Ocoee Put-In Inaugural Weekend

[Joe Purdy]

I believe last weekend was the first time the new put-in on the lower was able to be used. They poured the concrete last Wednesday and Thursday I think and from the looks of the OXBLUE camera on the Dam, it is all ready to go.

http://oxblue.com/pro/open/tdot/us64rockslide" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Not sure how long this Ocoee Cam will continue to function with the completion of the project, but for all of you sitting back here in Arkansas, you can sit back and wish you were there minute by minute.

It's been a daily ritual of mine to keep an eye on it since they put the camera up. I have watched them blast and clear, and pour, and blast and clear for six months now. Glad to see it's done and the put in is finally open.

Wonder if that nice little eddy on the right will still be there at the foot of the ramp... ?

Oh well... enjoy!

[Joe Purdy]

BTW, for those who have not used this site.. you can click back through the months and weeks and view the work as it happens.
You can view Boaters on Friday and Saturday. Wish it were me...

I just looked at Saturday... looks like the little eddy is gone forever...

[Crane]

Is the road cleared and passable, yet?

[Joe Purdy]

Looks like it.
I see traffic on there this last weekend.
See article here...

http://news.tennesseeanytime.org/node/4914" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Joe Purdy]

Looks like they also improved the notorious 15mph Blind Curve on the lower shuttle run.

Good deal... I have almost been taken out on that corner a few times by busses...

[Dave Thomas]

Nice! I'm heading out that way in June to paddle with some other Mohawk Canoe reps. Ahh yeah..I can taste the homebrew now. That mountain water sure makes for good brew, I'm tellin' you. Besides the eddy, what else have you scoped out?

-Dave

[Steve S]

We drove through the Ocoee Gorge on Friday, April 16. Highway 64 is in great shape. The rock on the inside of two curves has been carved out to make the passage of big trucks and raft buses much less dangerous for oncoming traffic.

The rock face across from the put-in is held in place by a large number of rods that have been driven forty feet into the mountainside.

We stopped at the put-in to see what had changed in the entry rapids. I started visiting with a guy who was sitting on the ramp rail waiting for the water to come up. He said he owned one of the local rafting companies (I didn't ask which one). He pointed out all of the gray rock below the put-in which he said was what was moved into the riverbed by the landslide. Since his company would be doing their first commercial runs of the season on Saturday, he wanted to see how the flow had changed. He didn't think the area below the ramp would be harder or easier - just different.

[druse]

It's impressive to actually be there and see the site following the repair. The pictures and video provided by TDOT does not really give you the feeling of the magnitude of the scale of what happened. Now driving up and down the road you'll catch yourself looking up at the mountain side with curiosity. The put in has changed so that the hard ferry to the river left access to the eddy behind pyramid rock is not attainable anymore. The line would be to follow the current around the right side of pyramid, catch the eddy if you want, or stay in the current as it goes left into the main line that everyone is used to taking around Grumpys. You can still boof Whiteface rock.