After deciding to hold back and not go down south for winter, I was hoping, as every other paddler in the Southeast was, that El Niño would bring the cold winter rains and get all of the Southeast classics up to prime levels. Unfortunately, this hasn’t been the case and even the Green hasn’t been running… at least during the day. So, we have resorted to night runs with head lamps! Night Green runs aren’t completely abnormal, but are usually done with the aid of a full moon. With neither a full moon or a release during the day, and a couple of us really jonesing to get out there we had no other choice.
A night Green run really adds some spark to paddling a section of river you paddle often and know so well.. It also turns out that head lamps don’t provide as adequate lighting as you’d think and your depth perception not the same either (obviously). Although, I wouldn’t recommend paddling the Green Narrows at night with a head lamp to most people, I do think that paddling on some sort of water at night with the aid of some sort of light can help improve your paddling and really help you get a feel for the water! It can especially prepare you mentally for those times that you accidentally might end up paddling in the dark too.
Lessons learned:
- Bring extra batteries
- Pack food and extra layers
- Paddling in the dark is actually really fun (also really scary as well)
- Paddle a forgiving boat like a Shiva for these endeavors
Till next time,
Dylan