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We have been running Cane creek regularly since COVID, such a fun SE manky creek that i wish was 1-2 mils longer. Its like a milder, closer to home version of Wilson creek imo

A friend of mine I work with at SRK said the whole lay of the river changed

Did the River Change Much Up that Way?....Hope You Guys Had A Good Time...Be Safe😊

So, while people are hard at work cleaning up, you’re kayaking the area?

looked a little boney in some spots but everythinbg else looked really fun

Wonder how commercially viable the gorge remains with the lack of access (RR bridge gone) and the significant debris. Sketchy!

Idk if this has been asked yet, but where do you put in?

Flood damage on the toe was pretty evident

So this is what the North Carolina side of the Watauga River looks like now. I fish the Tennessee side but haven't been down since the flood and don't know what's up with it. It was a world class trout fishery, but we shall see if that has changed.

Gotta say, the creek looks just like I suspected from the road . . . 😕

Anyone check this and the horsepasture yet? Was looking forward to hitting this with you this winter!

Good to finally see that quarter mile does not in fact have two 12 foot drops as initially reported elsewhere on the internet. It looks like more of a 2 foot drop with holes.

River looks completely different now 😢 We’ve been rafting the Noli for decades and it’s sad to see the devastation in the area and to the people! My thoughts are with those still struggling in the area… Do you know if the gorge campground survived? I haven’t been able to find any update… Thanks for the video!

Not sure I'd be in a hurry to get back out on that river. Lots of communities up on the Toe and Cane have damaged waste water/septic systems that could be leaking sewage directly into the watershed.

It looks like the flood just totally scoured the banks. Looked like there were some pretty nice wave trains. Wonder if those will go away as the water goes down. Still looks like a good river, not at all as negatively effected as the Green River Narrows.

Additional thoughts at lower water. Nolichucky is currently (10/14/24) guestimated to be about 1000-1200. Some rapids feel harder/pushier than we might have expected previously at 1000 cfs, but lots of lines are similiar. Quarter Mile: The new "second drop" is 6-8 ft, with a recirculating hole with rocks in it that looks like a serious beat down for a swimmer. How we've been running it same way you did, River Left boof onto a forgiving foam pile. It has gone smooth so far. The River Right line of the next drop (Third drop?) has a hidden Railroad track in it. This hazard is virtually impossible to see from the river level or River Left bank. Though the pillow of water/wave face on River Right looks runable, it seems like a bad idea until the RR is removed or otherwise managed. The River Left line of Third Drop is a smooth tongue down a short drop. Below Rooster Tail: There is a river-wide section of RR track that is a significant strainer. Both sections of track and the attached RR Ties span the river. You can see the RR leave the track on River Left, drop down the rocky bank, and enter the river. The safe line is to cross the tracks River Left near where the tracks enter the river. At 1000ish, in River Center the tracks are slightly above water level, and there looks to be potential for a boat to get stuck inbetween the ties or under the track. This section is otherwise unremarkable and not very fast moving. Basically a Class II- stretch. If you're not vigilant, it could sneak up on you. I think you comment on it at 4:50, but at lower water it is much more in play. I'd say other rapids are similar to how you've desdribed at the lower level as well.

After the 85 flood on the Cheat River a railroad bridge was washed away just like that one.

I might have walked past y’all overlooking the downed bridge leading to the noli campground, been waiting to see if some footage popped up of a couple dudes in a blue and orange boat

We've been hearing Quarter Mile was now a series of 12' drops. Haha

Do you think the flood will permanently change many of the rapids? I've paddled the Nolichucky and the French Broad above High Springs many times.

I'm local to Boone and have been paddling Watauga for 15 years. My opinion may be biased after so many runs on the old Watauga but myself and several others who have paddled down feel like the whole section is about 85% different. I've gotten about 5 laps since the flood (400-200 cfs) and have noticed more changes each lap. In multiple places car sized boulder have been flipped over or rolled hundreds of feet downstream. The whole river seems to follow a more left to right sweeping path (like Linville) and overall, we agreed it felt more creekish and more channelized. On a 200 cfs lap my partner in crime and I only hit a handful of rocks. The gorge walls are scoured clear 30 feet vertically on both sides the whole way down. All the rocks have been polished to beautiful shade of grey and much of the nasty sediment and algae appears to have been washed away for now. With so many trees removed sunlight is pouring in at new places and the air smells cleaner than it has in years. A few rapids got junkier (Beech Creek, boulder pile above Vernon's Folly, rapid bellow Blow Job). Overall, the feel of the rapids became much more like Linville to me (lots of side-to-side movement, narrow but deep tongues, curler boofs and fun slots). I suspect seasoned Watauga boaters or paddlers with keen eye will have a glorious time looking for changes and marveling over the new look of the gorge. Finally, a word of caution, a few new sieves and undercuts have formed so use caution and scout if you can't see from your boat. The rock in the center of Heavy Water is now a pretty large undercut with a tree lodged in it...probably not a problem at lower flows but most of the flow is charging that way now and it could be dangerous at high water. The right side of Bump n' Grind is hard no go with multiple pins and undercuts. Stateline is notably harder. Again, we feel the river is overall more channelized and I feel like southeast paddlers have been gifted a mini version of Linville without all the danger. Be safe, enjoy, and unlock new lines! 💚💚💚

