Chucky's Revenge

Back on the blogging scene like a fiend.

Spirits have elevated due to one of the wettest Januarys in a while.

Within the first three days of the new year some Jibbers got out on the shit.
Even New Years three day weekend i should skip work another day to go falling. So el dudes showed up at work to load boats in front of all my coworkers, I told the boss that he was in charge for the day and we were off.

Upon arriving at Raven Fork the level was 16" upon leaving it was 15.5" About halfway down Tubes and I decided the level was optimal and that we didn't think you would want to do it any lower. A few rapids later the third member of our group, Big T, mentioned that the level was a little on the high side of good but he said he didn't want to get our juices flowing too early by telling us before we put on. At any rate the level was fantastic and we had a great day on the water. Only two boats were broken when we decided that we should seal launch in around Mangler instead of sliding into the tree. Tubes said, "hey look how long he is in the air." It was much higher than we expected and much more shallow than expected and everyone had a good laugh as my bow went about three feet into the water before I pitonned and resurfaced with a bent bow with a big stress crack. But I think that was better than Tubes's back jarring boof and Big T's boat breaking launch into the pool below. Next time I'm sliding into the trees. The ole' back can't handle that kind of fun anymore.

Then just last week the Plateau area was greeted with a bit more rain and it awoke the great one from its slumber. A very long slumber it was indeed.

The Bear was running on Wed. and once again I skipped work, or at least most of it, and made way for Lookout Mountain. The gauge was reading 11" but with all the tributaries and ground water coming in it was more like 12" which means Stairway has enough padding for a good run. I was supposed to meet Randy R. for a run down "Brush Creek Proper" but by the time I was done with the first run it was too late to make it to Graysville, so I opted out and went for another run on The Bear. Notice how it is called THE Bear. Very few creeks recieve a The in front of their name and the Bear definatly deserves it. It has big drops and a great boogy section. After the second run I headed north and hiked up Roaring to the confluence with Brush and got footage of the crew running the last drop of Brush. Maybe Randy will give you a report at a later date.

Before, after and during all this Suck Creek was running which is nice because it is so close to town and its roadside. I believe it drops around 245 to 260 feet in its mile that typically gets run. There's always a party at Suck. I think I got burnt out on Suck though I skipped going over there for a couple of days with no regrets. I'll be ready for it to run again but at that time it was getting monotonous and it was helping my skills improve about as much as reading about kayaking on the internet.

Well I guess I'll sign off until next time llueve de de, maybe Randy will tell you what he done did.

Love,
Captain Ralph