Monday photo feature

Here's an issue that got my attention just this morning.

The photo above is a screen-grab from the Go Pro camera footage shot by a Mr. Ryan McAvoy as he paddled over Looking Glass Falls in western North Carolina.  The photo is featured in an opinion piece by John Boyle for the Asheville Watchdog news website.  I saw it when my friend Cathy shared it on Face Book this morning.  The site has also posted the full video of McAvoy's descent.  You can read it here.

Mr. Boyle's piece addresses an issue that I've thought about often in my 40-plus-year paddling career: is it irresponsible to paddle a boat over something like Looking Glass Falls?  Mr. McAvoy's feat has attracted quite a bit of attention on social media, much of it critical; the main thrust of the critics' arguments is that when such an adventure goes sideways it can require a response from publicly-funded emergency personnel, who then might find their own safety at risk.

The thing is, paddlers are regularly running drops that are even more dangerous than Looking Glass.  So why has this particular event drawn so much flak?

Certainly, a big part of the reason has to be that Looking Glass Falls is one of the best-known waterfalls in the eastern United States.  I think I saw it for the first time on a family vacation when I was younger than 10 years old, and I became very familiar with it once I started attending summer camp in the nearby town of Brevard.  The falls is located right alongside U.S. 276 near the heavily-used entrance to Pisgah National Forest just outside Brevard, and there's a parking area right there with a balcony from which to view the falls.  I would guess that hundreds of thousands of tourists lay eyes on Looking Glass Falls each year.

Many of these tourists probably don't see a lot of waterfalls more formidable than Looking Glass, because such falls are farther off the beaten path.  So in their minds, paddling a kayak off Looking Glass is right up there with the most reckless things a human being can do.  Here in my hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, where there aren't any waterfalls, I'm occasionally accused of being certifiably insane for paddling my boat on the Mississippi River or even just in the harbor.  I expect the people who make such accusations are unfamiliar with rivers and with paddlesports, and they simply can't imagine a crazier thing for somebody to do.  It doesn't help that there are a number of silly myths swirling around our mighty river: even some of the smarter, more thoughtful people I know believe that there are randomly-occurring whirlpools all over the Mississippi that will suck a poor hapless guy like me down into a watery grave.  (There are not.)

The only way I know to respond to such criticism is to be as responsible as I can and set the best example I can.  Of course that includes having my PFD and other sound safety equipment when I'm out on the river, and more importantly, being as skilled as I can be.  I practice self rescues often, and I also work on skills that help me avoid the need for rescue in the first place.  And I try to educate family and friends and anybody else who will listen as to what our sport is about.  It's a big part of the motivation behind this blog, as well as the movie I made a couple of years ago.

It appears that Mr. McAvoy is of the same mind.  Not only did he study Looking Glass Falls at length before making his run, but also he waited for a day when the conditions were most favorable, and he had his own support team in place.  The worst thing you can call a dedicated paddler is a daredevil or a thrill-seeker or an adrenaline junkie, and McAvoy makes that point in his response to the online criticism.

I encourage everybody to read Mr. Boyle's piece in its entirety.  I don't have anything more profound to say than what I've already said, but this is an issue that you learn to live with when you take up paddling or any other sport that has a wilderness adventure aspect to it.

For more information on what this blog is about, click here.