Foster Falls on The New River
August 6, 2006.
The fun spots were really fun. The flat spots were really flat.
I met Charlie, Sammy, Kat, Joanne, Christy, and Joey from the
Smith River Valley Canoe Club at Foster Falls State Park on the New River.
Since the water was too low on the ledges at Foster Falls, we decided to paddle
from there to Blue Cat On The New below the 100 bridge. After picking our
way through the top ledges, Sammy took us over to his favorite play spot,
river-left on the last drop. I only went in once, but loved it. This
is a great hole and has to be awesome when more water is coming through. Everybody had a
good time with this one and I think the river had a good a time with us too.
From there we bopped along with Charlie leading the way, stopping to play in a few more spots in between flat
water sections. For some reason, I took an unplanned swim somewhere in the
middle of all that. Then we found a great ledge with a really fun wave
attached to it. The second set of surfing photos came from the rapids
there. Joey got into this thing more times than I can count. It spit
me out before I could get in it more times than I could count. But I
finally got one good ride out of it before we left and loved it. Lots of
photos here as everybody
did
lots of playing. From there, we started paddling flat water on our way to
Big Bertha, a four ledge drop, stopping for a lunch break along the way.
Or maybe we ate lunch before that bonus rapid, I forget. Anyway, Kat
got to Bertha first and decided to cool off with some body surfing. Before
it was over, most everyone thought she had a good idea and got out of their
boats for a swim in the rapids. And from there it was paddle,
paddle, paddle to the take out. Lots of flat water in that last stretch,
lots of flat water. Lots of nice scenery too though. All in all, it was a
great day on the river and I really appreciate Charlie taking us down a six mile
stretch that no one else had been on before. And I'll definitely go back
to Foster Falls again when the water is a little higher to play in Sammy's rapid
some more.