When the last leaves fall from the trees and the ground turns cold, steep creek kayakers wait for rain. It comes in waves and moves quickly through the valley. So they obsess over forecasts and water levels. The kayak is always strapped on the car, ready. The paddles and dry suits are set out to grab on the run.
Marc Lyle, who designed the Dagger Nomad creek boat that many locals paddle, navigates Road Construction on Suck Creek.With more than 30 Class 4 and 5 creeks, Chattanooga is the apex of Southeastern whitewater. Locals return and other paddlers travel from all over to run rapids called Shoot Me in the Face with a 9, Superman, Double Drop and Fire Escape.
Bear Creek, which tumbles down Cloudland Canyon, is famous for its gut-wrenching climax, Stairway to Heaven, a 50-foot vertical drop over a 100-foot distance. People have died on these rapids, broken bones, knocked out teeth and dislocated shoulders. But creekers always come back, regardless of the temperamental waters or the frigid temperatures. There are things to prove, they say, about how fearless a person can be.
It draws on the alpha male, the part of them that wants to know they have more moxy and more strength than most people around them, says Johnny Joffrion, a paddler who moved to Chattanooga to be near the Ocoee in the summer and the creeks in the winter.
Joffrion’s shoulder was dislocated in a flash flooding creek once and many of his close friends have been dashed along creek beds or boulders. He now has a deteriorating back and bad shoulders on both sides.