TR: Spring Rains hit the SE - Part 1: Brush Creek & Upper Big Creek
Who says you can only boat out west in the Spring/Summer. We got absolutely pounded with spring thunderstorms last week day after day. The type of rains we haven't seen in the past few years due to a horrible drought.
Brush Creek is a tiny little microcreek in Madison County, NC that runs maybe less than 5 days a year. And for only hours at time. Its a little gem that is a treat to catch, if you ever can. It features several big, clean, slides and drops that are so clean that you almost feel like you're stealing something.
After the micro-creeking session which gave time for the other streams to drop down to good flows, we headed over to one of my favorite places in the world - Upper Big Creek. Due to the summer vegetation, it dropped out to a medium-low flow in less than a day but still great fun.
Brush Creek Shots
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Jeff running a sketchy looking slide with a nice undercut on the left. But the flow was high enough that it just made a nice fluffy pillow. I nailed my shoulder on the rock but well worth the hit!
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Nice sequence of me dropping the 25 footer near the end, I swear this thing is so clean you could go off of it in a tube. So much fun though.
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Upper Big Creek is my favorite creek in the SE, and one of my favorite places in the world. Its so incredibly pristine in there and the scenery is stunning. I'd never really seen it in the spring/summer due to the recent drought cycle in the SE and it was absolutely beautiful in there. I was lucky enough to catch it twice last week. The unfortunate thing for my knees and back was that it was twice in three days....the hike on Saturday seemed to be much steeper and my boat seemed a lot heavier on Saturday.
On Saturday another storm hit and the driving rain that started as we were hiking up prompted us to think like boaters during a rainy season, not boaters during a drought. We elected to put on above midnight hole (about 1.75 miles up) and not hike any further to prevent the creek from flashing on us. The only thing worse than hiking 2.5 miles would be hiking another 2.5 miles downhill after getting flooded off the creek.
From Thursday - I came around the corner to see the sun shining very brightly from upstream. It was incredible and I had to stop and take in the view for a while, I was of course..not resting. Unfortunately cameras don't like this type of lighting, so the picture doesn't really capture what I saw.
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Here I am ruining the view:
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This little guy said he was an aspiring kayaker and was practicing the hike up:
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I love this place (just some scenic random shots):
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Feeling small in the rapid above the bridge:
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Entrance to midnight hole:
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Getting our boof on at Midnight Hole!
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