Trying to Break the Lull

Now that that summer is over and we're getting back to the so-called "real world" I need to make an effort to stay active and get outdoors as much as possible.  This is kind of tough since I'm in a bit of a slump right now due to job hunting, but I think I have a good plan of what to focus on next!

The Haw River is about 45 minutes or so away from where I live in the Raleigh area and it looks like the lower section has some pretty decent class II-III rapids.  The problem is, and the reason I love the Green, it is not dam controlled so it comes down to biding my time until it rains enough for the waters to rise.  It seems like a decent running level for the lower Haw is around 2500-4000 cfs so I'm going to keep an eye on the weather and the charts over at American Whitewater and hopefully be able to do some scouting sometime soon!

I was also able to reconnect with an old friend from university who is now living in the Asheville area and super good at kayaking.  He impressed the crap out of me when we were talking about how he runs the Green Narrows frequently, so I'm looking forward to being about to get advice and help once we get to that level.  In the meantime though, I'm happy to take his advice on boat buying and keep trawling through Craigslist hoping for a Nomad to pop up.

Tomorrow is going to be another climbing day for me, nothing fancy though just some indoor climbing with friends in the area.  Here's to hoping I won't embarrass myself too much!  Before the summer my goal was to work up to climbing 5.12's cleanly and as I said before I can definitely feel the drag of the climbing-less summer now that I'm back at it.  If my whole "lack of income" thing gets solved soon I'll be looking at outdoor trips for Derek and me, along with a whole cavalcade of climbing friends from the gym.  But for now, in the words of my favorite Shit Kayakers Say video, "Dude, I'm so broke."