Broken Nose

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[lbroken.jpg] "And we rename it depending upon what happened there last..."

The entrance for this is a bear. Basically, get on the wave train just to the left of the line of rocks that goes down about 25-35 feet of the river right shore. Follow that 'til the rocks run out, and you'll see a pillow in front of you, cut left at that pillow.

This rapid is three drops,the first pushing hard river right, a small squirrely pool and the second two parallel to each other. The hole at the bottom will catch and surf a boat (Escape to river left).

If you're paddling a raft, come down as close to the shore as you can, and drop the first ledge pretty much sideways with no forward speed. Throw three guide strokes to keep the boat pointed slightly left. Call a hard forward and readjust to point your boat at the camera on the left bank below the next two ledges, run them with a slight angle (I guide on the right and find a righthand angle and an overhead draw makes for good photos) and call a back when you hit the eddy (not before, see caveat below!) to stay out of the safety boat's way.

Watch specifically for the rock on the second ledge, as it will stick you, and if you come over that ledge sideways or too slow you will lose people and it may surf you (and there have been entire trips "tag surfed").

In a hard boat, look for the eddy on river right just above the first ledge underneat the pine tree. Catch it. Cut out into the current and either catch the eddy on river right below the ledge or the one above the ledge across from it (You can do an "elevator move" to get back up the ledge if you decide you want up).

From there, you can either hop across the current and go to the other side of "Kimberly's Rock", shoot the ledges straight or catch the eddy on the right in between the second and third ledge, then use the wave/hole on the second ledge to surf far right.

Cheats: At moderate water levels just to the left of all that stuff, at high water levels the far left side turns into a really nice pool-drop combination.

previous : Gonzo Shoals next : Second Helping

I love to hear from my readers, but I get a lot of mail. If you're writing to set up a rafting or other outdoor adventure trip in the southeast Tennessee area, contact the folks at OAR , my favorite outfitters.

This is a part of the Virtual Ocoee pages of Dan's Whitewater collection in the home pages of Dan Lyke , reachable at danlyke@flutterby.com