The Tuckaseigee River (Tuck) is advertised as a "warm" and meandering river. That is one old advertisement! A couple years ago the dam started to feed into the Tuck and everything has changed. No longer a quiet , slow moving stream to take an inner tube on. It has class II & III rapids that will flip an inner tube in a heart beat.
Bill's memory of it had to been before the dam releases began.
The put in is located along US74 near Dillsboro. A public place where you can park your vehicles and leave them or have someone drive west on US 74 and park them at the takeout. The take out's name evades me but Bro Bar can pass that on to ya.
Bro Bar had brought "Yahoos", or sit on , plastic kayaks with "self-draining" decks. That means that there are holes in the bottom of the things.
Here Bill, Joe and Jim are reading to leave:
I have never been in one, that day was the first. My rear end was introduced to the chilly Tuck's waters when I cast off from shore. The flow was heavy, I could not get an eddy to sit in and wait for the other three , Bill, Jim and Joe, to catch up. I ran a small set of rapids and got used to the kayak paddle that I was using.
I eddied out and lit a cig , while holding onto a branch from a sunken tree on the river left. The small rapids had some water to fall over into and on me. Cool.
Here they come. : Here comes Yak.
Now Bill gets in.
Joe is "chilling" :
We gathered up and Bill took us to the next set of rapids. There were some nice foamy curlers to "play" in. But Bill wanted us ( mainly Joe and I) to learn how to catch an eddie, ferrie stroke, and surf up river in the foam. It is amasing to look up river and keep the "nose" of the craft up river as well. It seems to be like floating on air. :
Here Bill is surffing and so am I.
And here comes Yak!
But after a small game of follow the leader, Bill turned us down river. There were some heavier waves ahead. We picked out the foamiest routes I believe. But I was beginning to "understand" the rapids a lot more. Shortly though , Yak wanted to do one of those "exit the eddie" turns. It's an 180 degree turn from where you are surfing upstream and you want to catch the down river flow ( which is very fast) and with a high brace , your craft will whip around and head down stream.... Yak's whip allowed water into his Yahoo and he very gentlemanly slipped outof the Yahoo. He stood up! :
But went down quickly. It is not safe to stand in any kind of W W. He got back into his Yahoo and with some explaining to us and our own laughter we went on down stream in a jolly mood.
That was where the waters became un-tamed. Sets of rapids that had white water brewing all abouts. Haystacks loomed at each point and the picking of a "good" path was getting hard or near non-exsistant. No longer small stones that created riffs, but huge rocks caused the waters to shoot upwards and out wards. Splashings, foamings, curse words filled the air. Mine among them the loudest.
A small pause here for me to explain why this old fart is doing W W. Long ago I started to dream about wilderness river tripping. I had never been in any sort of Class II or higher rapids. I wanted some experience and this was one way to get it. The Buffalo River in Arkansas was to become my first introduction to it. Bill's memory of it wasn't about the level that we dipped into then. Later we found that had the river's level been up some 4 inches or so that the National Park Rangers would have closed it down for flooding stage. So we had some very high waters there and you all know what went down or swamped out there. BUT! I did get a lot of experience and dared to get more. I wanted to increase my W W experience to gain an insight to the path of the rocks and logs. In short I am not a W W follower. Slow and easy on the learning curve.
Not that way on the Tuck. As soon as you get out of one set of rapids another is hungrily awaiting you. Fast and quick thinking is a must. The water is moving and you will go with it or into it. Either way you still are heading to the next rapids. There are a few places where you can eddied out and regain your composure. There was one opportunity to do so, or rather had to. Yak spilled/blowout in a fierce set.... he hung onto Bill's Yahoo while Joe and I gathered his Yahoo. I flipped it up side down and had to get it back to Yak who was hanging onto Bill's boat still. The river's flow was impossible for me to direct the Yahoo back to Bill... I pushed it off towards Joe and Bill came into the path and gathered it back to Yak who was still in the water and not looking ( to me) very good. That water is still cold.... That is when we hit a Class I rapids and jerked around in them.... then Bill told Jim to get ashore or least he die in the next set coming up strong ( a Class III we think).
Jim swam-kicked and found us all around him at shore. He said he felt Ok and warm. My thoughts were that he was in shock and didn't know just how cold he was. We broke there on shore for a bit and Jim told us that he had lost his wristwatch on that blowout. My mouth was so dry that I could not bring spit into it. No exaggeration here. That was an episode that got me tired out completely. The river changed its face for me after that. : Yak and us along shore getting a breather:
Bro Bar had been saying that there were a "few" rough places yet to go. So we headed out. After several class III or a IV in there some wheres, I wondered how many more of the Maryland Farmers there were left. "Three," came the answer. That was while ashore once again when one of my fingers cramped up next to the palm of my hand. It was locked there. I couldn't hold a paddle ... nothing.... finally it started to get feelings back into it. Another cig and we pushed off from there. The river was going to teach me that it ruled out here and that my play time was to turn to survival. The feeling that this monster was going to throw me into it was a deep setted challenge for me. Wet anyways, I didn't want to leave my boat for nothing. It was then me and the Tuck. I have reverence for it but I didn't want to kiss its rear. There were more heavy rapids. There were more crashings of water and rocks. I was flipping and sliding, the paddle would be made to brace-dig in-turn-push what ever it took to stay afloat. Water crashed over my head. Sometimes the haystacks poured into the boat and swamping was next to follow. But self draining holes do keep you afloat longer.
