SUV camper, small bed + small fridge. That’s all it takes.
As Quebec is experiencing is coldest winter in 20 years. I had planned to do a trip to the US in march. I’m used to travel with all the Quebec Connection crew. What that means is that when we are going to the US, we are always a group of 10+ boaters (if you saw us at the Beaver fest you know what I’m talking about…) But this time I was alone. The boys are still stuck in school as I’m taking a year off for paddling. I didn’t know what to expect of a solo trip. I almost cancelled at last minute, but I had to pack up and just do it. I took a look by the window and when I saw the 20ft snow pack in front of my house that was enough to convince me. I packed all my gear, transformed my SUV to a camper and I hited the 20 hours drive to Asheville NC. I did the road in two days. I slept in my SUV camper in a Walmart parking, awesome experience…
The first thing I did in Asheville was to go to the pyranha warehouse to get my new boats. Unfortunately the burn 3 was not there yet… But I got a brand new Jed and the guys at pyranha have been gentle enough to lend me a Karnali. I really like to go to the warehouse. It’s like heaven. So many kayaks and helpful people. After that, it was time to find people to paddle with me and show me the goods around Asheville. It was time to make some of my facebook friends real life friends. I got a call from Demshitz Paul Butler for the Eternity hole. Finally ! I was going to paddle ! Eternity hole is sick ! Definitely one of the sickest hole I’ve ever paddled. Paul also provided me a place to crash near Asheville. Big thanks to him to let me crash at the Boathouse Brown. Only 15 minutes away from the Eternity hole.
Big air in Eternity !
The next day It was time to hit the most famous piece of whitewater in this area : the Green River ! My first time on the Green was awesome ! This river is so different than what we have in Quebec. As almost all kayakers I had seen tons of pictures and videos of the Green. It was really awesome to finally run one of the most famous rivers on the planet.
Spanking the monkey
Day 3 in asheville : As eternity hole was running 6 to 6 I decided to spent the whole day there to work on some new freestyle moves. I finally get my phoenix monkey both sides! So stoked about it as I’m not doing that much hole playboating. Got to get a few more moves, linked some of them and been more constant because the Team trials for team Canada are coming this summer ! Hope to upgrade my 16th place from 2012.
The next day, Paul and I decided to fired up 2 laps on the Green. We almost did two racing laps. It’s so good when you can do a class V run top to bottom without getting out of your boat. It just keeps the stokness one rapid to the other and you get to the end super high on life ! (WAIT, you gotta go at your rythm. Do it when you know the run and feel comfortable enough)
This is it ! A bottle of Moonshine for the Chattooga !
On Sunday, it was time to go to Church ! Paul and I met a few more guys at the Chattooga put in. The Chattooga is the Southeastern Classic! More legends exist about Five Falls of the Chattooga than almost any other set of rapids. Taken individually any of the 5 rapids of Five Falls would be significant named drops on any typical Southeastern river.
A few days before I was talking to Paul about this Tv show we have in Quebec about people doing their own whisky in the woods of the south east. In Quebec this show is called ‘’ trafiquants d’alcool’’ and in the US it’s called the Moonshiners. I was wondering if people in the south east were doing it for real. So when we got to the Chattooga put in, Paul had a surprise for me… After a few sip of this strong smoky mixture, we were fired up for the Chattooga. The Chattooga was a super fun run ! Not a super hard run but just a lot of fun, beautiful scenery and many super fun moves. It’s a must if you pass by this area, but stay safe because there’s many bad places, bad undercuts…
Clay Lucas getting the Money$$ on the Chattooga
Sweeeeet boof on the Chattooga !
Proof that several places on the Chattoga are dangerous! this boat was severely pined in this undercut . Our attempts to remove it were
unsuccessful…
After that, I spent a few more days around Asheville just chilling and surfing at Eternity hole. After a few days, I decided to go to fayetteville to hopefully do some good playboating. When I got to Fayetteville there was a snow storm ( for Canadians readers, it was some light snow). So the temperature was cold and the levels were low, but I tought that the ‘’coolest small town’’ had more to offers than kayaking. So I did some hiking and went to the famous new river bridge. It was really awesome, even if it’s not kayaking it was part of a kayak journey.
Beautiful scenery around Fayetteville
After this quick stop in Fayetteville I decided it was time to head back to Canada. On my way back I did a quick stop a the Valleyfield slalom course to make a few laps. I just wanted to make sure my body hasnt get to much used to the southeast warm water.
Back in the snow…
Freezing water, but still a lot of fun in this pretty cool slalom course !
More than 3500 miles later, I was back in Quebec city SUPER fired up for STAKEOUT ! Be ready guys because our snowpack is MASSIVE and as I’m writing those lines it is still snowing…
Sooo stoked about this journey, all the people I met along the way and the time I spent on the rivers !
Peace !