Section 9 French Broad River

Standing in the shadow of so much gnar section 9 of the french broad is often overlooked as a beginners only run.

Section 9 french broad river. Most of this crew had under 10 years of paddling experience and we even had a first timer on fb9. We ran it at 550 cf s or probably less and we basically pulled the raft most of the way during this section. On sunday morning of the easter trip i raised my hand to ask rich about the logistics of paddling the french broad river section 9 on the way back to raleigh.

You can do it but it just isn t a good time. The stretch of river from barnard to hot springs is home to class iii and iv rapids. River description section 9 of the french broad known widely as fb9 has historically meant from the madison county put in in barnard to one of the take outs in hot springs.

For those that do not know the french broad or fb9 as paddlers call it is a foundational river for paddling class 3 whitewater. Despite appearances i was quite sure of where the french broad was. Section 9 whitewater on the french broad river the french broad riverkeeper s guide contains the following warning.

French broad 9 is closer short shuttle and a moderately short paddle 4 1 miles. Noted for its scenic beauty relative remoteness and proximity to outdoor adventure destinations such as asheville and hot springs nc and knoxville tn. Strangely i was the only one on both saturday s and sunday s trip.

Submitted by wayne jones. Section 9 of the french broad is the water from marshall to hot springs. French broad section 9 trip report.

I paddled the french broad section 9 this past weekend with a group of friends. Probably 90 of all trips on fb9 are from barnard to stackhouse. Maybe i should call this section 9a.