spring/summer- photo dump

Spring Time

The charging has not let up since I moved to Chattanooga. The collective will of Team JIB to charge hard and boof big has taken me by storm. The creeks have stayed primed and seem to catch some rain every week. Runs have been abundant lately with Little Possum and Henderson in one day. I took a trip down to Tallulah with some good buddies from out of town. I charged with my playboat and reaped the rewards at ampitheatre as I was throwing blunts and making the creekboaters jealous. A few huge water trips to Rock Island have provided me with sweet surf sessions as it has now been spilling over the dam for more than three weeks. I had a sweet day on Suck creek at over 5 feet, firing up South Suck( super sweet roadside steeps), the whole creek is really pumpin at that level. I've had countless runs down suck at an array of levels and recently fired it up in my playboat( some good down creek freestyle to be had). I have all so patented the double right move off of Knucklehead(the gnar de suck) which seems to be working pretty well. I boof the rock in the middle of the flow onto the curling pile and the give her hell one more time for the big boof. This past week end myself along with Jeremy Pou and Will Pruett broke out of Chatt and headed to North Carolina to fire up the Green River Narrows. We applyed our Chattanooga charge style to the river and could have been mistaken for locals. We had healthy water that would rise through out the day due to the constant rain storm.

We were right were I've wanted to be for some time now. We were in Western NC and it was raining. This meant one of two things- TOXAWAY or RAVEN- with less water on toxaway than we had seen in Hendersonville we made the spiritual journey to the Raven Fork. Upon arrival we found a healthy 11 inches on the gauge. We fired up the hill in the V-Dub until the little car would drive no farther. On foot we hiked through a beautiful forest of lush vegetation, slippery granite, and an eerie fog that would accompany us throughout the day. Reveling in the majestic powers of the steep meta-granite gorge I was soft spoken and humbled by its greatness. We had a safe travel through the gorge and good lines were shared by all. Upon reaching Big Boy- A stout waterfall- I was told the water was a little high for the move. None the less the falls spoke to me and now I see it when my eyes close and know that I will grace his curtain one day. Mike Tysons was long, steep, and an overall white out. I ran Wet Willy blind and it was awesome. It was a great day amongst the steeps and an eye opener to the wonders that exist outside of Cherrokee North Carolina.

Here is Will's blog entry and video of our Little P - Henderson one day extravaganza:
http://fullthrottlewill.blogspot.com/2009/04/falling-off-ridge.html

Will on the Sunny One

Will and Jeremy ready to Rave

Jeremy- Razors Edge

Jeremy Jedi Training

Will- Jedi Training

Jeremy- Mortal Kombat




Wet Willy-Ran it blind!

Big Boy is calling me

Will-Tyson

Jeremy-Tyson

Will- Caveman

Nick Murphy- Pinnacle(suck)

Nick-post pinnacle

S. Suck- Roadside Steeps

Killin it off Knucklehead

Bryce Evans -railgrab Road Construction

Will P- Pinnacle

Middle Creek

On Saturday, March 14th, I took full advantage of my hour and a half lunch break from work by sprinting over to Suck Creek for a single bomb session that would return me to work with wet hair and a smile on my face.  The rest of the week hadn't been too bad either with 2 days camped out at Rock Island for sunny surf sessions and a solo sneak attack out to North Carolina to fire up the Green River Narrows.  It had been a solid spring break and I was feeling primed for what sunday had to offer.....  I woke up on sunday morning to the news that Suck Creek was at 4.5 feet and my immediate thoughts were Middle Creek would have water.  Jeremy Pou had painted a gauge days before and cleared wood, so we knew it would be clean.  Sure enough Jeremy was down for the adventure as well as Ryan Allen.  Both were a little pessimistic about water levels but seemed eager to get into the gorge with 1.0 on Jeremy's new gauge.  Middle Creek is probably the steepest run in Chattanooga and warrants extreme caution as it plummets over 700 fpm down to the Tennessee River.  Our hike in was serene as the fog passed through vivid colors of early spring in the gorge.  We hiked down to river level at Rainbow Falls(an unrun 40 footer that would need a lot of water for a survivable line).  We found our selves in a deep gorge with a descent water level.  It was GO time.  Slowly we made our way down the steeps with awe at what this gem had to offer.  I found my self stoked at the whole run givin her at just about every rapid even firing up the main line at Dirty Willy for a first descent.  It felt amazing that the gorge had allowed us safe passage and offered us all her fruit....   Highlights of the day were the Superman Slide and Shoot Me In The Face With A 9 which both had been run less than a hand full of times.  Afterwards we headed over to Suck Creek ,which was still running at 4.5, to find the boys stoked to hear about our travels and eager to cap the day off with a bomb session from the confluence to the bridge.  At the end of the run I found myself beer in hand staring at a beautiful sunset down the gut of Grand Canyon of the Tennessee River Gorge reveling in the thoughts of an amazing day amongst the steeps.

Into the gorge

In between stuff

                                   Sierra-   Jeremy givin her                                       

About to take the hit for the first D

Super Man- was insane

Stickin the line

Boofin 

Don't want to go there

Steeps

Shoot Me in the Face

Into the depths

Ryan Allen following suit

Sweet spot to do some thinking

I returned to Suck Creek the next morning  bright and early to find ample water and my good budy Airen.(We charged it)  Water was abundant on the Plateau as Will and I cashed in on high water at Rock Island as late as Thursday.(We definitely charged it)

Paddling has been sweet lately and my gut tells me there is a lot more to come!

Big thanks to Ryan Allen for the sweet photos, check out his trip report at:

http://jiblogs.blogspot.com/2009/03/middle-creek.html