Chattooga from Bull to Camp Creek 20171222
 
These icy video paddles were on Dec 21 and 22, 2017. They were paddle #122 and 123 since Jan 1, 2017. Best "weekend" ever!
What a great river!
American WhiteWater's page on this section.
These next 2 videos were from January 6, 2019
Jimmy going over the Bull on the first day.

The Bull from above with all the ice.

Now for the main event! We went from the Woodall down to Camp Creek.

Right as we got on the water at Woodall, I told Jimmy about a video I saw with a message at the end, about worry. It was a video in which Will Smith tells about parachuting for the first time. Will Smith was going to parachute out of a perfectly good airplane the next day. He worried about the jump all night, all through breakfast etc. Right at the jump spot, the guy was supposed to count to 3 and then give him a push but he pushed him out the plane when he counted to 2. That way, there was no time to worry, right? And he couldn't chicken out. At the end of the video he stated that there was no need to worry until the last second because worrying just causes stress and ruins everything up to the point where you "need" to worry.
7 Foot Falls: I think Jimmy knows about my single brain cell and he described this rapid perfectly for me. He said "just some class III boogy water and then catch an eddie," so I caught the eddie, right behind him. Then all he said was follow me, and after the ledge, head right. (My single brain cell was working over time and all I remembered was head right.) I was only about 10 feet behind him and saw his boat, then his helmet disappear over the edge. That's when I thought "I'm gonna die but now its too late to back paddle". Then I saw his boat stand straight up! I mean straight up! Then I saw a wave, hit it and dug in at the bottom like he taught me. Then it was smooth sailing. I think I was giggling the whole time because I came out with a mouth full of water. Couldn't believe I didn't flip over.
Long Creek Falls
Deliverance Rock
Cool pot holes in the rock.
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This is the pool noodle harness I found on youtube. It saved my back and shoulders on the walks back up Woodall and Camp Creek. The pool noodles fit easily in the kayak.

The first day, the river was higher than I'd ever run it and the trip driving up there was nerve racking. There were accidents everywhere and some early morning fog that was pretty thick. My nerves only settled down after I got the boat on the water below the Bull. The first day, the river was a little high for a pfd past Woodall so we ran from the Bull to Woodall and the second day, we ran from just above Woodall to Camp Creek.

Stats for day #1 Bull to Woodall: 2.8 river miles and 58 minutes on the river. AWW said the gauge was at 2.3 ft / 834 cfs but the one in the river at the bridge said 1.62 ft when we passed. The water seemed kinda fast but a fun level. Woodall was quite different at this level but the run still went too fast. I ended up a little to the left on the right slide but finally was able to turn around and at least go down facing forward and right side up. I wasn't ready to get out. It took me 18 minutes to climb those 0.29 miles out with my boat. That new pool noodle harness is really saving me. It will almost always be in my boat.

That run was way too fast because it was high but it was still a good warm up for day 2.

Stats for day #2 Woodall to Camp Creek: 3.3 river miles and 1:16 hours on the river. AWW said the gauge was at 1.87 ft / 568 cfs. The river here also seemed way too fast but absolutely beautiful!! The waterfall is amazing! This run took my breath away! It took me 33 minutes to climb the 0.53 miles to the car at Camp Creek. That was pretty steep but since I had that harness on and just went slow and looked around a lot, it wasn't too bad a climb.

Dry haired both days!

Can't wait to go again!! That might be my Jan 1 paddle...