Hotel

The Paramount. The address is 724 Pine Street, Seattle 98101. We found it pretty easliy last time, I think there's a Pine St exit off I-5. I think we Mapquest-ed it & it was EZ.

gardenias

I am indulging in melancholy, nursing sweet bites of pain from it like a sore tooth. A yard crew guy gave me a gardenia while I was out talking to the folks in the designated smoking area.

How do we become friends, only to hurt each other so much later?

More thoughts to come.

Vertical Feet Climbed With Frog System Tally

Lessee...

I estimate 60 ft. for Sheldon.
Another 60 ft. for the climbing tower at SERA.
80 ft. for Sherwood Mtn. Pot.
120 ft. for O'Shaughnessy Pit.
TOTAL: 320 ft. as of 7-13-05.

30 ft. in Fern Cave on 11-12-05
So it's 350 ft. now.

190 ft. at Palisades on 3-27-05.
TOTAL: 540 ft.

50 ft. at Snail Shell Cave entrance sink on 9-10-06.
TOTAL: 590 ft.

*tallest drop in an Alabama Cave is Surprise Pit in Fern Cave, at 404 ft.*

SWIM TALLY, 2006

Tellico, below Turkey Creek, 1st swim of the year, level 2.9 on the gauge. Flipped in a crease.

May 13th, Coosa, 10,500 cfs, at Little Gap rapid. Hey it doesn't count if I was playing, right?
July 9th, Coosa, 2,000 cfs. It was very hot, so a swim was most refreshing. B^)
July 23rd, Hiwassee, Three Chutes Rapid. What a nice swim. Sun was out, water was cool. Ahhh.

