This weekend I spent the days on PA rivers. Read my trip report at Got Boof from a dramatic Sunday on Indian Creek.
The Motivation for this Journal
17 December, 2007
Adventures North of the Border
This weekend I spent the days on PA rivers. Read my trip report at Got Boof from a dramatic Sunday on Indian Creek.
10 December, 2007
XXX in MMVII
On Sunday, December 9th I paddled to the confluence of class 4 Teter's Creek and the flooding Tygart River in Barbour County. I waited for the crew with whom I had been boating to assemble, slogged through marshy grass while carrying my kayak from the creek bed past the piers of an abandoned railroad bridge and up a steep embankment strewn with bottles, television sets, and appliances, and dropped the heavy boat at my car. It was cold and soggy and the puddles around my car were deep and muddy, but I had just paddled two amazing and intense creeks, the second of which was a milestone. Despite the muggy day, I was even happier than I typically am in this scenario because I had completed a goal that I had set when I realized that I was pacing rapidly through new runs at some time around the Webster Spring Wildwater Festival in March. My goal of paddling 30 new runs in 2007 had been realized.
Like every other exploratory goal, my little, adventurous goal provokes controversy.
First, paddling Little Sandy Creek into Upper Big Sandy Creek counts for two according to AW. But, I'll need to get in one more new run before the end of the month to simply satisfy my own
self-skepticism. Two runs, Rasler Run and the Rapidan River, are seldom run and so they are not official AW reaches. Rasler definitely makes the list (see www.got-boof.com for trip reports from both Rasler and Laurel/Teter's) but the Rapidan was a very small flooded stream with little gradient. So, if I want to be a snob about it, I need to replace the Middle Yough and the Rapidan with some more bona fide whitewater. The goal will hopefully be solidified in the next few weeks with two more good runs.
And, it just rained a lot.
Here they are, organized by state.
Note: Since writing the non-italicized text of this post, I have paddled two new rivers, Fike Run (PA) and Indian Creek (PA). So, I figure I've got that going for me, and I definitely hit the big three-oh.
Having a prolific year like this under my belt, I begin to feel like I'm actually worth my salt as a whitewater boater and that Life in West Virginia is good. This may or may not be the case, but if most definitely feels that way when I'm on my way to the river and the skies are dousing the watersheds.
Git 'r Dun.
Like every other exploratory goal, my little, adventurous goal provokes controversy.
First, paddling Little Sandy Creek into Upper Big Sandy Creek counts for two according to AW. But, I'll need to get in one more new run before the end of the month to simply satisfy my own
self-skepticism. Two runs, Rasler Run and the Rapidan River, are seldom run and so they are not official AW reaches. Rasler definitely makes the list (see www.got-boof.com for trip reports from both Rasler and Laurel/Teter's) but the Rapidan was a very small flooded stream with little gradient. So, if I want to be a snob about it, I need to replace the Middle Yough and the Rapidan with some more bona fide whitewater. The goal will hopefully be solidified in the next few weeks with two more good runs.And, it just rained a lot.
Here they are, organized by state.
| 2007-1 | MD | Savage | Merrill - Lake (Upper) |
| 2007-2 | MD | Savage | Lower |
| 2007-3 | MD | Yough | Upper |
| 2007-4 | MD | Yough | Top |
| 2007-5 | NY | Hudson | Gorge |
| 2007-6 | PA | Casselman | Markleton - Fort Hill |
| 2007-7 | PA | Laurel Hill Creek | Whipkey Dam - Footbridge |
| 2007-8 | PA | Rasler Run | To Indian Creek |
| 2007-9 | PA | Shade Creek | To Stonycreek River |
| 2007-10 | PA | Slippery Rock Creek | Eckert - Harris (Lower gorge) |
| 2007-11 | PA | Stonycreek | Canyon |
| 2007-12 | PA | Stonycreek | Upper Gorge |
| 2007-13 | PA | Stonycreek | Lower |
| 2007-14 | PA | Yough | Middle |
| 2007-15 | PA | Meadow Run | Dinnerbell Rd - Ohiopyle |
| 2007-16 | VA | Rapidan | Rt. 231 - Rt. 29 |
| 2007-17 | WV | Big Sandy | Little Sandy - Rockville (Upper) |
| 2007-18 | WV | Potomac, South Branch | Smokehole section |
| 2007-19 | WV | Gauley | Upper |
| 2007-20 | WV | Gauley | Middle |
| 2007-21 | WV | Gauley | Lower |
| 2007-22 | WV | Big Sandy | Lower |
| 2007-23 | WV | Cheat | Canyon |
| 2007-24 | WV | Elk, Back Fork | from Sugar Creek |
| 2007-25 | WV | Little Sandy | Rt. 26 - Big Sandy |
| 2007-26 | WV | Meadow | Upper |
| 2007-27 | WV | Stony | Dam - Rt. 50 |
| 2007-28 | WV | Potomac, North Branch | Bloomingon |
| 2007-29 | WV | Laurel Creek | into Tygart |
| 2007-30 | WV | Teter's Creek | into Tygart |
Note: Since writing the non-italicized text of this post, I have paddled two new rivers, Fike Run (PA) and Indian Creek (PA). So, I figure I've got that going for me, and I definitely hit the big three-oh.
