M.I.A.: Fish, Ryan, Eric, Zack

[paddledog]

Ryan,
From now on your vote counts for one and a half.
OK maybe two.

The next time anyone paddles with Eric/Zack ya gotta have
them tell you their side. Make'm tell you 'bout hanging out
with the naked hippie chick and eating peaches while everyone
searches for them.

Thanks for the pizza 'n brews afterward guys. It was great
to have everyone back safe where they belong.

[Trismegistus]

-- loved the tale and so glad everyone made it home.

[DaveIrvin]

Wow, Ryan.
You undersell yourself. I'm so relieved you are all OK and I loved the report. Lot's of great detail.
I like the plastic horses analogy.
Dave

[okieboater]

Thanks Ryan, been on the edge of my chair waiting for more details of you guy's epic.

Sure glad all of you are ok, well maybe the poisen ivy is itching, but that is a small price to pay.

[jclaudii]

Wow, just Wow. Great story, just sucks you had to go through that. The low light conditions can make you see all kinds of things, just glad that Fish got out of that kayak ok. Looking forward to hearing Fishes side of the story. I'm guessing Fish was living large on the other side of the creek with all his critter friends and a nice shelter while you three had to bed down in poison ivy, ants, and hornets. This trip report should be sent to Paddler Magazine!

[Clif]

"Movie of the week".... I'm tellin' ya. 'Specially with the neked peach. :shock:

[KAYAKN]

That could be the script for "Without a Paddle II" You guys got to show what film you have at Renedezvous and then tell the story with everyone. Hell man i would buy a ticket!!! Glad all you guys made it!!!

[bmartin]

It is an awfully thin line between beween epic adventures and disaster and it sounds like you guys were stradling that line the whole time and am glad you all made it out on the right side.

Thanks for posting Ryan and looking forward to other versions ending with some narrative involving southern fruit.

[Renee H]

WOW! Thanks for posting, Ryan - I am glad you guys made it out okay. I know all of us reading it probably learned a little something. Sounds like you need to be the sole decision maker next time

[Fish]

That's a great write up Ryan! Ryan was indeed channeling Charlie Walbridge or something out there. Maybe we didn't realize what he was saying because we're used to "y'all watch this!" from him (like at Baby Boss earlier in the day). I don't know. Interesting to watch groups making decisions under pressure situations like that. The 100% safe decision would have been not to boat at all, but that's not why we go out into a hurricane like that. You have to be wiling to take risks or you won't be there at all. Balancing that risk - the balance between adventure and disaster - is always a challenge. I've had other trips that were heavy on the adventure, but never one that got so close to disaster. In every steep creek trip there are a few crux decisions the group makes that make or break things. We got on the wrong side of one of those and the conditions we had gave us zero chance to recover from our error.

