Slice-n-Dice aka Vegomatic

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This puppy has eaten more swimmers and boats...

Approaching in a raft or as a very competent hard boater, look for the long wave above the ledge, just clip the left hand side pointing straight across the ledge and paddle like hell. Don't get too far left or you'll hit Ankle Breaker rock, which is hard on the feet and tears the bottom out of the boats.

In a more maneuverable boat, stay to the left of the ledge and make a hard ferry right when you clear the drop. Many boats will actually end up eddying out on the far right side without much operator intervention.

Congratulations, you've cleared Slice. Now for Dice.

The center of the river is now basically two drops. The first will surf you (Raft guides with a sick sense of humor can tag the rock just above the surface on the left of the first drop to slow down their boats and surf this hole, be aware that harder/stiffer boats, like Moravias and other overinflated self-bailers have a tendency to dumptruck crews here, and it can be a scary swim). Just to the left of that rightmost set of rock islands is a clean chute. Hit it.

Note: to the left of you on the first drop is a small eddy. Master boaters only can use this to surf and do monstrously dynamic enders in that top hole. To get up there, start at river left and paddle up the fairly obvious long eddy that that one small rock (You'll see it) shows. Get on the backwash of the second hole, take that across the river to the eddy at the flat rock slide, then ferry up to that final eddy. Numerous horror stories exist, apparently about one boater, about a guy who didn't roll fast enough coming out of this hole and ended up with his face bloody and his eyeball hanging out. I've scratched my helmet on some rocks in there, so be careful, folks!

At high water levels, cheat far left. That hole in the first ledge in Slice becomes a serious stopper and keeper, and I speak from experience. At normal levels, can be cheated far right.

previous : Second Helping next : Moon Chute

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