Having a prolific year like this under my belt, I begin to feel like I'm actually worth my salt as a whitewater boater and that Life in West Virginia is good. This may or may not be the case, but if most definitely feels that way when I'm on my way to the river and the skies are dousing the watersheds.
Git 'r Dun.
04 December, 2007
Winter's Arrival
There are few things as pleasant as paddling whitewater in a snow storm. Uniquely pleasant, that is, in its simultaneous purity and complexity. At a glance from a calm eddy below the notorious Big Splat rapid, I stopped to witness the slow, downward drift of a million big, fat snowflakes, the thunderous waters of the Big Sandy chew
away rock at a geologic pace, and a hundred mile wide cloud mass expose the sun to me through a tiny hole. I admit that I chuckled aloud in amazement.
And only two other people were there witnessing it all with me.
But I couldn't hear them.
Because the roar of whitewater is too loud.
And that damn rubber hat I have to wear was sealed over my ears.
I nearly missed this opportunity to experience the first day that Mother Nature showed us her cold side. With a big
rain on Sunday night and steady snow throughout the day Monday, Tuesday shaped up to have a lot to offer. Thankfully, two paddlers from the DC area, Tyler and Matt, responded to message board posts. Neither had run this section of Big Sandy Creek before, and it is on every class 4 boater's list. If I had to rank the best types of experiences on whitewater, introducing a boater to a new river to run is just below being introduced to a new run. But, if the river is one of my own favorites, we can call it even.
According to the ultra-precise thermometer on my dashboard, it was 24 degrees when we parked the car at the put in. This was after more than an hour of driving to drop the shuttle vehicle at the take out thanks to the snowy, rough roads of Preston County, WV. I was told by Charlie Walbridge last week that the quickest way from Masontown to Bruceton Mills is through Jenkinsburg. This may sound perfectly normal to most, but Jenkinsburg is not a town and the road through it is more than 8 miles of rocky, muddy (and snowy today)
switchbacks. We made it without a single slip.
Just as modern vehicles can be designed to tackle these roads, modern paddling apparel has been designed to keep out the cold. Never mind the fact that it takes a full 30 minutes to buckle, strap, and zip it on; it works. And so, Matt, Tyler and I put onto the river just under the bridge at Rockville (a
lso not a town). And, I was responsible for getting them the appropriate information to successfully navigate the river. I am proud to say that I am apparently good at transferring this information, because when the information was given, all the right moves were executed. Strangely, both of them styled the line at Zoom Flume rapid, a line I have yet to style myself. All theory, no practice
One swim occurred and it was not in one of the major
rapids. And, like I said, the gear works.
Reaching the take out point where the wild waters of the Big Sandy are injected into the wonderful Cheat River, a breath of relief accompanied each of our sighs of awe. This place is awesome.
Check out the photos.
Git r Dun.
away rock at a geologic pace, and a hundred mile wide cloud mass expose the sun to me through a tiny hole. I admit that I chuckled aloud in amazement.And only two other people were there witnessing it all with me.
But I couldn't hear them.
Because the roar of whitewater is too loud.
And that damn rubber hat I have to wear was sealed over my ears.
I nearly missed this opportunity to experience the first day that Mother Nature showed us her cold side. With a big
rain on Sunday night and steady snow throughout the day Monday, Tuesday shaped up to have a lot to offer. Thankfully, two paddlers from the DC area, Tyler and Matt, responded to message board posts. Neither had run this section of Big Sandy Creek before, and it is on every class 4 boater's list. If I had to rank the best types of experiences on whitewater, introducing a boater to a new river to run is just below being introduced to a new run. But, if the river is one of my own favorites, we can call it even.According to the ultra-precise thermometer on my dashboard, it was 24 degrees when we parked the car at the put in. This was after more than an hour of driving to drop the shuttle vehicle at the take out thanks to the snowy, rough roads of Preston County, WV. I was told by Charlie Walbridge last week that the quickest way from Masontown to Bruceton Mills is through Jenkinsburg. This may sound perfectly normal to most, but Jenkinsburg is not a town and the road through it is more than 8 miles of rocky, muddy (and snowy today)
switchbacks. We made it without a single slip.Just as modern vehicles can be designed to tackle these roads, modern paddling apparel has been designed to keep out the cold. Never mind the fact that it takes a full 30 minutes to buckle, strap, and zip it on; it works. And so, Matt, Tyler and I put onto the river just under the bridge at Rockville (a
lso not a town). And, I was responsible for getting them the appropriate information to successfully navigate the river. I am proud to say that I am apparently good at transferring this information, because when the information was given, all the right moves were executed. Strangely, both of them styled the line at Zoom Flume rapid, a line I have yet to style myself. All theory, no practiceOne swim occurred and it was not in one of the major
rapids. And, like I said, the gear works.Reaching the take out point where the wild waters of the Big Sandy are injected into the wonderful Cheat River, a breath of relief accompanied each of our sighs of awe. This place is awesome.
Check out the photos.
Git r Dun.
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