Thursday, July 2, 2020

The Battle of Bull Sluice

The morning dawns clear and cold, the crickets are silent as even they know what’s in the offing. The breeze stirs a bit as if to mark the beginning of the contest yet to come. The combatants begin their rites as they prepare. The adversary rushes and roars as to invite the foe to its watery clutches. The hero sips his tea and contemplates breakfast. Granola bar or ham & cheese omelet?

Well, ok, so it’s overly dramatic. But I do admit that doing the white-water rafting thing was in the back of my mind very shortly after June made the reservations. It’s been on my bucket list for a very long time, but self-preservation reminds me that there IS the possibility of getting seriously hurt. So therein lies the battle. Do I go for it and check off that bucket list box? Or do I take the safe route and not risk injury?

First let me back up just a little and explain. The river in question is the Chatooga river in Northern portion of South Carolina. We booked with Natahalla Outdoor Center (NOC) for the excursion. They have good reviews and it wasn’t super expensive. June filled out our waiver forms online and faked my signature (I’ve suspected for a long time that she wants to ‘off’ me for the insurance money, this must be how she’s gonna do it)!

We show up at the place 45 minutes before zero-hour and check in. I do have to admit they were very friendly and the whole process only takes a couple of minutes. June finds a shirt that she likes and wants me to pick one out too. At this point the only thing I'm considering are any last-minute updates to my will, I couldn’t care less about a stupid shirt. They have us watch a video describing how to survive drowning should (WHEN!) you fall out of the boat and try to not die among the rocks and thrashing water! Ok, if I wasn't super nervous before, I am now!

Then they have us gather around with the rest of the victims, uh sorry, paddlers and they go over again(!) what to do if (WHEN!) you fall out of the boat. Then they have us load into these forty year old busses for the fifteen minute trip to the scene of the accident, uh where we put in.

Alright, I’ll admit that the first hour or so of the trip was very nice. A couple of small rapids and then we stop for lunch and some wading in the shallows. Then we load up and hit a class 2 rapids. Ok, not so bad, I’d even go so far as to say it was fun. Then our guide, Will, starts talking about the highlight of the day, Bull Sluice. A class 4 monster that takes no prisoners. The demon from hell that chews up paddlers for breakfast. Suddenly we’re talking about crouching down in the boat so there’s less chance of crashing the boat and people dying (no, he said boat flipping, in my mind I heard people dying).

We get to the entrance of Bull Sluice. He stops the boat, we get out, and walk up to an outcropping to look over the situation. Shit just got very real! It really IS a monster! My self-preservation was kicking in big time! Will is explaining how we’re gonna tackle this monster and I’d bet that I heard maybe two words of what he said. Then he’s saying to go back to the boat and let’s do this! Every step back to the boat I’m thinking that I’ll just give some flimsy excuse and meet them downstream. But for some crazy reason my legs keep going back to the boat.

Just like that we are underway and the roar of water is getting louder and louder. Will is giving paddling commands and I can’t believe we’re gonna do this. In what seemed like seconds, we were right at the edge of the rapids. Down we go, the water rushing all around, Will yells ‘Get Down!’. We crouch down and the water just poured over us. Then there’s a huge rock right in front of us! Will’s yelling to paddle and we do. Then just as fast as it started, it was over, and we were cheering! Can we go back and do it again? That was AWESOME! Totally can’t believe we did it and now we want to go back for more!

June and I are in the second row

So this day the heroes won the battle of Bull Sluice! We came, we saw, we kicked its butt! So was I a little bit scared? You bet. But it felt awesome to check that box on the bucket list!

-Mango

The good life.

Before we get started, here’s your trivia for today. What river was featured in the 1972 film ‘Deliverance’?

 

I think Mango and I finally have this RV thing figured out. We seem to have found the sweet spot on our third big trip. We are enjoying our adventures so far and are relaxed and resting well.

 

In the early part of this trip, we are focusing on the Carolinas. This is new territory for both of us so that in itself is fun. In previous trips, we moved a little too quickly through areas but this time, I think we’ve discovered the right balance. We spent about 2 weeks in South Carolina and scratched off a couple of bucket list things. And hey, if you’re at all like me, you add things to your list just to be able to scratch them off.

 

We use campgroundreviews.com to help us determine where we’re going to stay next. There were very few reviews on Sadlers Creek State Park and I still can’t figure out why. An average state park experience but oh that lake. Lake Hartwell is stunning and the park wraps around parts of it. There certainly could be more million dollar mansions on this lake but somewhere along the line, the state made it a park. Thank you South Carolina. I think this park ranks in my top 3 favorite places so far. And in case you’re wondering, yes I’m keeping a master list of all the parks we’ve stayed at. Sadlers Creek is #76.

 

Central and northwestern South Carolina is known as Upcountry. Hilly, lots of waterfalls and great hiking and even some whitewater rafting. A huge bucket list item for me for a very long time has been a whitewater rafting trip. And we finally did it. NOC (Nantahala Outdoor Center) Adventures took us on a 5 hour trip on the Chatooga River. 


Mango and June - second row
What an adventure!! We were outfitted with helmets and flotation devices and watched a video on how to correctly float through a rapids in the event we had exited the raft. We were paired with Mark and Meg, a couple from northern Georgia and our guide Will. We really had a good time and the NOC folks make sure to add some fun activities into the trip as well. They even provide lunch, so we pulled aside about 45 minutes into the trip for sandwiches and snacks. The trip is considered a Class III but there were two Class IV rapids on our trip. We learned that the level of rapids is graded by level of difficulty and risk involved. We started out a little nervous/anxious but Will did a great job in explaining how we would conquer the tough rapids and have fun along the way. Excellent experience and one that would definitely be fun to do again. Oh yeah, and neither of us exited the raft!

 

We are now in North Carolina and will have our first night here which means we earn another state sticker. We’ll work our way across the state, back towards the coast to experience the Outer Banks.

 

And that river featured in Deliverance? Why of course, it was the Chatooga.


-June

 

 

Put on my blue suede shoes and boarded a train.

So what is that all about? More on that in a minute. Lincoln's Tomb - Springfield, Illinois We are currently at Indiana Dunes State Park...