Hiwassee River Trip 2009
Hiwassee in Summer -- cool, reliable water, a bit of a haul to get to, but...Seven hardy souls forsook a late June drenching that made the Elkhorn runnable, and decide to challenge the Hiwassee on Sat & Sun. Several of the group were repeat offenders to the river, but we did have a newsome two-some try their skills at a first time run on whitewater.
Ther is nothing like a hot June day to make you appreciate the coolness of the Hiwassee (as I demonstrated a couple times each day = testing the water temperature for the group). The river is wide and challenging, has many opportunities to play (aka, SWIM), and provides water features to help hone different paddling skills with small consequences for mistakes.
Our newbies also checked out the water temp a couple times, no doubt imitating too closely the trip leader (sorry guys). We also experienced a boat disater as a Hiwassee rock lft an impression , and took a chunk, out of the tandem canoe. Good thing Glenn was planning to get skid plates for the boat anyway. Other than that all had a good time, the experienced paddlers got to practice and socialize, the nebies got a taste of whitewater (not bitter taste, they plan to try it again), and the trip leader learned new tips for safely leading a trip in the future.
all-in-all, one of my favorite rivers to run. Now, if I could just stay in my boat....