I thought Ryan's description of launching onto the big slide was particularly good. There are about 60 seconds there which were some of the most intense of our lives. I am slowly writing up things from my perspective too. Not sure what I'll do with it. For now, I'll write here quickly about my perspective of those same 60 seconds which are impossible to forget...

~~~

When I slid into the water, it was actually slow. We had the misfortune of finding the only slow spot to launch for a half mile in either direction, lulling us into a false sense of confidence about what we were about to do. When I paddled out into the current and saw the approaching drop, I knew the water was too big. Pit of your stomach feeling. After I made it through that one, the current went left, and I followed everyone before realizing that it was the Undercut Rapid. It just didn't look anything like it normally does with water pouring over the big rock slab and surging through trees. Ryan dropped into it in front of me and disappeared impossibly fast. All I could do was try to paddle for the left bank to stay up high on the pile of water.

As soon as I turned into the slot I was shoved hard to my right. The rock hit me in the shoulder and knocked me over. I was sure I was underneath it. Then I felt like I was free and moving fast, upside down with my helmet and back sliding over rock. Everything was moving way too fast. I spent maybe a few seconds trying to figure out how to roll, but then decided I was too exposed to injury to try. I got to my sprayskirt and came out fast. As good a decision to bail out as I've ever made.

The first thing I saw was my boat disapear over the waves in front of me and someone's helmet drop out of sight at the next horizon downstream. I've never been in water so fast, but it was deep enough to keep my butt off the slide rock except when a lateral wave hit me. It was a blur... or really more like my brain was taking snapshots with a blur of images in between. There was a big lateral curler coming at me. Fast-forward. Then a long slide with a "V" tounge into a hole. Fast-forward. Now everything was a chaos of big waves. Damn. I was swimming hard, with my feet up as far as I could get them, but it was getting me nowhere. The current was riccoceting between the rock walls of the banks, carrying me wherever it wanted to over the smooth rock shelf. But I knew this thrill ride wouldn't last long. There were undercut rocks, roostertails, and trees everywhere here. It was a flooded steep creek, not a theme park attraction. My risk was going up exponentially as the seconds ticked by.

So I put my hands down and pushed hard to move myself right, the way the current seemed to be surging. Then I pushed again with my hands and feet. My right hand took a good hit on something, and I realized that if it or my foot got stuck, I would instantly drown in two feet of racing water. It was terrifying, but I felt I had to do something or things would just get worse. One more big push got me closer to the bank than I had been, and I switched tactics. I flop-rolled my body slinging my arm out and then scooping as much water as I could with it to move to the right and slow down. Not much progress, but I had no other weapons left with which to fight for my life. I remember thinking that it was now or never - I had to reach the bank. My third flop-roll landed me in water shallow enough to be sliding over rock with my butt and hands. The fourth one, and I was in just a few inches of water! Not wasting a second, I got my feet under me and lunged for the rocks along the bank. And the world finally stopped churning.

My reaction was one of amazement. I couldn't believe I was unhurt! There seemed no way that was possible, but there I was in good shape up on the bank, a little winded, but otherwise fine. I was also alone. I couldn't see anyone else from where I sat. I got up and started downstream hoping to find everyone in a eddy waiting for me. I remember thinking that they'd be really worried. The summertime brier thickets and rockpile banks made progress down the bank painful and slow. Tearing through the briers, I scratched the hell out of my hands. When I stopped to get a good look at the creek again, it looked terrifying. The water was crashing down the slide with no eddies at all in sight. It might be a very long distance before the other guys could stop. A few more hops over rocks and I was looking at a boat in the creek. Eric's boat, but it was crumpled like a smashed tin can against a tree that spanned the flood from bank to bank. I literally couldn't catch my breath. If Eric was in the boat he would be dead, and no one else would have made it past that tree in their boat. Despair fell like a hammer on my chest as I realized I might really be all alone in the twilight of that flooded gorge...

~~~

[okieboater]

Jeez, Fish ---- I am setting here in my chair holding my breath!

Man, I am holding on to my chair arms, waiting for the next installment.

What a story!

[scott yarbrough]

Being that nobody else asked, I guess I will have to.

Did any spooning take place in the gorge?

Glad everybody is OK!

[grant]

Scott, i am appalled anyone would make light of such a serious situation with their friends.

[Fish]

Scott, i am appalled anyone would make light of such a serious situation with their friends.

No one can make light of Ryan. Again, glad I missed the spooning. ugh.

- Fish

[Chitwood]

I guess I’ll add a little from my side of things and give the story of the hours that we were apart. I am currently writing my full version of the story as well but figure this may add to what has been said. I’m sure everyone wants to here about the naked portion of the story.

As Ryan said, I peeled out first and around the corner, then right behind me was Zach, Fish and Ryan. Where we put it was rather calm. But as soon as we rounded that corner… all hell broke lose. It was like being in a car as slamming on the gas. I fly over a 10 ft drop into some BIG water. “Someone is going to swim right here, this is bad,” I think to myself. I turn to try and see if everyone is alright but can’t really see much of anything. As I look back forward I see the tree coming at light speed. I had just enough time to see that there were no eddies and to pick a spot on the tree that I knew I could get to/had the best chance to make it over. #%$& I didn’t make it, this is bad!

It pulls me back and pins me straight up and down. As my head goes back I remember a story that Jake Roseay told me of a time that he was pined. As the water hit the back of his head it made a small air pocket that he used to breathe for 10 minutes. Well, I got one good breath using that before the water pulled me on my back deck. I gathered my strength for probably a second (though it was plenty of time to have a conversation with God, come up with a plan and a back up, and to think about life for a while) and did one huge sit-up. I grabbed my cockpit rim with my head above water and made sure I was somewhat stable. All in one motion I popped my skirt and flopped myself up and over my boat and the log.

