{"id":13112,"date":"2017-06-22T14:00:12","date_gmt":"2017-06-22T21:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/community.nrs.com\/?p=13112"},"modified":"2017-06-22T16:04:44","modified_gmt":"2017-06-22T23:04:44","slug":"saving-the-ocoee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/community.nrs.com\/duct-tape\/2017\/06\/22\/saving-the-ocoee\/","title":{"rendered":"Saving the Ocoee"},"content":{"rendered":"

Growing up in northern Florida I had no access to whitewater without embarking on a significant drive. So, when I first moved to western North Carolina ten years ago, I was in heaven learning the ways of whitewater kayaking and rafting on so many free-flowing rivers and rivers with regularly scheduled dam releases around me. After learning my roll, I finally had the skills to bite off the southeast staple, the Ocoee River.<\/p>\n

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I can still feel the nervous butterflies that were deep in my belly, and the giddy excitement that pulsated through all my extremities that first spring day that I snapped my sprayskirt on my boat to run the Middle Ocoee for the first time. A group of adventurous ladies had traveled the three hours from Asheville to spend the weekend tackling this new-to-us river. Unlike the low volume creeks I had been paddling, the Ocoee\u2019s bigger water created a rush I\u2019d never experienced. And I absolutely loved the vibes of all the paddlers we encountered as my crew paddled downstream. Everyone on the river was fired up from the endless play features and the energy was contagious. After having a triumphant day on the river, we camped along her banks, recapping the day next to a warm campfire, planning to ride mountain bikes after our run the following day. This is the moment I fell in love with the Ocoee.<\/p>\n

I would go on to raft guide and photo boat down this river for a couple summers, getting to enjoy the river on a daily basis. I saw a vast improvement in my paddling within weeks and by the end of the seasons, I felt more confident in my paddling skills than I ever had. It made me not only fall in love with the river but become attached to it and want to get to know it more.<\/p>\n

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The Ocoee River, as we know it today, is made up of three dams managed by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). In September of 1976, the flume diverting water to create power was damaged, flooding the riverbed. During this temporary lapse in diversion, word spread that the flooding had created five miles of awesome whitewater and boaters came from all over to raft and kayak the floodwaters. And as plans to repair were slowly underway, the stoke continued to the point that rafting companies started popping up, capitalizing on the world-class rapids, which brought a big economic pop to the area.<\/p>\n

Since the beginning of commercial rafting on the Ocoee in 1978, more than five million people have paid local companies to brave the rapids, filling a huge economic need. The world recognized the Ocoee\u2019s relevance to whitewater by making it the site for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, which increased the Ocoee\u2019s tourism market, from lodging to dining to recreation. And from that moment the world knew about southeastern Tennessee\u2019s whitewater gem. The Ocoee quickly became one of the most popular whitewater rivers in the world bringing about 250,000 visitors a year.<\/p>\n