Looking back that evening I owed up that there was two times that the good Lord kept me from goin over. It was 50-50 in each event. I was awarded to stay dry ( not flip over) from some frantic paddling. I had learned a lot.
"If I can see a road or path up that friggin shore to the highway, I'm gone!" I said to Jim. This isn't fun anymore... it's survival. And in all honesty, at that time and place on the river it was. Bill told me that the take out was just beyond the next one or two bends in the river. I pushed myself and Yahoo to the next bend. There across the whole river was white water... the river narrowed into a small channel.... Tuck's last farewell to Swampy. I noticed a man standing at the shore watching us come through... I was tossed, bounced, plunged, paddling like a freak and after all said and done, I floated by the guy and said, "Well at least I didn't get my hat wet!" Small chuckle from him as I headed to the next bend.... around it I found the highway bridge that crossed the river at the take out. I headed river right and was right next to the bank. I wasn't going to miss this take out ... no way jose...
Just before the take out I took picture of Jim and Bill. Joe had already gone on ahead and was getting out.
Even the take out was a challenge. A large steel pipe ran along the shore and you have to get over it ( it was under water a couple of inches.). Joe helped me get out, or was it Bar ... maybe Jimmy... I really don't know... I was that tired. I really kissed the rocks at the take out....
At camp Bill and I found that we had sunburn on our calfs. I had real pain in my lower legs also.
Debriefing myself, I have come to realize that W W comes in many packages. No one river is the same the next day. What can start as fun can become survival. My thoughts on running wild rivers hasn't changed. But my experience now has shown me to make intelligent decisions and with safety always in the forefront. Self evaluation is a must at each rapids. Get out and look at what's in front of you, regardless if anyone else wants to go ahead and run it. The Tuck was , at that time, bigger than the Buffalo. It had a mean streak in it. But after resting for a few days, I can say I'd do it again with Bill and Jim at any time. Joe too. I feel ten feet tall and humble now. To sore the next morning to float the Natahala River. Didn't sleep at all that night... so when the guys who did run it left, I hung up my Hennessey and had a good two hour snooze....
swampy
Bill's memory of it had to been before the dam releases began.
The put in is located along US74 near Dillsboro. A public place where you can park your vehicles and leave them or have someone drive west on US 74 and park them at the takeout. The take out's name evades me but Bro Bar can pass that on to ya.
Bro Bar had brought "Yahoos", or sit on , plastic kayaks with "self-draining" decks. That means that there are holes in the bottom of the things.
Here Bill, Joe and Jim are reading to leave:
I have never been in one, that day was the first. My rear end was introduced to the chilly Tuck's waters when I cast off from shore. The flow was heavy, I could not get an eddy to sit in and wait for the other three , Bill, Jim and Joe, to catch up. I ran a small set of rapids and got used to the kayak paddle that I was using.
I eddied out and lit a cig , while holding onto a branch from a sunken tree on the river left. The small rapids had some water to fall over into and on me. Cool.
Here they come. : Here comes Yak.
Now Bill gets in.
Joe is "chilling" :
We gathered up and Bill took us to the next set of rapids. There were some nice foamy curlers to "play" in. But Bill wanted us ( mainly Joe and I) to learn how to catch an eddie, ferrie stroke, and surf up river in the foam. It is amasing to look up river and keep the "nose" of the craft up river as well. It seems to be like floating on air. :
Here Bill is surffing and so am I.
And here comes Yak!
But after a small game of follow the leader, Bill turned us down river. There were some heavier waves ahead. We picked out the foamiest routes I believe. But I was beginning to "understand" the rapids a lot more. Shortly though , Yak wanted to do one of those "exit the eddie" turns. It's an 180 degree turn from where you are surfing upstream and you want to catch the down river flow ( which is very fast) and with a high brace , your craft will whip around and head down stream.... Yak's whip allowed water into his Yahoo and he very gentlemanly slipped outof the Yahoo. He stood up! :
But went down quickly. It is not safe to stand in any kind of W W. He got back into his Yahoo and with some explaining to us and our own laughter we went on down stream in a jolly mood.
That was where the waters became un-tamed. Sets of rapids that had white water brewing all abouts. Haystacks loomed at each point and the picking of a "good" path was getting hard or near non-exsistant. No longer small stones that created riffs, but huge rocks caused the waters to shoot upwards and out wards. Splashings, foamings, curse words filled the air. Mine among them the loudest.
