Hell's Hole

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As you approach Hell's Hole, look for the ripples in the slower moving water above the ledge. There's a thigh deep rock which makes a good holding space if you're guiding a raft. There's also good holding eddies on the right and dumping eddies on the left.

The Hell's Hole run is fairly simple. In a raft, start center and aim at the wave under the bridge. Hold a left-hand angle, using forward and back strokes to ferry to where you want to be, then punch the wave and hole. If you aren't going to make the right third of the river for Powerhouse Ledge, drop back into the eddy on the left and get a running start.

You can start at the right, but that means a hard stroke to turn the boat as you clear the first wave, and I've broken numerous paddles doing that.

Be aware of the river maggots who fully infest this hole and the surrounding eddies. They, apparently unable to actually paddle a river, sit in the eddy all day awaiting their turn to take a couple of moves back and forth across the wave and delight in endering into rafts (injuring customers), pushing ahead in line, and doing all sorts of other uncool and obnoxious things. If one does land in your raft, hang on to their grab loops for as long as possible and make sure they swim Powerhouse Ledge. If one hits you while you're paddling, make sure you've got a raft guide friend who can severely damage them. [flame: off]

(For those who would take me to task here contrast my attitude about these schmucks versus my attitudes about those who play at Witches' Hole.)

The waves are cool for surfing (get on the top one, play, drop back into the bottom one), but due to the proliferation of incompetents who can't actually paddle anything but a perfect surfing wave, it's really too crowded to enjoy.

Cheat far right except at higher water levels where this could put you in a bad position for Powerhouse Ledge.

For extra giggles, slap a bowline on your raft and have an unsuspecting crew-member "ride the bull"...

previous : Cat's Pyjamas next : Powerhouse Ledge

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