Trip Report:
"The Bear roars again"

The Chattanooga area received several inches of rain January 5th and 6th. We decided to wait for the river to drop to 22" or lower before we put on; January 7th. Lookout Creek had peaked at over 8,000 cfs the evening before. We put on with 21" on the gauge and healthy flow coming in from the tributaries. Most of which formed beautiful waterfalls spilling into the gorge.



We knew we would need to scout most drops due to the high water moving the wood around in the gorge. Most all the wood was avoidable except some wood that has fallen in just above Omega. Get out well above the entrance to avoid the log. You can still put in below it and run most of the drop. After our trip some people pushed the log into Big Bang which required the assistance of another group of boaters to push it over the drop where it disappeared. You must boof here and the right side pocket where you can pencil in (pocket- protector) is out of business. Use caution until the log can be located and/ or removed.







































Stairway to Heaven;
David Cohen














Curtbag testing the Big Bang Theory



















We had clean lines on Revelations, Momentary Lapse of Reason and Armageddon and entered the boulder gardens, where it always seems like the action is on; Daniel Creek adds substantially to the flow. Casey hiked out after having enough of dealing with a sinking boat. We lost one other member of the group who decided to hike off as well. Aside from some wild lines off Stairway, that will likely be campfire material, there was very little carnage.


Lookout Creek at the end of the day:

Crushing New Years Eve

It seems that dry weather has temporarily made itself scarce here in East Tennessee, which has certainly made all water loving mammals happy, but during the drought of the past few years other avenues of adventuring were explored. Over the holidays an old friend returned from "the land of enchantment" to explore some southeastern geology. Here are some shots from the Devil's Racetrack, an interesting rock fin protruding from the edge of the Cumberland Plateau near Carryville.

Danimal half way up, cold stoked

The view down from the belay station at the top of the first pitch (look at little Walden asleep in the sun, what a good puppy)

Danimal charging pitch number two

Looking off the top into the Tennessee Valley

Rock Fin

So thats why they call it the Devil's Racetrack...

Here is why we didn't climb this route when we came here during the summer. Huge jug half way up the first pitch is a giant bees nest. Yikes. Luckily they weren't home when we were there.

Suck It