Clear Fork canoeists: 'Delayed but okay'
ROBBINS — A Knoxville canoeist forced to spend a cold night on the Clear Fork River with no camping gear says he and his friend are none the worse for wear after their adventure in the Big South Fork National River & Recreation Area last week.
Kevin Mezick, 33, and Kevin Adcock, 30, were the subject of a search by National Park Service rangers Tuesday morning before they arrived by boat at the Burnt Mill Bridge near here, wet and a day late, but otherwise okay.
The two co-workers launched their canoe at Brewster Ford on the Morgan-Fentress county line May 18, then were forced to spend the night on the riverbank as darkness fell.
The span between the two popular river access points covers 10 miles and takes nearly as many hours to cover at water levels similar to those encountered by the paddlers last week. However, Mezick and Adcock didn’t get into the water until early evening, and capsized their boat several times.
“We just got started late,” Mezick said, adding that the original plan was to begin their float further upstream, at Peter’s Bridge in Fentress County. “We kinda knew we were going to tip over . . . I mean, we were taking a canoe in whitewater.”
After capsizing around five times, the men and their gear were wet.
“My drywell works for a little while, but that not long,” Mezick said. “We had a dry t-shirt, but that was about it. We had brought some extra dry clothes but had already gotten into them.”
Darkness fell as the two men neared the halfway point of the trip — near the mouth of White Oak Creek. At one point, Mezick said, their boat hit a rock and capsized at the Gentleman’s Fishing Hole below Historic Rugby because it was too dark to see.
“We lost it right there. We couldn’t see anything,” he said.
At that point, the men spent the night on the riverbank. Temperatures in the region were unusually cold, dropping into the upper 30s by daybreak. Mezick was carrying a lighter, which was saturated after being submerged in the water. However, he said he was able to get enough of a spark to start a fire using pine needles gathered on the bank.
As the evening wore on and family had not heard from the men — cell phone coverage is spotty in the river gorge along Clear Fork, but the men’s phones had gotten wet along with the rest of the gear and were no longer functioning — authorities were notified.
“When they failed to return that evening, friends contacted the Scott County Sheriff’s Department who then contacted Big South Fork rangers,” NPS spokesperson Jeannine McElveen said. “Mr. Mezick’s and Mr. Adcock’s vehicles were located and rangers began a search.”
Mezick and Adcock hit the water again at daybreak the following morning, arriving at Burnt Mill Bridge at around 11 a.m.
“We only got dumped one more time that next day,” Mezick said. “It warmed up during the day, when the sun came out. That was a welcome relief.”
Meanwhile, BSF rangers had began a search of the rugged area, with six searching the river and two more on foot. A Tennessee Highway Patrol helicopter had also been requested to assist in the search.
Mezick waved off any notion of the trip souring he and his friend on the adventure of paddling the Big South Fork. The two men planned to hit the Clear Fork again over the Memorial Day weekend, he said.