Discharge and Gage Height near Francisco, NC
November
7, 2004. The water was
crystal clear, the sun shining, the air a warm seventy degrees. It was
just a wonderful November day on the water. We saw a spike buck at the put
in, lots of big fish swimming under the boats, and a blue heron flying overhead.
But knew it had to happen to one of us sooner or later and today was Jeff's day.
I had ducked out to the left of a fast flowing part of the river because I
thought there was a cove tucked in there. Turns out I was wrong and found
myself in a bit of a pickle. To get back into the river I would have to go
straight into the current and would only have about twelve to fifteen feet to
get out of it before hitting a small strainer against the curve in the bank.
So while I was trying to figure out what to do, Jeff paddled back upstream on
the other side of the river and decided to cross the current at ninety degrees
to join me. And that is where he received his baptism in the Dan. Luckily he came
prepared with the right clothes, towels, and spare clothes. Plus it gave
us something to laugh about. But then we were both pinned between the
shore and "Jeff's Wave" Jeff made one run at getting out (mostly to
retrieve his Diet Pepsi), but had to paddle back to the bank after wedging
against the sticks on the bank. He did get his Pepsi though. So we
portaged upstream just far enough to enter above the waves and take a straight
line through them. The rest of the trip wasn't as eventful. We had
lunch in the sun on the sand beach. A couple from Greensboro pulled up to
do the same in a Dagger Element and a Dagger Blackwater. As usual, our
time on the river was over all too quick and it was time to start planning our
next trip.
Here is our short film from the day ... November Paddling (5.4MB)
River Depth at Francisco gauge = 1.75 feet Discharge = 205 cubic feet per second
