Discharge and Gage Height near Francisco, NC
June 12, 2005.
We couldn't make up our mind on where to paddle this morning. The original
plan was to spend a couple hours practicing for the River Run next month, but Jeff scouted Kibler
Valley for us yesterday and didn't find a lot of water, even with the recent
rains. The gauge in Francisco showed plenty of water further downstream
though, so we then talked about knocking out the only four mile section upstream
of Danbury that we haven't paddled, the section between Jessup's Mill and 704.
By this time the amount of time we had available for paddling had increased and
we wanted to paddle more than just four miles. We couldn't work out a way
to include those four miles with a reasonable amount above or below it, so we
settled on a repeat of the thirteen mile paddle we made
last
October, putting in at the 704 Bridge access point and taking out at the access
point on Flinchum Road. The water level was nice, our third trip at 205cfs.
One difference this trip were all the other people kayaking and canoeing.
We found everyone we met to be in a great mood, but how often do you find a grumpy person paddling anyway?
Most of the other folks we saw paddling had rented from Dan River Company.
Although we saw lots of vehicles at the take-out and lined up at the Big Creek
bridge, so there were even more people out there somewhere. We didn't know
where to park at Big Creek, or we would have paddled from Jessup's Mill to
there, it would have been a nice trip, just the right length. Our paddle took right at four and a half hours, lots of fun. It was overcast,
not too warm. Rains misted occasionally, but only enough to cool us off.
Jeff said it was his favorite paddle so far. We stopped at one of my
favorite little islands for lunch, it's the spot with three or four smaller rock
islands upstream and a narrow channel, just barely wide enough for a kayak to
fit through. The last time we stopped there we parked and played, trying
to see how fast we could get the boats through the trickle dividing the rock. The bugs were out in force today, but didn't seem as bad in
the middle of the river as they did on the banks. After we finished we
stopped by Dan River Company, the place where we started kayaking last August,
to see how things were looking and to find out some info on the
Poker Paddle Run in two weeks.
River Depth at Francisco gauge = 1.75 feet Discharge = 205 cubic feet per second
