The Narrows of the Green is a section of the

Green River Green River may refer to: Rivers Canada *Green River (British Columbia), a tributary of the Lillooet River *Green River, a tributary of the Saint John River, also known by its French name of Rivière Verte *Green River (Ontario), a tributary of ...

, in Henderson County and Polk County, between the Big Hungry creek confluence and the Fishtop access area, in western

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It is roughly south of downtown Asheville.

White water kayaking

The Green Narrows is best known for being one of the most extreme

kayaking Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving over water. It is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle. A kayak is a low-to-the-water, canoe-like boat in which the paddler sits fac ...

runs in the Eastern US. Water is released on a regular basis from the Tuxedo Power station with a 100% release being equivalent to . This regular flow allows for year-round kayaking and is part of the reason the Green is such a notorious and well known river. The river has an average gradient of 178 feet per mile (33.7 m/km or 3%) with a half mile (800 m) section dropping roughly and containing 11 major class IV+ to V+ rapids. Through this area the water often channels through extremely tight slots as narrow as wide as the river funnels through a stunning gorge. The three major rapids on the river ("The Big Three") are called "Go Left and Die", "Gorilla" and "Sunshine". Gorilla is considered the most visually impressive rapid on the river. It consists of the river funneling into a -wide slot ("The Notch") and is then immediately followed by an waterfall ("the flume") and then another waterfall ("Scream Machine"). Sunshine is considered the most difficult and dangerous rapid, and consists of a waterfall landing on a jagged rock shelf below. The route through Sunshine is about {{convert, 4, ft wide and mistakes here have been known to cause paralysis. The river gets considerably more difficult at higher water levels, however the Green has been run at up to 300% flows (over 30" on the stick gauge). On the first Saturday of November many of the best paddlers in the world descend on the Green to participate in the annua
Green Race
The race is considered by many as the most competitive and coveted whitewater race on the planet. Since 1996, the staggering amount of video, blog posts, magazine articles, and mega-pixels captured by still cameras at the Green Race can not be estimated, nor can the nervousness of new contestants and the pride of participation. However, it is only for an unknown reason and historical twist of fate that paddlers still have the Green River to enjoy today, for in 1906 it was nearly dammed in four places (instead of the one dam upstream built around 1921). The engineers for the four dam concept were Ladshaw and Ladshaw from Spartanburg, SC, and the now annual celebration of man's mysterious failure to advance is called
Ladshaw Day
. At Ladshaw Day parties across the southeast, paddlers make the toast with no small amount of irony, humor, and gratitude: ''"To Ladshaw!".''

External links

American Whitewater's Green Narrows PageThe Green Race Information PageThe Origins of Ladshaw Day
Rapids of the United States Bodies of water of North Carolina Landforms of Henderson County, North Carolina Landforms of Polk County, North Carolina