East Bound To Cola Town and my first experience with Gorilla

After an excruciating 30 hour drive from Buena Vista to Asheville, I met with my good friends Matt and Jonathon for a little AVL husk sesh. We left Jon's house near UNCA around 1am and hucked the middle drop at Triple Falls in DuPont State Park. Running waterfalls in the middle of the night is quite a bit of fun, even if it's not really flowing. The next morning we woke up and did a hike up double on the Green and then I pointed east towards Charlotte. I was very tired when I got home.

Over the next few days, I relaxed at my parents house in Charlotte, and then eventually moved into my new house in Columbia SC for my senior year at USC.

We had a few days before classes started, so me and Matt started bringing my new roommate Bo to the Green for his first runs. Bo did really well out there and was very smart about what to run and what not to run. I'm really happy he's out there with us now.

Above, Bo giviner with the straps and below, givener on Frankenstein

On a related note, I ran Gorilla on the Green for my first time. This is a drop that I've fantasized about ever since I started kayaking, so it was a big day for me.

Gorilla is a three part rapid. The first part is an eight foot drop called Pencil Sharpener. After that, you eddy out and run what's called "The Notch," a four foot drop where the entire river constricts through a slot that's about 3 feet wide. This is where the scare factor comes in - after The Notch, there's about 3 seconds before you go over what they call "The Flume" which is what is generally seen when looking at a photo or video of Gorilla.

the author in utter awe

I ended up flipping in The Notch and I had a pretty terrifying several seconds. When I flipped I knew I had one shot to hit my roll. Luckily I was able to focus and get it upright just as I went over the launch pad. I was pretty far offline to the right, but I was able to keep it upright and safe through the flume. Not a day goes by that I don't think about running that drop. Now I'm super stoked for the Green Race and the rest of the dam release boating season.

rollin into scream machine


(all photos by matt porter)