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Dan took the day off to repair damage his boat sustained on Big Laurel, and Len had still not arrived, so we were eight boats again. I called ahead and reserved two shuttle drivers from The Nolichucky Gorge Campground and we drove from Hot Springs to Erwin, TN, in my van and Lee's van. I was apprehensive putting on, and even more so after Entrance (AKA Railroad) because I was paddling my new Esquif l'Edge half canoe (this tiny creek canoe handles very differently from a real canoe, and in big water I haven't yet figured out how to ferry properly). And sure enough, I let myself be intimidated into lifting over the entrance to Quarter Mile, which left me on the wrong side of the river. I failed the ferry, got rocked, and swam. Ned got to me and pulled me into an eddy just yards above Murphy's Ledge, where I would have joined my boat in its 45-minute recirculation, and |
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