David gets his vertical mile and then some! He sets huge TVF records on Suck Creek...in the Snow!!

Launching off Pinnacle on David's 12th lap...

This year for TVF, David joined the renowned Stanley Steamers Team, which includes Jeff West, Chris Townsend, Jonathan Shanin, and Mark Bowman. These guys are fired up! Starting before daylight on a snowy cold day, David and Jeff blew away the records on our local manky class V run, Suck Creek. Specifically, David did 16 laps all the way to the bridge, beating the old record by over 8 miles and 1500 vertical feet! Then we realized, not only did he get a vertical mile, he had beaten the East Coast TVF personal record by over 300 feet...He logged 6320!! Also, the team logged over 7,000 feet and Jeff ran Knucklehead (a regularly portaged drop) 10 times in a row!!...You can read a detailed story about this adventure and others at tvfkayaking.blogspot.com. Here are a few shots from the day. Below is Jeff at Pinnacle, around lap 8, boofing the Dagger Nomad like a champ:

David and Jeff getting ready in snowy twilight:

Snow fell in the morning and blanketed the ground. A rare sight in the southern corner of Tennessee.

David at Road Construction on lap 3: Jeff running Knucklehead for the 5th time in a row:David runs the bottom of Road Construction while Jeff enters:

David at Slow-N-Low on lap 10:

Going Big on the Mighty Tellico

I've been seeing guys freewheeling their creekboats, so I decided to try it for myself. It turns out that I can do it too! I love my Burn! After practicing some serious creeking boofs, and a couple good freewheels at Baby Falls, I pulled a log out of Diaper Wiper and we headed down to Bald River Falls for some "plugging practice." I took a shot of David (below) and we finished two complete laps. Woohoo! Next, we headed to a 'secret creek' in the area to clean wood out. David manhandled several logs, and all the best drops on my secret creek are ready to run! :) Kat

Little River Canyon Falls in Alabama: Kat checks it off

Finally, I made it down there at 8 to 9 inches and was able to run this awesome drop. Dave has run it lots of times, but this was my first time :)

Thanks to my friends Matt Wallace and Ben Davis for the moral support and the photos! They also dropped it for their 1st time and had nice lines!

Green Race 2007...Kat Spanks the Monkey!

Well, I have big news! After years of walking it and being a stupid chicken, I FINALLY RAN GORILLA!!! It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, and I nailed the line. The Notch went smooth, I caught the eddy and looked up at the huge crowd of people screaming at me...I smiled, peeled out and hit the pad dead center with a big right boof stroke, landed and punched the speed trap in control. I eddied out at the bottom and pumped a fist or two! It was one of my top moments in a kayak for sure. For years, through mental and physical trials, there were many times when I doubted whether I would ever do it. It felt really good to put the Gorilla "rite of passage" behind me and just enjoy the Green! It was awesome to have my husband waiting for me at the bottom, and my friend Tommy, who I haven't seen in years, setting safety as well, with big smiles on both their faces. What a great day!

Now lets just hope I can keep running it like that! :)Kat

Below are his and hers lines at Pencil sharpener:

Green Narows Again...low, but fun.

His and hers boofs at Groove Tube. (Kat above, David below)

Thanks to Matt Wallace for the photos!

Gauley Fest 2007

After Labor Day, our next big fun paddling trip was to West Virginia for Gauley Fest Weekend. I paddled 3 days on the Upper Gauley and carried my boat up the Panther Creek trail every day. I was so tired from paddling hard and carrying my boat up that steep trail that I slept through the festival! I missed dancing with the Orange Crush, Pole Dancing at the Dagger Booth, and all the rest. Oh well, I came for the river anyway! I did run into many people I hadn't seen in a long while. Gauley Fest is always socially enjoyable.

Kat

Cheoah on Labor Day Weekend

Cheoah is great fun, and the tree situation is getting better all the time. The first time I ran this river, back before the releases were negotiated, it was scary and dangerous due to all the class 3-4 rapids literally in a forest.



Kat (above) entering the center line at Bear Creek Falls, or Big'un...or whatever its being called these days. This is such a fun rapid. David (below) running the same line, but a closer shot.



Here's David on the second drop:



Kat's second picture turned out blurry. Thanks to Dneesh on Boatertalk for the pics!