Date: 2007-03-27
From: Nantahala Outdoor Center

To: Nantahala Outdoor Center
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Today, I woke and ate an AYCE buffet breakfast. YUM! I relaxed and shot the breeze with ¢Donny¢ and ¢Finnegan¢ who were debating on whether to ¢zero¢ day or push on. At 1:15, I went and kayaked down the Nantahala River with ¢Stitches¢, a former and current thru-hiker and ¢Jelly Bean¢, a former thru-hiker and current white water enthusiast. It¢s an easy trip on class 1&2 rapids. Very relaxing, and the frigid water felt great on my legs and feet. After I had turned my rental wet suit and kayak in, I saw a father and son in a 2-man raft coming to the take out point. The idea here is to paddle up behind a rock jetty that allowed for a break in the current and an easy take out for your raft. As the pre-raft safety lecture and the video told us a few times, we were not to miss this take out, as the river downstream gets quite nasty.Well, father and son missed the take out. Both panicked , and stopped paddling. ¢Jelly Bean¢ ran with them downstream, trying to get them to paddle, the rental-counter guy leapt from behind the counter and grabbed one of our just returned single-man kayaks, and began paddling after them...quite fast too. Me, I looked left, looked right, and I spotted a throw bag at waters edge. I had thrown a bag like this hundreds of times while working at Hall¢s as part of our dive rescue course I taught. So, I grabbed it and tore off downstream to try and catch up to the run-away raft. I was catching up when my right ¢Croc¢ clog came off, but despite the large gravel rocks lining the shore, continued. I got just enough in front of the raft. The kid was screaming ¢Help us! We¢re going to die!¢ The father looked exhausted. I had one shot with the bag. As you throw it, it uncoils a rope as the bag flies out toward the raft. So, I loosened the drawstring, took a quick back swing, and tossed the bag. The rope fell out smoothly. The bag flew true and at it¢s target - a moving target at that. This would be my Day Of Glory! As the father saw the bag headed his way, his eyes lit up. He reached out for it only to see the bag exhaust it¢s supply of rope and fall 3 feet short.....It was a really good throw though. Randy, Bob, and the Hall¢s Dive Center Crew would have been proud. The quick-thinking rental guy soon caught up to them and got them pushed over to the edge, where he helped secure them until more staff arrived. After all calmed down, and the adrenaline died down, my right foot started hurting a bit. I had taken a sharp rock at full speed. Luckily though it was not in a weight-bearing part of my foot and shouldn¢t affect my gait. The great news, besides the happy-shore-side-family reunion, is that ¢Jelly Bean¢ is heading to Stecoah Gap tomorrow to do Trail Magic, and is willing to ¢slack pack¢ us, meaning she will take our heavy backpacks and meet us down the Trail!!! HAPPY DAY! This means I won¢t have to lug my 40lb. Pack up to altitude as feared! The only catch is she is going to be 13 miles up the Trail, so we will have to commit to 13, mostly uphill miles, in one day. But, with only a much lighter daypack. I jumped all over that offer, as did many other now smiling hikers!