PADDLING, CAVING, GEOCACHING, OUTDOOSY STUFF TALLY, 2006

Jan 1st 2006 - Chili Run on Cartecay River. Level 1.7/@380 cfs. href="http://www.necky.com/chronic.htm">Necky Chronic.
Jan 8th 2006 - Magic City Screwdriver Cave.
Jan 14th 2006 - Mulberry Fork, level 1.5 on the bridge. Pics HERE. Necky Chronic.
Jan 15th 2006 - Howard's Waterfall Cave. Also Geocaching on Lookout Mtn. Pics HERE.
Jan 21st 2006 - Tellico River, Turkey Creek put-in, level 2.9 on the gauge. Pics and Trip Report. Prijon Embudo.
Jan 28th 2006 - Mulberry Fork, level 1.5 on the bridge. Pics HERE. Necky Chronic. Also Geocaching around Mulberry Fork and towards Cullman.
Jan 29th 2006 - Locust Fork, level 3.2 and rising. Pics HERE. Trip Reports HERE and HERE. Prijon Embudo.
Feb 4th 2006 - Locust Fork at King's Bend, Locust Fork Invitational Kayak Races. My 40th Birthday run! Level approx. 2.8 on the internet gauge. Pics HERE.
More Pics HERE, of me racing. Prijon Embudo.
Feb 5th 2006 - Geocaching at Ruffner Mtn. State Park with Scott Fee and Scott Parvin. Pics HERE.
Feb 11th 2006 - Geocaching in Scottsboro, Guntersville, Blountsville, and Cleveland, Al.
Feb 12 2006 - Geocaching in Trussville, Pelham, Homewood, and Southside.
Feb 25th 2006 - Ridgewalking (searching for unknown caves) near lake Guntersville. Didn't find any but it was a nice hike. Found a weird hole in some sandstone, pics here and here. It's a cave for a chipmunk!
Feb 26th 2006 - Geocaching in Guntersville state park, around lake Guntersville, and a quick stop at the Summit mall for a cache. Pics HERE.
March 4th 2006 - Mulberry Fork, Garden City put-in, level @ 1 ft. on the bridge gauge.
March 5th 2006 - Mulberry Fork Race, level @ 1/2 ft. on the bridge gauge.
March 18th 2006 - Tellico Ledges section, level 1.15 on the online gauge.
March 19th 2006 - Geocaching near the Ocoee.
March 25th 2006 - Geocaching near the Locust Fork.
March 26th 2006 - Vertical Training Session at Palisades Park in Oneonta, Al. Pics here.
April 1st 2006 - Coosa River, 8000 cfs, for the 30th Anniversary of Southern Trails (outfitter). Paddled with: Jimmy. Saw Jeremy Adkins and Eric and Dane Jackson throwing down in the playspot river left of the Moccasin Gap island.
April 2nd 2006 - Mulberry Fork, level 2ft. and dropping on the bridge. With: Ross, Troy, Joan Steed, Bill.
April 9th 2006 - Broglen and Upper Mulberry Fork, level 2.3 ft. Trip report HERE.
Pics HERE.
April 15th 2006 - Coosa River, 8000 cfs, Pics HERE. Trip report HERE.
April 21-23rd 2006 - Buffalo River in TN. Pics HERE. Trip report HERE.
More pics HERE.
April 29th 2006 - Roll Practice, Oak Mtn. Lake.
May 6th 2006 - Tuckaseegee River in NC. Level - way freakin' low. New river for me. RUSSFEST weekend. Went to look at the Cheoah on Sunday the 7th. Pics HERE.
May 13th 2006 - Coosa River, 10,500 cfs. For a clinic held by Wavesport and Jeremy Adkins/Charlie Mix.
May 20th-21st - HEFF FEST, Nolichucky River. 1200 cfs? Rafted the Noli Gorge. Trip Report HERE. Pics HERE.
May 27th - Raft Ocoee with B'ham folks, May 28th - Attempt to raft Cheoah, May 29th - Kayak Nantahala, level 3.4. Pics HERE.
June 2-4th - SERA Cave Carnival, Buck's Pocket State Park. Pics HERE.
Trip report HERE.
June 10-11th - Hiwassee with BCC beginner class.
July 9th - Coosa, 2000 cfs.
July 15th - HCRU Tyrolean Traverse. Pics HERE.
July 16th - Oak Mtn. Lake, Roll practice. Tried Mark's HP roll.
July 22nd-23rd - Hiwassee with B'ham Canoe Club. Pics HERE.
Aug 6-12 - NSS Convention in Bellingham, Wa. Pics HERE.
Aug 19th - Roll Practice, Oak Mtn. Lake.
Aug 20th - Larry and Kitty's going away party, at a waterpark in Blountsville. Movies HERE.
Aug 26th - Day trip to the Hiwassee, 2 generators. Movies HERE.
Aug 27th - Roll Practice, Oak Mtn. Lake.
Sept. 9th - 10th -Snail Shell Cave. Pics HERE. TR HERE.
Sept. 10th - Geocaching in Central Tenn.
Sept. 16th - Attended Kayak World Cup, Rock Island Tn.
Sept. 23rd-24th - Roll Practice, Oak Mtn. Lake.
Sept. 30th - Nantahala.
Oct. 1st - Took video at Cheoah.
Oct. 6th-8th - TAG Fall Cave-In festival. Pics here.
Oct. 8th - Sauta Cave. Pics here.
Oct. 14th - 15th - Hiwassee River. New thigh blocks.
Oct. 22nd - Locust Fork. Level (corrected) 2.6 on internet gauge.
Oct. 26th-29th - GAF at the Nantahala Outdoor Center. Oct. 28th - ran the Nanty falls upright for a change in a Bliss-Stick SCUD. Ron and Jocelyn, newly-weds, paddled their Topoduo. Three friends in Croco-Kayaks. Videos here. Pics here.
Nov. 4th - Graves Cave - helped buid the footer for a new cave gate. Pics here.
Nov 11th - The Blackwater. A new run for me, class I-II with one II+/III rapid. Near Jasper. Description of run on alabamawhitewater.com under 'Run Index'.
Nov 19th - Locust Fork. Level (corrected) 3.0 on internet gauge.
Nov. 25th - Ridgewalk and investigation into a pit I discovered awhile back. Pics here. Trip Report here.