A small pause here for me to explain why this old fart is doing W W. Long ago I started to dream about wilderness river tripping. I had never been in any sort of Class II or higher rapids. I wanted some experience and this was one way to get it. The Buffalo River in Arkansas was to become my first introduction to it. Bill's memory of it wasn't about the level that we dipped into then. Later we found that had the river's level been up some 4 inches or so that the National Park Rangers would have closed it down for flooding stage. So we had some very high waters there and you all know what went down or swamped out there. BUT! I did get a lot of experience and dared to get more. I wanted to increase my W W experience to gain an insight to the path of the rocks and logs. In short I am not a W W follower. Slow and easy on the learning curve.
Not that way on the Tuck. As soon as you get out of one set of rapids another is hungrily awaiting you. Fast and quick thinking is a must. The water is moving and you will go with it or into it. Either way you still are heading to the next rapids. There are a few places where you can eddied out and regain your composure. There was one opportunity to do so, or rather had to. Yak spilled/blowout in a fierce set.... he hung onto Bill's Yahoo while Joe and I gathered his Yahoo. I flipped it up side down and had to get it back to Yak who was hanging onto Bill's boat still. The river's flow was impossible for me to direct the Yahoo back to Bill... I pushed it off towards Joe and Bill came into the path and gathered it back to Yak who was still in the water and not looking ( to me) very good. That water is still cold.... That is when we hit a Class I rapids and jerked around in them.... then Bill told Jim to get ashore or least he die in the next set coming up strong ( a Class III we think).
Jim swam-kicked and found us all around him at shore. He said he felt Ok and warm. My thoughts were that he was in shock and didn't know just how cold he was. We broke there on shore for a bit and Jim told us that he had lost his wristwatch on that blowout. My mouth was so dry that I could not bring spit into it. No exaggeration here. That was an episode that got me tired out completely. The river changed its face for me after that. : Yak and us along shore getting a breather:
Bro Bar had been saying that there were a "few" rough places yet to go. So we headed out. After several class III or a IV in there some wheres, I wondered how many more of the Maryland Farmers there were left. "Three," came the answer. That was while ashore once again when one of my fingers cramped up next to the palm of my hand. It was locked there. I couldn't hold a paddle ... nothing.... finally it started to get feelings back into it. Another cig and we pushed off from there. The river was going to teach me that it ruled out here and that my play time was to turn to survival. The feeling that this monster was going to throw me into it was a deep setted challenge for me. Wet anyways, I didn't want to leave my boat for nothing. It was then me and the Tuck. I have reverence for it but I didn't want to kiss its rear. There were more heavy rapids. There were more crashings of water and rocks. I was flipping and sliding, the paddle would be made to brace-dig in-turn-push what ever it took to stay afloat. Water crashed over my head. Sometimes the haystacks poured into the boat and swamping was next to follow. But self draining holes do keep you afloat longer.
Looking back that evening I owed up that there was two times that the good Lord kept me from goin over. It was 50-50 in each event. I was awarded to stay dry ( not flip over) from some frantic paddling. I had learned a lot.
"If I can see a road or path up that friggin shore to the highway, I'm gone!" I said to Jim. This isn't fun anymore... it's survival. And in all honesty, at that time and place on the river it was. Bill told me that the take out was just beyond the next one or two bends in the river. I pushed myself and Yahoo to the next bend. There across the whole river was white water... the river narrowed into a small channel.... Tuck's last farewell to Swampy. I noticed a man standing at the shore watching us come through... I was tossed, bounced, plunged, paddling like a freak and after all said and done, I floated by the guy and said, "Well at least I didn't get my hat wet!" Small chuckle from him as I headed to the next bend.... around it I found the highway bridge that crossed the river at the take out. I headed river right and was right next to the bank. I wasn't going to miss this take out ... no way jose...
Just before the take out I took picture of Jim and Bill. Joe had already gone on ahead and was getting out.
Even the take out was a challenge. A large steel pipe ran along the shore and you have to get over it ( it was under water a couple of inches.). Joe helped me get out, or was it Bar ... maybe Jimmy... I really don't know... I was that tired. I really kissed the rocks at the take out....
At camp Bill and I found that we had sunburn on our calfs. I had real pain in my lower legs also.
Debriefing myself, I have come to realize that W W comes in many packages. No one river is the same the next day. What can start as fun can become survival. My thoughts on running wild rivers hasn't changed. But my experience now has shown me to make intelligent decisions and with safety always in the forefront. Self evaluation is a must at each rapids. Get out and look at what's in front of you, regardless if anyone else wants to go ahead and run it. The Tuck was , at that time, bigger than the Buffalo. It had a mean streak in it. But after resting for a few days, I can say I'd do it again with Bill and Jim at any time. Joe too. I feel ten feet tall and humble now. To sore the next morning to float the Natahala River. Didn't sleep at all that night... so when the guys who did run it left, I hung up my Hennessey and had a good two hour snooze....
swampy
