Recently, myself and several other paddlers made a trip to WNC for two days of whitewater paddling and camping.

Day 1 – Camping Near Linville Gorge

On the first day, we drove down to Linville Gorge to camp, which took us right past Lake James. Our campsite was on federal land, with an amazing view of Table Rock Mountain.

Here, we met with other members of our group and had a nice meal of smoked ribs and some excellently prepared collards, as well as a few other items.

I’ve always wanted to explore Lake James, but envisioned doing a day trip there to explore. However, despite it’s obvious beauty, I have been hesitant to travel three hours just to paddle on a lake when I have Falls and Jordan lake near by.

Now that I’ve been to the area though, I realize that there is so much other areas to explore that the lake paddle can just be one part of it. As a result, I plan on coming back to do some camping and hiking, with the lake paddle only being part of the trip.

While most of the party had trucks or vans to camp out of, myself and another paddler tent camped in an area protected from the wind by some trees.

This is one of the most wonderful times to camp, as it was cold enough to be quite comfortable in the tent, but not too cold that it was uncomfortable.

Day 2 – French Broad

After a great nights rest, we broke camp and headed towards Asheville to paddle Section 9 of the French Broad. This was only my second time doing paddling this section, having previously done it just prior to Hurricane Helene in 2024.

After a quick breakfast stop, we arrived at the put in at Marshall and awaited the rest of our group. The area was pretty active, with several other groups of rafters, kayakers, and C1ers.

On this trip, myself and 3 other paddlers were taking our whitewater boats down the river, while the rest of the group were rafting. Once the other group arrived, we worked on getting the rafts ready and setting up shuttle, before starting our trip.

Since I’ve only been down the river once, it is hard to put in perspective how it has changed post-Helene, but one observation was that S-Turn seemed to be a bit different and require less of a maneuver to get through.

The river was a little higher for this trip, flowing at around 2100 CFS, compared to around 1900 CFS back in September. The height was around 2ft both times, although a little higher this time. So, it is possible these differences contributed more so than Helene.

After our run, we broke down the rafts, packed our gear, and headed back to the put in to retrieve one of our vehicles.

Then, it was on to Tennessee, where we headed to Unaka Mountain to camp at Beauty Spot.

We arrived just prior to sunset, which was beautiful and after setting up our tents, cooked some dehydrated camp food, which always tastes like a 4-star meal when you are hungry, and then we headed to bed.

Day 3 – Nolichucky River

We awoke refreshed and just prior to sunrise, so took the opportunity to climb to the top of Beauty Spot to checkout the view. After deciding we had enough time to make some coffee and oatmeal before sunrise, we returned to our vehicle to boil some water and then headed back up to watch the sunrise.

After breaking camp, we headed to get a quick second breakfast and then to the take out in Erwin Tennessee. We put all our gear into one of the vans and headed to the put in. We had hired someone to drive our vehicle back, so that at the end of the trip, we could just pack up and go, which makes things easier, but was also out of necessity, as there is no longer a good place to part near the top of the Nolichucky run.

When we arrived at the take out, we unloaded our kayaks and gear, then carried it over the railroad track to launch.

After a bit of paddling, we arrived at quarter mile rapid, where we climbed out to scout the area.

This was my first time paddling the Nolichucky and the biggest water I’ve done to date, so it was a little intimidating. After spending some time scouting and discussing the run, I walked back to my boat and did the first drop, with several members of our group and another that was also paddling, setting up safety.

I was pushed around a bit more than I would like and came in at a rather poor angle, but managed to paddle through it. However, I subsequently swam a couple rapids after that. Fortunately, two of my fellow paddlers were able to help me push my boat to shore, so I didn’t have to swim the last few rapids of Quarter Mile.

The rest of the paddle was amazing and I worked on being more aggressive, improving my boof stroke, and also remembering to convert braces into strokes as needed and vice versa.

The scenery was amazing, as was seeing the power of the water that had pushed through this area during Hurricane Helene.

When we arrived at the US Rafts takeout, we spoke with some locals who asked us some questions about the condition of the river and also suggested we go river right, as they said the river had changed here and there was now a very nice rapid. We took their advice and it was indeed a nice rapid.

Upon arrival at the take out, we packed our gear and parted ways, after what was a very enjoyable and challenging 10 mile paddle down the Nolichucky.

Post Helene Observations

Having only been down it once, I’m not familiar enough with the Nolichucky river to speak to the differences before and after Helene, but it was obvious the destructive force of the water.

In terms of damage to human structures, it seemed most apparent in Erwin, where buildings were still damaged where the walls had been smashed by the powerful water flowing through the area. There was still a lot of debris, along with sections of land where the river had simply eroded, and lots of dead trees.

One thing that really struck me as to the power of the water was seeing one building, where the steel I-beams along the exterior wall had bent with the force of the water pushing against it

In the river itself, there were sections of railroad submerged in the river and at quarter mile a huge section of track had been carried all the way to the other side of the river.

From reading trip reports and speaking with members of the group who had paddled the Nolichucky before, it was also apparent that the rapids have changed

On the French Broad, which I’ve paddled one other time, many of the rapids felt familiar, although there were a few differences here as well. The destructive force of the Hurricane was also apparent here, where dead trees lined the river and in one place, all that remained of a structure that we had seen last time was a chimney.

Closing Thoughts

While I have some whitewater experience and have spent a lot of time on the river, I typically spend more time in a long boat than paddling a whitewater boat. As a result, the Nolichucky was a big step up for me.

Upon observing my drop on Quarter Mile, one of the other much more experienced whitewater paddlers reminded me that I needed to get much more aggressive after the drop and not just in the lead up to it.

This is something I, of course, know from experience on the ocean and river, as having a blade in the water and moving almost always makes things better and it is important to fight the urge to hesitate or pause when you get a little shaken up a bit, like after a rapid or getting hit by a wave.

However, I needed this reminder and tried to take it to heart. Throughout the rest of the run, I tried to very aggressively paddle not just to the rapid, but through the rapid. This helped me in several cases, where I would have otherwise been sucked back in, gone sideways, or flipped.

In addition, I also worked on converting my braces into strokes and strokes into braces as needed.

I also took a relatively long swim, as I tried to make a move that was admittedly a bit above my skill level. It didn’t help that I was in a play-boat, which, while having a lot of volume, can be a bit trickier to handle.

Rather than take what would have likely been an easier run to river left, I tried to go around a bolder and got turned over. After going over, I was getting beat up a bit and did a good job remaining calm and waiting to get setup. However, I missed my first roll, ejected, and then swam several rapids.

Fortunately, I held onto my boat and paddle and with the help of two of the paddlers who helped me push the boat to shore, safely made it to without having to swim several subsequent rapids. And, much to my delight, the bootie that I lost during the swim was later found.

We did not make it into Hot Springs on this trip due to time constraints, but I hope to make it back this summer and spend some time in the area.

Overall, this was some of the best camping I’ve done in the mountains and a very challenging and rewarding trip, which left me yearning to spend more time on the river.