Cfs guestimate?

Wow! How depressing. Would imagine the track bed will be abandoned. Didnt recognize anything

I paddled the Nolichucky (and everything else) back in the 80's and 90's and seeing these videos and the changes on the Green, Wilson Creek, and The Nolichucky is incredible. I am curious to know if anyone paddled the Doe Gorge yet and documented that. Sad to see Maggie's Rock gone, and the changes to On The Rocks, and Quarter Mile. I remember the 1991 Flood that moved the "canisters" that formed a nice 3rd Drop in Quarter Mile down to the bottom on the rapid to the Right hand wall. It is insane the power of water. Interested to know how you did your shuttle back across the mountains. I can't find any open roads with i26 closed, the road to poplar closed, and every other route I can see. I travel from South Carolina to Bristol all the time, and I was forced to drive all the way to Charlotte NC, to Wytheville VA, and back down 81 to Bristol... 7 hour nightmare.

Been waiting to see what happened to the Nolichucky, really appreciate the footage man! Sorry I missed you at Gauley fest, and the first RF gorge release. Was going to come up with Wade the first weekend, but he couldn't get out of his area because of Hurricane Helene, so I'm gonna be coming up the race weekend (25th-27th I think?) if you're gonna still be up there! Awesome video man, sorry I missed you recently, trying to change that!

Did you get shot at?

Thanks for the video!! I'm looking forward to getting back on the Watauga.

Ok Lower Rollercoaster is definitely a very cool improvement

Looks like the entrance to state line is harder but easier to keep the bow up off the drop. Almost looks like a autoboof now

Boof Falls.... back in the day we called that "rewind"... glad to see that the tradition is to run it backwards, we did the same back in the 80's. It was great seeing it again, it's been 30 years now for me, I think me last run was in 1995. God I wish we had GoPro's back then. Great to see it again, brings back many memories.

beautiful water. would've like for the camera to be on the other paddler so we could actually see the Dagger boat in action from a viewer perspective

Obviously, u don’t watch many kayaking videos

That’s gonna be a hell no for me.

Excellent run.. greetings from Kickin Creek Montana

Beautiful footage and awesome line 👏

Sick boof on Stateline!

Too bad I can only give this one thumb's up. First of all, nice run. It looks fun. Second of all, this is the first kayaking / C1 video I've seen where people eddy hop, ferry, and surf. Mostly it's just pick a line, barrel through it, use steel-edged Kevlar paddles to break inconvenient rocks, and boof on those rocks too big to break. Oh, and micro-eddies. Stuffin' your boat in places where it's not meant to go. Great fun, and an even better whitewater skill to have.

Would you still say it’s a class 4 run or are some of the moves significantly harder?

Let me know if there’s anything with my beta, rapid names or anything. As much as I’ve paddled the Watauga, I still don’t quite fully know all the names of everything

Looks great! Can't wait to get out there! 🤙🏽🤙🏽🤙🏽

This is before Hurricane Helene

hard to tell from the video but it doesnt look like a lot of debris along the banks. i thought the water would still be muddy. how's the road running along side look now ? any damage?

Shame that thumb rock on entrance to ten foot is still there. Lol. That rock has given me a lot of problems over the years 😅

So happy our jewel made it through Helene so well. Thanks for sharing this.

One of my favorite places on earth

Looks like a fun little section. Definitely be interested to run it sometime if you have coordinates

So cool! Do you figure 2.5 ft on the USGS gage might be minimum? I know the gage is probably some 20+ miles downstream. I’ve been wanting to give this section a try whenever I can make it up that way.

Looked gnarly. Pretty smooth paddling though. I would probably have put the pogies in the back, haha!

Big balls bro, but all your vids, gotta work on that boof stroke brother.

Way to fight that hole. That was inspiring.