On June 3, Michelle and I went whitewater rafting on the Ocoee River. It runs through the Cherokee National Forest in southeastern Tennessee and is where the '96 Olympic whitewater events were held, though the section we rafted is below that stretch. It's an easy day trip from Atlanta but we spent the weekend in a cabin in Benton, TN. I'll be posting more (and enlargeable) pics on our blog in the next day or two.

The part of the Ocoee we rafted starts at a dam. Amazingly, the water is diverted each night at the dam into an aquaduct which leads to a hydroelectric power station, so the river level falls to almost nothing. The next day, they restore the flow and presto, you have a whitewater river again.

Here's the dam, with some fellow rafters in the foreground and the aquaduct running across the wooded area in the background. Took this with my "raftcam" - a waterproof disposable tethered to my life jacket:


Looking down the river. We're next to launch.


I shot the rest of these later that weekend with my Digital Rebel. This is a wider view of the launch area:


These two give you an idea of the Class III/IV rapids encountered on this stretch of the Ocoee:




This guy is "riding the bull" - hanging on at the nose of the raft as it heads into a rapid:


Continued...

At one particularly rough stretch, we witnessed the dreaded "yard sale" (people and paddles tossed everywhere) - half the rafters are already in the water (note the foot). What's funny is the expressions in the occupied raft, they're having a great time while the people behind them get ejected into the river.



A moment later, the woman in the back finds herself the sole remaining occupant. Not to worry though, there were safety observers right there to toss ropes to the unwitting swimmers.


There were plenty of kayakers and they had their own challenges:





My Rebel captured the action nicely but I decided to experiment with a slower shutter speed to convey a better sense of the motion of the rafts and water, and was especially happy with this one:


We're already planning a return trip for later this summer.

that foot shot is awesome.....reminds me of the last time I went over a class 4 rapid!

Cool Russell. btw, are you going to join us for oktoberfest this year?

that looks like fun. i have a good friend who is a river guide over in WV. id try it just once. i had a bad experience with whitewater connoing when i was younger.

That looks like a blast dude

Very nice shots!! I'm going up to Maine this coming weekend for the turbine tests on the Penobscot...Rafting is always great for a long weekend get away and drinking trip!!

Awesome! Several of us took a day off from driving while in MOAB recently for GONE. It was fun and scenic, but certainly not as adventurous as the rapids you shot..

Awesome shots! The Ocoee is a great river to kayak.



Great color with my namesake.

That brings back a few memories. It's been so long I'd almost forgotten how much fun rafting can be. Thanks for sharing.