Raven Fork.

The Hammer dropping in to "Wet Willy." PHOTO: Jason McClure. CAMERA: The Hammer.

Living and working in the Southeast for 5 seasons, I have had the privilege of paddling many incredible sections of river, a few of which are considered so classic, that people from all over the world travel to access these legendary runs.  The Green River Narrows, Section 4 of the Chattooga, The Horsepasture, The West Prong of the Little Pigeon, and The Little River Canyon are just a few runs I've been lucky enough to enjoy from the vantage point of my Habitat 80.

The Raven Fork, located just northeast of Cherokee in Great Smokey Mountain National Park, is a run that lives on in whitewater lore.  With an average gradient of almost 600 feet per mile, it is the epitome of a Class V creek.  Basically, every rapid is as big, or bigger than Gorilla on the Green.  Needless to say, this is not a run to be taken lightly.

After a great day on Big Creek, I decided it was time to tackle The Raven.  Jason "Freaky Stick" McClure and I loaded up, and headed to Bryson City to meet the man who would show us the lines.  If there was one person I wanted showing Stick and I down for our first time, it was The Hammer.  Known to most as Craig Parks, The Hammer had logged countless Raven Fork descents prior to this day, and after driving past the bridge gauge, he assured us the level was perfect. (9 inches)

We arrived at the take-out, which happens to be the property of Emmanuel, the keeper of the Raven Fork.  This guy is awesome, super friendly, and very generous.  The paddling community is permitted to use his property as a take-out, and in return, he only asks for Bud-Light.  What a deal! Hanging out with Emmanuel makes any Raven Fork experience complete, and his hospitality is hard to beat.

Four wheel drive is essential to accessing the put-in of The Raven, so we loaded in to Craig's truck and headed up a gnarly road, only losing our boats and paddles a few times.  Gearing up, the butterflies started to settle in, and I knew it was on.  The hike in to the gorge was pretty, with little white flowers covering the forest floor.  We descended the last 500 feet or so to the river bed, and looked down in to Anaconda.

View from the put-in. PHOTO: Craig Parks.

Anaconda is the introduction to The Raven Fork.  The water channelizes together and drops through a seivey, slidey, holey, super narrow rapid, before ending about 50 feet below the put-in.  Craig decided he wasn't running Anaconda, and Jason and I followed suit and opted for the seal launch in to the very bottom of the rapid.

Headless Horseman is right below this first rapid, and is very similar to Anaconda, without the huge sieves littering the left side.  Instead, there is a giant rock which sticks out over the bottom of the drop, making a move to the right mandatory.  We all had great lines, and breathed a sigh of relief, having gotten a rapid under our belts.

Freaky Stick checking out Anaconda. PHOTO: Craig Parks.

Me running Headless Horseman. PHOTO: Craig Parks.

 A big slide finishing next to a big undercut follows, and then you arrive at Razorback.  Another extremely class V drop consisting of a spine which pushes the water left in to an undercut, a sieve, and a log (doesn't get much more class V than that) and finishes with a low angled slide which normally has a tree at the bottom.  Luckily for us the tree was gone, but Craig thought the rapid looked funny, so we seal launched in to the bottom of the rapid and ran the slide.

Below Razorback is Hail Mary, which most people portage, and after walking around that we arrived at Jedi Mind Trick.  The river pushes right here, and most of the water ramps in to a big ledge hole or on to a big rock shelf, where the water splits and goes right or left.  We ran the right which was a slide in to a 4 foot ledge where all the water slams in to a wall, compresses, and is redirected back left.  A very cool rapid.

Jason running the bottom of Jedi Mind Trick. PHOTO: Craig Parks.

Another short portage just below Jedi puts you right above a huge rapid called Mortal Kombat.  At this point, we had run enough big rapids to breathe a slight sigh of relief, as this rapid is pretty straight forward.  This was probably my favorite spot on the river.  A giant, cheeah pet looking boulder on the right, with a tree growing on it, makes this part of the river absolutely magical.  Starting just above that boulder, you drive over a big hump, and fly down in to a short pool, before driving over a flake just under the huge boulder, and running the final 15 feet in to a ledge hole, which pushes you off to the right.  SICK BRAH!!!

My line, boofing the hump at the top of Mortal Kombat. PHOTO: Craig Parks.

Coming off the flake at the bottom. PHOTO: Craig Parks.

Mortal Kombat, view from the bottom.

Wet Willy is just below Mortal Kombat, and at first glance, the right line does not look runnable.  Sliding over some shallow rocks, you drop off a super vertical slide, get some air, and land just below the shelf on your left and rock on your right. Whoa.  This is one crazy rapid.

Freaky Stick at the top of Wet Willy. PHOTO: Craig Parks.

Freaky Stick at the bottom of Wet Willy.

Just when you think it can't get much bigger, you arrive at Big Boy: a 35 foot waterfall, much of which lands in very shallow water.  Craig had run this drop a few times, and although it looked really good, we decided to be conservative and skip it this time around.  Dane Jackson, Clay Wright, and Jay Mahan caught us at Big Boy, and we all had the pleasure of watching Dane style the drop.

Dane melting in to Big Boy. PHOTO: Craig Parks.

 The portage around Big Boy puts you just above the biggest rapid on the river: Mike Tyson's Punch Out.  This rapid is absolutely massive.  It starts with an 8 foot boof, which lands on rocks, a move to the right, using the compression coming off the wall to shoot you back left, out to the middle of the rapid, then you pretty much hang on as you fly down a big slide and through a massive compression coming off the right wall, which is just above the final 15-20 foot vertical sliding drop at the bottom.  I got spun around and ended up catching an eddy on the left, before running the bottom.  Wow, what a rapid.  Below is a video of Craig running Mike Tyson's.

Below Tyson's is Harjes' rapid, where, apparently, Chris Harjes dislocated his shoulder.  It's not a super tall drop, but we decided to sneak it on the left, which put us right above "Caveman."  The final rapid of significance, "Caveman" consists of three ledges, back to back, and ends with one of the greatest boofs known to man.  Moving left at the top, you stay left through a hole and drive left to slide over the rock shelf which puts you above the final drop.  After a stompin' boof, and a little bit of boogie water, you arrive at the final portage, known only as "The Mangler."

Some super fun Raven boogie exists below the portage, and then the river turns in to class III for half a mile or so, before you arrive at Emmanuel's.  We had some cold beers waiting for us, and of course some great company with Emmanuel and his son Kevin.  They even have a dog that can climb trees! Crazy..

Emmanuel.

This was definitely one of the greatest days of my paddling life.  Being in the Raven Fork Gorge is pretty surreal, due to not only the huge class V rapids, but the incredible landscape as well.  These things combined with a few good friends makes the Raven Fork an experience unlike any other.  I can't wait to go back.

Until next time...
Joe