Chattooga from Bull to Woodall 20180107
 
This paddle was on January 7, 2018.
My favorite 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.


We went from the Bull down to Woodall.
The river was at: 1.61', 435cfs as per AWW and 1.38' on the old river gauge.
Near the beach by the Bull. Notice the icicle sticking up on the front of his boat.

I think it was 30F when we put on. This guy had no gloves, no poggies, and he only had on Crocks with his dry suit. He put his Crocks behind his seat. His dry suit did not have feet so he was bare footed! After he helped me put on my tight skirt, we put in at the beach. After he played in the waves a bit I could tell he knew what he was doing and was a LOT better at this sport than I'll ever be. He paddled up right next to my boat and said "I'll roll if you will." ARE YOU NUTS??? The water was 31F and the only reason it wasn't frozen was it was moving fast! So I said I'll roll at the take out if you roll first. He said it was a deal. I figured I wouldn't have to roll because he'd be too cold. WRONG!! I got to the bottom with the group about an hour or so later. I watched him the whole way and he went over the hard parts of every rapid, including Woodall. Then, just when I got to the take out, I saw him roll. That was the coldest roll I've ever done!!! If I hadn't known I was going to roll and known what cold water does to a person, I would have been swimming. Cold like that actually not only takes your breath away, it tells your body to suck in a breath. Thats part of why people die when they fall in without a life jacket. Wear a life jacket and keep it zipped up. If its uncomfortable, get another one!
This is the old gauge which is reading 1.38'. There is ice all around it.
This is where I swam the day before. I crawled out on that ice shelf just like she did so I could get back in my boat.
Swimming is hard work and it always wakes us up!
The fuzzy stuff on the rocks is ice forming under the water. Ice only forms in slower water. The top of the water is moving much faster so it can only form close to the bottom or in the eddies.
Most of that white stuff is ice.
It looks like the ice is going to close the river!
Most of this is ice so we could only go over where it is kinda greenish on the left of the screen.
Just some cool icicles
See? I was really there!
We took some ice chunks from the eddies on the river and posed.
Watching us come down the slide at Woodall.
Ice in the beard and on the pfd means we had FUN!!!
Looking back up toward the rapid at Woodall from the takeout.