The high today was in the 40’s. If I didn’t have a freaking head cold I would have been out on the water. But, when it’s cold you can write about warmer times. One of the more beautiful natural flow runs is up in Fort Payne, Ala., in Little River Canyon. The run is called Chairlift. It’s not a novice run. Anyone running it in my opinion needs a solid roll and needs to be competent in Class III water. Oh, and you will need hiking shoes (kidding) but there is a mile or so hike down to the river. If you want details on how to get there and technical description of the full run visit AlabamaWhitewater.com. The following is just my personal take on a great run last Spring when the paddling Gods aligned for a warm day and decent enough water level.
This was special run to me because I had run Chairlift several years prior on a day when it was 32 degrees, I swam four times that day, didn’t run Bottleneck and got frostbite on my hands. My confidence was blown and on one flip I remember being upside down and my hands couldn’t feel my grab loop to pull my skirt and come out of the boat. I opened my eyes under water and I could see the grab loop and I could see my hand reaching for it, but not hooking it. Obviously I got it. But, I remember thinking — this is how people die. Sounds very dramatic, but I pledged that day not to go back until the conditions were right and I was ready.
Fast forward five or six years to the warm Spring day…It is amazing how different a place looks with leaves on the trees, not ice. It was a beautiful sunny day and when we finished our hike in with boats. There were kids playing on the sandy beach. If you’ve never hiked down to the canyon, it truly is beautiful. Just be prepared for the hike out. Or paddle down like we do. We had a great group that day with my friends Fred, Bubba, Vander, Mark and Judy. You do get a little bit of a warm up before you hit Eddy Hop rapid. It doesn’t look that dangerous in the video, but if you look near the end I’m up against a pretty big undercut rock. It is not where I wanted to be. You don’t see it, but when I flipped over I got knocked out of the eddy by one of my fellow boaters. I hit the roll, but was off my line, lost momentum and had to recover quick.
Then you paddle through some additional Class II/III rapids till you get to Bottleneck. The next two videos are of the entrance rapid, then the Bottleneck….upside down. I had always imagined what would be in the crack of those rocks and I’ve been terrified of flipping in it. What would my head hit? Could I roll and recover if I did hit something? Well, I flipped at the top as you will see, hung out upside down (tucked of course in set up position) until I felt I could roll. It is dark and deep in that crack in the rock. Fear gone.
The rest of the run is more class II/III. My batteries ran out. As you can see its beautiful, but it is a long day. Leave early and you may want to wait until daylight savings time kicks in because if you park your car in the park, they close the gates at sundown.
helen2o 