Out of one bad situation and right into another. Now I was in the middle of the slide, face first to start. The water was moving so fast I was totally out of control for about the first half of it. As soon as I got my feet in front of me the first time a small rise in the rock came by and caught my left foot and flipped me back to face first. I tried to get into a “skateboard like” stance to slow me down and jump towards the side… didn’t really work. The only thing that worked was being on my back and rolling over, just as they teach in the swift water rescue classes. I grabbed a few small limbs and finally swing myself to the side. There still hasn’t been one eddy.

How far did I go? Ryan say the walked “about 200 yards or so” before he saw me. I had hiked up probably fifty yards or so before I saw them. It was to damn long I’ll tell you that.

Fish’s boat hit me at some point during the slide but I never saw him. I hiked back up right next to the river with my rope in hand. My heart dropped deeper and deeper as no one / nothing came down. “They could all three be stuck in that tree! It sure is going to be a long night sleeping out here with three dead buddies.” Just as I was about to lose it I hear Fish’s whistle and soon Ryan and Zack walk up. I HAVE NEVER been so happy to see three guys in my life! I have never been so happy to spoon with two bearded men in my life. And I have never cared less about sleeping on the cold, rainy, poison ivy side of a mountain in my life.

Sorry that got pretty wordy… on to us missing the take out.

Yes, we missed the #&%@ take out. Zach actually walked down the take out road! I stayed in my boat to let him check it out because of my ankle. He didn’t think that was the road because of some “elaborate spider web” that was strung across it. On we go. We keep passing these 4-wheeler looking trails on both sides of the river. We check out most of them but none really seem to lead anywhere. The further we go the more nervous we get that we passed it. “Well what does hurricane creek take out look like?” I say. If nothing else, we could make it there.

Finally on one of the “4-wheeler” paths there is a split off to a foot trail. We follow it to an opening with two houses on it. “Hello!? Hellooo!” we yell. “Hell yeah Zack we made it to a house! And there’s a lady… oh, a NAKED lady!” she’s standing in front of a large window and looks to be doing dishes. We decide to turn towards the other house and act like we never saw her and keep yelling. She notices us, puts on a robe and comes outside. As this is happening Zach turns to me and says, “Man, do you see a road… or a car…?”. I look around, “This would happen to us today.”

She walks out and asks of she can help us. We give her a quick run down of what has happened and she gives us her options. Option 1: “ You are more than welcome to stay the night here and I can feed you and take care of you wounds”. We don’t really consider that an option. Bed or not I can’t spend another night out here. Its only 10:15 a.m. and she has no means of communication. We know that Fish and Ryan and probably Tom and who knows whom else are going to be looking for us. Option 2: “I bet I know where your car is. It’s SIX MILES back up stream. You can follow this old logging road that you walked up on and it will take you there (the 4-wheeler trails). Only problem is that is crosses the river EIGHT TIMES.” Zack looks at me and said, “That’s it, that’s what we have to do”. The lady gave us a bowl of peaches that she was about to can and a coffee cup full of water. She is an “herbalist” and asked us if we wanted her to add a teaspoon of some paprika based solution to our water. She said it would give us energy so we said “you can give us whatever you got”.

We gobble our delicious peach and guzzle the cup of pungent paprika water and give her big thanks. At 10:30 we started our march, well Zach’s march, my gimp walk, dragging our boats back up river (sorry Ryan, I didn’t carry your boat once). Each fairy crossing gave us a sense of accomplishment and of being closer to home. We would take a short breaks, one of which Zach dozed off for a moment, to gather some energy for the next leg. In four hours flat from leaving the lady’s house we made it back to Zach’s beautiful blue pickup. We followed the directions left in a note by Ryan and Fish and soon met up with them… it was the SECOND happiest I had ever been to see those guys!

We were all very fortunate. Many lessons were learned. Any one of us could have lost our mind very easily. I applaud everyone for being so strong and keeping a cool head. I am so sick of talking about it I think that until my scabs heel I’m just going to carry business cards with the link to this page.