Monday, October 29, 2007

home again. home again.

sorry for such a long wait for news and photos, but i have been enjoying my time in the blue ridge so much that i have been slacking on sharing my most recent adventures with all of you blog fans. this is by far and away my favorite time of year: the weather is cooling off and the trees are blowing up.

photo by mw

i have been playing my way around the mountains since i've been home with the usual cast of characters.
as a special birthday treat, i went playboating on an old classic with my family. i was joined by my siblings: maggy and philly as well as my auntie maria for a flash-black inducing paddle down the ocoee river. i was a raft guide on this river during my college summers and have been kayaking here since i was fifteen.
here's philly hamming it up on the ocoee:

photo by mw

September 22nd, 2007 was warm and sunny: better than a day at the beach.
philly again, enjoying the tropical southeast on the ocoee river:

photo by mw

the water level was a little higher than usual, and a little extra juice is always welcome on the ocoee.
here's my auntie maria throwing down at the last good surf spot on the river, "hell's hole":

photo by mw

most of my time has been spent in my favorite of cities: asheville, north carolina. where i've been with my friends and on the green river.
here's a sequence of my best buddy yonton styling his way through the rapid "go left.."



photos by mw

i made my way over to the ocoee a second time with another best buddy, robin betz. we are all very proud of robin for her well deserved win at the green race.
here she is shredding it up:

photo by mw

the author, also shredding:

photo by robin betz

the weather being so tropical and all, robin and i went swimming and took a nap on the side of the river part of the way down.
some pre-river nap excitement, robin's front flip:

photo by mw

the author, same:

photo by robin betz

the river was just a stop on our reunion tour for ryan allen and marianne walker's wedding in chattanooga.

many thanks to mark and debbie sue for being such gracious hosts to myself, robin, and john "bubba" roeder

photos by mw

the southeastern united states have been under a record breaking drought through the spring and summer months, but recently some rains have moved through and the kayaking community rejoiced.
here is amos shuman very thankful on the linville river ("the southeast's classic wilderness run"), with erik stritmatter looking on:

photo by mw

we hike in and out of this beautiful gorge, kayaking from where the babel tower trail meets the river down to our exit at the conley cove trail. we couldn't have asked for a nicer day. caleb coaplen refered to it as "the best day of the year."


photos by mw

amos again. thankful this time that his hiking is done for the day:

photo by mw


that's all for now. many happy trails to you all. mefford.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sick photos frowsk! I'm glad you've been keeping it busy while you've been home
i'll miss you this weekend... it's been far too long since i've seen the verde...

ebeth said...

Mefford,
Missed you at the wedding and at the green race this year. Sometimes med-school's a bummer, but Ecuador was cool! Anyway, I need your address for our wedding event next fall!
Love, Beth