Bouncing Back

So the guided season has begun, but I'm still waiting for a few parks to open up in order to do the French Broad trip. Thankfully, the Tuckasegee river has releases on Saturdays during this time until the parks open back up. I wanted to share what I've been up to in the aftermath of Helene.

Without a doubt the flooding from the hurricane altered many creeks and rivers. As Spring has begun I have felt a personal and professional duty to re-explore many of these streams to see where changes have occurred and to get familiar with possible brand new lines. This includes the section where I run trips, some rivers that I enjoy personally, and some that I might want to guide on in the future. Besides running all of these for the purpose of establishing the new best lines in regard to safety and fun, it has also been very emotional work. There have been rapids that improved, some that were lost or became worse, and some that barely changed. One of my happiest afternoons this Spring was getting my first lap on the French Broad since Helene and I'm glad to say that I have found my peace with the old river ( fun fact: The French Broad is somewhere between the 5th to 3rd oldest river in the world) again.

I usually struggle with making a quick transition from guiding to building boards at the beginning of the off season and Helene hitting during that switch definitely delayed things. I was fortunate in that the workshop only experienced mild flood from street and ditch overflow, but it still left a lot of mud to push out and moisture to deal with. Thankfully, power was restored within a week to be able to run a dehumidifier. After some delays I'm back in my groove, and have made a lot of blanks that are ready to be cut to length and shaped so if you would like a riverboard, I'm ready to build.

As much as I love that a later start to guiding has meant more time for exploring rivers and building in the shop; I'm also exciting to see some smiling faces in the water. Get in touch if you're ready to get IN the water!