Tropical Storm Helene dropped seventeen inches of rain on my cabin, along with enough trees along the highways to leave me without power, phone, or internet for eight days. Trout streams were blown out and access roads closed. Taking a lesson from the movie, Animal House, it sounded like time for a road trip.
As luck would have it, the South Carolina Outdoor Press Association was holding its annual conference in the Olde English District of South Carolina and Richburg served as our base camp for some fishing on the side. It took little nudging to guide me into a rafting trip on the Catawba River. After all, when you put in below a place called Fishing Creek Reservoir, it sounds promising.
This was the point that one of our paddlers learned it was a whitewater trip.
Four of us met our two guides at the Nitrolee Access Area below the reservoir. It was reassuring to learn that these two had both guided paddling trips for over fifteen years, plenty to permanently wrinkle their toes. Great Falls Adventures and the Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation lined up our trip with Greg Nance and Brandon Jones. In addition to paddling, Brandon is the Catawba Riverkeeper, representing a nonprofit group whose members dedicate time and resources to protect and enhance the Catawba-Wateree River Basin. In short, we were in good hands.
Our guides met us with two rafts, one for us and another for our gear. We were also informed the smaller one would be used to pick up any of us who fell out of the raft.
As the pre-trip safety information was presented, one of our paddlers began looking around with a concerning question on his mind. Once the talk concluded, he asked, “This is whitewater rafting?”