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:

Middle Creek

After a late wake up and having my coffee I got a call half expecting it to be about going biking in the afternoon after the trails dried out a bit. The boys had done some preliminary research and found what was thought to be a runnable creek.

A quick shuttle was set, the covert put-in was as successful as one could expect when walking around with brightly colored 80 gallon tubs and we were on the river. We worked our way downstream, finding the level low and dropping, wood and debris from the fire over the summer slowed our progress both in the water and on land.
Highlights:
"Shoot Me In the Face with a 9"- Middle Creek 3rd time run from the top down. Everyone else put in inside the cave.
One scary ass pin: involving wood underwater, not visible, everyone else boofed it, one man went deep and caught it in the lap, on top of the sprayskirt, any kayaker's worst nightmare, but alls well that ends well.


Hand-paddling Underground





Look here if you want a description: http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/River_detail_id_4276_#rapid1493