Cushion Rapid

"Cushion" is the first major rapid on the NFT. You'll know you're there when you see the small rustic cabin on the right side streambank. A huge sycamore tree juts out of the right bank at the lip of the drop. A large eddy on the left above Cushion provides a perfect place to regroup before dropping into the rapid. Cushion is a multi-drop series of ledge-like drops. You have a choice at the top: Run the center "cushion" line - a boof with a mid-air turn to the right at a cushiony pillow of water, or run the far-right boof. Quickly catch the center eddy to set up for the second choice: drop the tight center slot, or run another far-right boof if the water is high enough today. After that you may eddy out of just keep flowing into the last set: working your way toward a center-ish ledge boof over a moderately-sticky hole. Don't get too far off the center line on this one or you could end up in the hidden cracks on both edges. Don't forget to look back upstream afterward, and enjoy the steepness of what you just paddled.