10 days at the Upper Yough
| River: | Yough |
| Skill: | Advanced |
| Trip Date: | 07/24/2020 |
After gathering advice from fellow kayakers on the Yough, I decided to take a family trip to WV. After all, it's further north and in the mountains, promising a break from the heat in central NC. And I was warned about the area being wet. Very wet. My aim was at the Upper Yough due to scheduled releases (Fridays, Saturdays, Mondays) and its IV-V.0 level. Drew, who I know from the Watauga, was willing to show me down the first two days. The first day, a Friday, was a summer release at the regular 2.1' level, and after warming up on the flats for 2 miles, much fun was had on the next 5 miles, with a considerable drop in elevation making for good drops with pools, including some more continuous ones as Charlie's, Triple and National nearly run into each other. It's a river full of boofs with few hazards, only 2 sieves that are not really in play, nor are any of the few undercuts a problem, it seems. But there are plenty of pin rocks as the river is narrow and fast in places, with lots of 5-person commercial rafts adding to the congestion that kayakers create on weekend. I had taken my Nomad in case natural flow came into play, and the creeker made the river into a boof fest as I was finding more rocks and overpoors on each run throughout the week.
Releases start at 11am and take 2 hours to reach the put-in, which is the perfect river for late risers. But you'll also likely be on the river until 5pm, or even until 7pm if you take breaks to watch others at National or chat at Beer Rock. In fact, both Drew and Alan, a C1 local who I teamed up with for the next 3 release days using the Upper Yough Facebook group, liked to stop at National to watch the show of good lines, missed lines, swims, work-outs and play champs. To add to the entertainment, the 2nd day on the river, a Saturday, was race day, the only day when release is from 10-5, which would allow for 2 laps — but we stuck with one. That Saturday, there was actually enough natural flow to also run the Top Yough, which Tesla had just finished when I met her group at the put in. Race day made for a truly crowded river with lots of good shows at National. Later runs on Monday and the weekend after gave opportunities to find alternate lines, e.g., creek lines at Charlie's and Time Warp instead of Gun Barrel above Heinzerling, plus many more boofs and an unknown ender spot. Had a had the Axiom, it would have been a slice fest. In fact, the river is perfect for slicing, something I'll try next time. I did take down the Rock Star on race day, which turned out to be the highest day at 2.3' — and a bit of a challenge with the play boat resulting in a swim after Powerful Popper, as my 5 roll attempts on the eddy line did not bear fruit. I should have switched to the off side after a couple of attempts. Good to have Drew and another kayaker plow my boat into an eddy.
During the week, I went exploring with the family. We checked out Swallow Falls and another waterfall next to it on the Top Yough, a rock maze hidden in the Garret State Forest, visited Fallingwater, the Frank Lloyd Wright architected house in the woods, and went biking on the GAP trail that links Pittsburgh to D.C. on old railroad tracks along the Casselman River from Confluence to Rockwood.
On low flow of 1.4', we went down the Lower Yough, which has constant release from the Yough Dam plus some natural flow from Casselman among others, not much to speak about that day. Ohiopyle with the Falls is a rafting destination, which requires pay-for permits on weekends to run the river (and optionally the falls), but there is less traffic during the week. The Lower is a more mellow river (up to III+) with lots of flat water in between rapids — unless you just run the 1.5 mile "loop" at Ohiopyle with its 7 rapids, which almost at par with the other 6 miles this section has to offer. We rented duckies and self shuttled, all the way down to the take out since shuttle buses only run on weekends. At this low flow, only Cucumber turned my wife over, which is right at the beginning and caused her to be a little unsure about the remaining rapids, whereas my daughter was having a blast. I was "guiding" from the Rock Star following the AW description, as it was my first run as well. At low flows, this seemed quite manageable after running the Upper Yough, but duckies should probably be off the river when the level is high. We did try to find Larry's famous jalapeno mustard on Ohiopyle, but the store was closed during the week.
For those interested, there is primitive camping at Piney above the put in of the Upper plus campgrounds at Swallow Falls State Park and outside Ohiopyle. We rented a house at Alpine Lake Resort, which is at higher elevation 30 minutes from the Upper. The house had no A/C, which my wife was afraid of, but it turns out that Alpine has ~10F lower temps than the Upper put-in, which puts it at 80F highs and lows in the 60s. The house did heat up due to sun exposure in the afternoon but was cool after sun down. Alpine also rents rooms in their outdated lodge (~$100). Lots of rentals are available for $$$ at Deep Creek Lake, which feels like a Disney resort for Baltimore/DC, not my cup of tea. We stayed at the Quality Inn there for 2 nights, which is a rip-off at $150 for a complete dump of a hotel. But nothing else was open for those 2 days, and I could not get them to go comping this time, which I would have much preferred. There's an AirBnB in Friendsville my the river was 10 bedrooms or so, right at the river, which would make for a perfect group residence if everyone pitches in to make it affordable. Mountain State Brewing 5 min. from the put in has to be my favorite spot after getting off, with its patio overlooking fields and rolling hills behind which the sun sets over a beer and pizza. Other breweries in Oakland and Terra Alta also had their charm. Lucky Dog in Confluence was open one day and closed another, but there is a high-end Cafe/B&B in town right on the river, which was a great alternative albeit more pricey.
One more perk: The Upper has fish releases in the summer, which means the river releases almost every day. They are announced the day of and often only right when it starts, so you have just about 2 hours from when the release begins to get to the put in. They vary in intensity (and depending on natural flow), but this would allow one to get on the river any day of the week, maybe at a slightly lower level and for only 1-2 hours of release instead of 3 hours during scheduled releases. Other rivers, which I hope to catch next time, are the Cheat and Lower Big Sandy among a number of creeks. As I was leaving the Cheat came up but not the creeks, but I had to head back. Next time. Maybe next summer again when the heat is killing me, it's a great summer get-away. And next time, let's make this a club trip. Blame it on COVID that nobody but Drew responded this time around, this area is a great travel destination, which can be combined with the New/Gauley or John's/Goschen, depending on water levels, on the otherwise 6 hour drive-in from Raleigh. I'm sure there are many more rivers to explore.