Trip
Beth and I had a great time on our trip to go rafting and hiking. The first day we went down the Nantahala River in single person inflatable boats called duckies. The river was fairly tame until the very last rapid, which usually throws people from their boats. It was called Nantahala Falls. That is right where they take your picture. Beth and I held strong and stayed in our boats.
Right after the trip down the river and lunch, we discovered that we were right next to the Appalachian Trail. We found some walking sticks where we picked up the trail and hiked about an hour in. It was incredible to take in the sights on the trail. We saw a trickling waterfall, all sorts of wild mushrooms, and lots of butterflies. It inspired me to someday tackle a much bigger portion of the trail.
The second day saw much bigger rapids. We went down the Ocoee River. The Ocoee is where the kayak competition was held for the 1996 Olympics. We went down the Olympic run without falling out. Actually we didn’t fall out the whole river. I think our boat was the only one that didn’t have any people fall out. On the Ocoee you go down with a guide on a boat that holds 7 or 8 people. We had an experienced guide that hit the rapids just right every time. It was a blast. We want to do another trip in the future and go down the Chattooga River. That one ends with 5 class 5 rapids in a row. Beth has done the Chattooga before and really wants to take me down. We couldn’t do it on this trip because the entire weekend was booked solid. Next time we will have to plan that one further in advance.