I help organized events for a local outdoor club. I am thinking of doing a paddle;in the spring, on the French Broad through the Biltmore Estate property. Any one with any feed back on this trip? Are there public launch and takeout spots on this section.Any outfitters or shuttle services?.Does this section of the French Broad have any rapids. Most of our club are recreation paddlers w/rec boats. Not alot of WW in our area. We have paddle a mild class IIs but nothing major. How is the scenery in this section of the river. I have not found a lot on web searches. Thanks.
I’ve got a French broad story
but it doesn’t involve paddling
Paddling would’ve been extra? NM
i’ve
done this section. pretty float by biltmore. pool and riffle river. no real hazards. decent smallmouth fishing. we shuttled ourselves and took out in a city park in asheville. it’s been awhile and i can’t remember the name of the park. lots of alternative lifestyle wildlife along the river near the park.
Whew…
We’ve got a bar/hotel here on the west coast called the Biltmore – some time ago met a girl from Quebec there – for a moment, I thought the cat was out of the bag.
Carry on…
Hello
Ive run this section many times. Put-in at Bent Creek and take-out at Hominy park. Run is 7 miles long with no real hazards.You can find detailed info about this section on boatingbeta.com
Here is an outfitter
http://www.paddlewithus.com/paddlehomepage.html
Never have run this section or used this outfitter but this sounds like the section you are talking about.
Ted
Google the Benner guidebook for
western Carolina. It covers all sections of the French Broad.
French Broad
I’ve never met a French Broad, but I’m sure I’d like them. (okay I had to get that out of my system!). There’s an outfitter just off the interstate on Amboy Rd. in Ashville that will do the shuttling if you need them too and they will also sell you a map of the river for about $3.00. my suggestion is to stay in the center of the river since it can sometimes get fairly low and you bottom out in places you wouldn’t think you could find bottom. As I remember, there’s only one slightly disturbing section (could have been due to me fishing and I didn’t see it until I was in it) and that was under a bridge.
Good luck!
I did a race a few years ago that did
the exact route that you want and came right by the Biltmore estate.
there is a free little park (Bent Creek Park access) that you launch from up river, and the race finished downstream at a outfitters.
The only fast moving water was under one of the bridges and there was some brush that created a mild sweeper, which was easily avoided.
We have six pages of info and a desciption.
If you send me a private e-mail. I’ll send it all to you.
It will be a fee days before I can get it back to you since we have to use the library to get on the net.
by the way there are going to be two days of racing in April on the French broad.
Cheers,
Jack L
FB racn
When/where is the race in April
FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK…
Sally & I were down at Jack & Nanci’s trailer in the campground at Curry Hammock State Park on Little Crawl Key just north of Marathon in the Florida Keys the day after Christmas. We joined them for a delightful, no-stress paddle around the marinas, mangrove estuary, abandoned canals (house-building moratoria and resulting economics of delays in development-induced left the canals cut but basically bare of construction) mangrove islets, and saltwater creeks in mangrove tunnels in the area of the park.
When we got back, we talked about this and that over margaritas and wine (thanks, guys!) on the patio under a nice blue sky, and we spoke about having visited Asheville, and the Biltmore around Christmas (a wonderful display, by the way, if you’re near enough, you should get there one day). One thing led to another, and Jack asked us if we’d gotten round the estate (down to what -a few hundred acres after donating thousands?) and seen the French Broad.
Well, I held my tongue on that one…
But he told us about the paddling opportunities there, and the race they’d done, and that we were invited up to join them there and padle -wouldn’t eben need to bring boats -they’d provide us with his & her Eclipses -J&N’s old boats, the the big E would be the very same one I started out paddling in, post-SOTs, with a SINK!
Small world!
Just goes to show what an interesting and nice P-NET community we have here, where you can greet friends you’ve never met, and join them all over the country to
PADDLE ON!
-Frank in Miami
Here is the info
Hope this helps
Hey guys, thought you might be interested in the following. Check out the FB Canoe Racing web site at www.fbcanoeracing.org over the next couple of months for details.
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FB Canoe Racing, Inc.
We are very excited to announce that our next event will be a two-day, Classique-style downriver canoe and kayak race on the French Broad River, on April 24th and 25th, 2010. The first day will be an 18 mile flatwater course through scenic Henderson County (see photo above), starting at Blantyre and ending at the Westfeldt River Park near the airport. The second day will start at Westfeldt River Park and go 16 miles, ending at the Asheville Outdoor Center (thanks AOC!!). Race details and entry forms which should be available before the end of January, 2010. If you are interested in entering, volunteering, sponsoring or just sharing an idea as we plan (TRULY, we would love to hear your thoughts), please send us an e-mail at fbracechair@earthlink.net
Cheers,
JackL