will be coming soon.

Saturday - March 3rd

3 laps - Little River (Smoky Mountains) - 960 vertical feet

This didn't count as an official TVF creek. Unfortunately, no other teammates were able to make there way to the Smokies. Instead, Steve Moore joined me for his virgin descent down the run. I heard many excuses for why they weren't at the river. These ranged from ultimate frisbee tournaments, watching kids, to hangovers. The watching kids was the one that really ticked me off!

Sunday - March 4th

3 laps - Wilson Creek - 825 vertical feet

This may count as one of our 8 days on the river. By the time I came to this day, I was exhausted. Natalie joined me along with Paul in order to make our way down a low, but fun day on Wilsons. Several random rollers due to poor exhaustion and laziness. I had a horrible wipe-out on Razorback after claiming "I've got this one figured out, finally!" After having the padding somehow or another ripped out of my helmet and taking a hard head shot, we all thought three laps was a good way to call it quits.

Pray for rain. We WILL get a 2,000 vertical feet day before it's over.

See you on the river.
-brian