Earlier in the week it appeared that we'd have a good flow on the Green, but by Saturday the flow was around 750, which is quite low. I decided at the last minute to switch to my cataraft because despite the lower flow I'd be less likely to flip.
We met at the put-in and unloaded. The original plan had been for me to leave my vehicle at a friend's near the takeout and then leave the other vehicle at a friend's near the put-in, after which I would walk back to the river to meet the group. Luckily, the friend near the put-in was home and gave me a ride.
We got going at around 11AM. The weather was cold, and it looked like it might snow. We pushed our way through the shallow rapids. When we got to the Gorge, this was a bit tougher. I got stuck a couple of times and had to spend a few minutes extracting the boat. The real challenge came at The Nozzle. It was tiny! Also, there was a boat stuck on the right rock, so we had to wait. When I went in, I had a good line and dropped my oars to allow me to slide through, but that didn't happen. The current on the right rock grabbed my stern-heavy boat and pulled it to the right before I could get to the oars. Luckily, a pair of boaters were on the left rock and were able to toss me a rope. I was going to tie the rope when one of them yelled to me to clip it in. I thought for a moment and remembered that I carry a carabiner in my PFD pocket, so I pulled it out and clipped on. A few moments later I was out. One other person in the group got stuck sideways in the drop and had to be helped through.
After that, things got much easier. We had a quick lunch stop in the gorge and went on down to camp. About 10 minutes before we reached camp, it began to snow and sleet. When we got to camp, we set up the kitchen tarp and then set up our tents. We hung out for the rest of the evening and had a great dinner. I retired early because it was getting cold.
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