Dream, Nov. 16 2005

I dreamed that I was with these folks in the basement of an old building, when one of them noticed an irregularity in a wall. They started digging at it and found a cave entrance that had been hidden. We proceeded through and found this huge cavern with a trailer in it. We went up to the trailer and opened it, and found boxes of stored food, as though the place were an abandoned fall-out shelter.
In addition to these items we found a person - alive - a girl who had suffered the removal of her head. Like Mike the headless chicken, she managed to live.
http://www.miketheheadlesschicken.org/

We led her out and everyone went to a picnic. Yes, a picnic. While there a really fat woman came up and started doing card tricks. Apparently the headless girl liked this though I can't figure out how she could have seen or heard anything. But she could communicate - by bouncing a small ball, which she was given. Somehow the number of bounces communicated what she was trying to say.

Gauley River Marathon Sept. 23, 2005

Watchis called me and offered up a chance to get on a raft on Friday of Gauleyfest, to go on the Marathon run - the entire 26 miles of the Gauley river: Upper, Middle, and Lower. Swimmer from BT (Steve) borrowed an Aire Super Puma for the trip. Along with us was a couple on a Shredder as our back-up/safety boaters. Cay Hill (sp?) guided the Shredder and told us the lines.

As most of you know, the Upper has 5 class IV+/V rapids on it. They are Insignificant, Pillow, Lost Paddle, Iron Ring, and Sweet's Falls. A few years ago a friend of mine, Leslie, was third person on a Shredder (bad idea) and almost drowned on Lost Paddle. She threw up water at the bottom of the rapid and quit kayaking or boating of any kind for a few years after that experience.

I was thrilled to get a "free" tour of the entire Gauley, and I knew that Swimmer was an excellent boater - he and Watchis Shredded the Gauley last season - but I was anxious thinking about the near demise of Leslie. After all, one of the reasons her incident occured was the overweighting of the Shredder they were on; and we were overweighting our raft. Never mind the detail that two of the other women on the raft were also raft guides and kick-ass paddlers - I was nervous. Also our raft looked so little compared to the 10 person monsters the commercial companies use. Anyway -

I will never forget going through Initiation and Insignificant. That was the biggest whitewater I had ever been in prior to that day, period. I watched the kayakers in front of us throw wave-wheels. It was beautiful, graceful, scary...

Coming into Pillow, we were (I think) going to try for the splat, and ended up hitting Taco, then hitting Volkswagon, and flipping the raft. I had dropped my paddle in the midst of all this craziness, so I just grabbed onto the raft. Then when the raft flipped I was still holding onto it spread-eagled. Freaking scary. Wonder if we make it on the NPFF dvd? My swim was in deep water, and thus friendly. We collected ourselves and the raft and headed on.

Lost Paddle - I just recall being told not to swim to either shore, both are full of undercut rocks, but to stay in the current until the bottom. This would have entailed a 1/4 mile Mr. Toad's Wild Ride through big ass holes and waves. But nobody took that swim - we had a great line.

Iron Ring - aced it. One shot drop.

Sweet's - IIRC, we were OK at the top but when Swimmer tried to steer the raft it wouldn't budge. Once our overweighted raft started tracking, that thing wouldn't turn. All of us but one popped out of the raft at the bottom. I had a bit of a deep swim here, but no problems.

After the big 5 my nerves got alot calmer! I knew that we were past whatever had chundered Leslie! And thinking back about it, I realize that this is one of my biggest fears about boating - that some incident or accident will take away my love of paddling. The river is a fickle mistress...

And here's the thing - I don't remember the other rapids after that. Nothing else was as thrilling, though it was gorgeous scenery. Well, I do remember Canyon Doors as being a particularly beautiful place. I remember that we had to stay the hell away from undercut Shipwreck Rock no matter what. And I remember seeing the hole in Pure Screaming Hell and feeling glad we weren't in it.
There were several awesome wavetrains, that tossed our entire raft up and down like a leaf. I love wavetrains!

To my surprise, I wasn't exhausted by the Marathon trip. My right thigh cramped for the entire Lower Gauley, and I was glad it wasn't happening on the Upper, because I found it impossible to brace with my right leg when paddling on the left side of the raft. If that had been the Upper I would have been out of the raft...

Anyway, it was a profound experience for me. Many thanks to Swimmer and the rest of our crew, for putting up with my nervous ass and letting me paddle with y'all.


ALTERNATE TRIP REPORT FROM KIM, one of the raft-guide/paddlin' chicks on the raft.