Roadtrip

Great week in the southeast! Started off with a fun day on Wilson Creek with the gals on Wednesday and Linville on Thursday. Got some rain and the weekend off so Ryan and I figured we'd head to West Virgina where snowmelt had kept Mann's Creek flowing for days. After making a few phone calls we determined Mann's Creek may well be running a very low flow. Instead, we set our sights on a little known creek in Virgina that drops close to a 1ooo feet in three miles. You may recognize some of the drops and the mandatory portage in the pictures below from the American Whitewater page on Bottom Creek. You won't find any flow info there but you will find several photos posted by Gordon Dalton along with a few important notifications about the mandatory portage that is hard to spot from upstream. Go with someone who knows it your first time so you don't miss it and die!

Beautiful Mouse Creek falls drops in at a rapid known as Swiss Cheese

Steve Powers shows how it's done

Eye of the needle aka Inner Earth. This picture doesn't show the long entrance to the portage which could be easily mistaken as a great rapid. Go with someone who knows where to get out.

Ryan styles Three Blind Mice. This is the last serious drop but the creek continues for another mile of steep class 4.

Ryan warms up on the Kettels.

Despite the low flow we had a blast out there and were blown away by the creek. We hung out with friends and met some great people. Thanks Steve and Joey. Saturday night we headed to Watauga where we experienced sweet free camping at the put-in. We awoke to a perfect level for Watuaga. Good times.

Upper Creek Photos

On January 25, 2010 a group of southeastern paddlers attempted Upper Creek in North Carolina. Toby Macdermot was the only person to complete the river that evening in his kayak after accidentally running a portage. The rest of us ran out of daylight portaging Toby's drop and chose to hike out over running unknown class five in the dark. Toby's drop is huge and totally unrunnable due to two logs that are in play. How he managed to come through unscathed in his kayak puzzles the shit out of me, but he did.

View from the top of Upper Falls. This is a great alternative put-in and is at the pull-off for Upper Falls from the road (181). Once above the falls, you can ferry over and hike up river left to get four or five worthy drops.

Toby drops into a tight Raven Fork like drop

Below here were two more good slides that were like the Toxaway.

Pat Keller on one of the cool drops before Upper Falls

I will definitely go back as there are plenty of good big drops and the portaging isn't bad, however, Upper Creek isn't a classic. Anyone looking for an exciting day on some new whitewater will enjoy Upper Creek. Use FR 982 as a takeout road. You can drive up a ways creekside to shorten the paddle out on FR 197.