Upper Gauley First Timers Trip-2013
| River: | Gauley |
| Skill: | Advanced |
| Trip Date: | 09/06/2013 |
Paddlers: Lisa Birskovich (fearless leader), Joe Berry (room of doom guy), Matt Daniels (calm, cool, collective), Bret Harrison (the captain), Jon Godwin (Mr. Encouragement), Luke Osborne (The Starchild), Stuart Samuels (knowledge base), Sejal Kinker (Mrs. Smooth), Dennis Ashford (rookie), Jereme Adams (rookie)
The Upper Gauley first timer’s trip is something of legend within the CCC. At the very mention of it someone has been on the trip, knows someone who has been on it, or is planning on going on it at some point. Also, you never hear someone say “Oh it is a terrible trip.” No, the only thing you hear is “it is a great trip and you are going to love it! Lisa knows that river like the back of her hand.” So Jereme Adams and myself decided the trip was the proper place for us to experience the legendary Upper Gauley for the first time.
We set out on Friday, September 6th. I was able to hitch a ride in the “Stud Mobile” with Lisa and some UG regulars. Several others met us at the campground on Friday night and we headed to Maloney’s for drinks and dinner. The mood was full of excitement and a little bit of nervousness; we were going to run the “Beast of the East” tomorrow after all.
Beautiful weather greeted us on Saturday morning with a 0% chance of rain, sunny skies, and highs in the low 80s. Lisa called the Army Corps of Engineers line to listen to information regarding the water releases, and the recording said the water temperature was going to be 67?! We are talking about the Gauley here, where the water comes from the bottom of Summersville Lake. No way that water was going to be 67! None of us believed the recording. However, it turns out, the water was warm and the recording was correct.
How could this day get any better?! Great weather, good people, the UG, low river traffic, AND warm water… I know, clean lines all day!
The UG starts off with some nice warm up rapids to get loose and help lose some of that nervousness. The crew had initially decided to break up into two groups, but the river traffic was so low that we pretty much stayed together the entire day. Initiation came and went with Lisa and others pointing out the lethal pin spot that is easy to avoid. The day was starting off nicely.
Then, there we were, sitting in a big eddy right above Insignificant. Our first of the Big Five, and one of the harder and more dangerous of the class V’s on the UG. Lisa described the top of the rapid as pure chaos (and it was) but some courageous volunteers went down first and showed us how to avoid the big top hole that is hidden by a big wave train. Jereme and myself followed Lisa down, missing the big top hole, working right to miss the second big pour over, past the slide rock, and into the left eddy at the bottom of the rapid. SMOOTHED! Everyone had good lines and you could see some relief on everyone’s face to know that “Insig” was over and the rookies did fine!
Following a few more fun class III-IV rapids, the river makes a big left turn, drops off the face of the earth, and slams into a giant house sized rock on river left. We had arrived at the famous Pillow Rock. One of the most photographed rapids in the world has earned a reputation for being one of the, if not the, most powerful rapids of the UG. We got out to scout on river right, and Lisa points out a small hole at the entrance and two big rocks offset a little further down stream in the rapid. She tells us where to enter, just left of both rocks, wait three to four strokes, miss Inertia hole, then hit the gas to the big right eddy to avoid Joe Berry’s favorite place, the Room of Doom. Again, all clean lines, some closer to the Room than others, a few flips, but good rolls before Volkswagen rock. Whew! Two of the Big Five are past us!
Following the confluence of the Meadow River and the Gauley lays the longest (1/4 of mile) and the most technical of the UG rapids, Lost Paddle. Lisa explains to Jereme and myself that we are going to take our time down this rapid, eddy hop, and talk about each drop separately before committing to them. First drop goes off without a hitch and we all end up in the big river right eddy above second drop where the massive Hawaii 5-0 wave sits. Luckily, we can skirt the wave and Lisa shows us a boof move to the right of the wave right into a big eddy at the bottom of second drop. Third drop again goes off without a hitch and we eddy out above the most technical drop of 4th drop and Tumblehome directly below it. Lisa explains that if we swim here we are likely to go the mail slot, which is a crack between two giant boulders that lie directly in the middle of the current. Message was simple, make the ferry move and don't swim… Deep breathe… Luke eddied out below 4th drop to help any would be swimmers, but no one even flipped! Again, great lines all around!
It felt like a thousand pounds had been lifted off of my chest to get through Lost Paddle without any problems. We grabbed a bite of lunch in good spirits and headed down stream to the most impressive of Big Five, Iron Ring. We got out to scout Iron Ring on river left to see a massive top wave with a green water “V” in it followed by Woodstock hole on river left and the preferred line just a hair to the right of Woodstock. We discussed the line, and decided Iron Ring is more of a crapshoot than anything. You follow the green water highway down the “V”, but you cannot hit the bottom of the “V” or you will end up in Woodstock. You have to hit it upstream on the right side with the right boat angle to avoid Woodstock. Bret showed us a 360 degree pirouette between the two drops, Jereme showed us a nice window shade move in Woodstock, and Lisa smoothed it as usual. Again, few flips, good rolls, no swims, no problem!
A few more class III-IV rapids later we ended up at what some call the “Coliseum of Carnage.” We had arrived at Sweets Falls. This 14-foot waterfall/slide is typically accompanied with a crowd wanting to see some carnage. In the staging eddy Lisa tells us to aim for the left side of a curler at the top of the drop and have a right boat angle. Right boat angle?! No one runs Sweets with a right boat angle! Everyone goes with left! Lucky for us, we listened, and everyone who had a right boat angle smoothed the drop to the despair of the onlookers. Though they were not totally disappointed. We had made it through the last of the Big Five!
For Jereme and myself, this signaled the end of our personal first decent of the legendary Upper Gauley. This was a big milestone for myself, because this section of river, after years of commercially rafting it, is the reason I started kayaking.
Saturday night was filled with good food, good beer, good music from Matt who brought his guitar, and good stories about the great day everyone had on the river. What a perfect day.
We woke up the next morning to beautiful weather again and this time more excitement than nervousness. We knew what to expect now. We paddled the UG again on Sunday. Clean lines all around. We ended the trip with hugs, congratulations, a beer or two at the take-out, and a few SYOTR’s.
This trip is everything everyone makes it out to be. The UG is something to be respected as it can jump up and bite you quickly, but with the right guide, the right crew, and the skills, it has to be one of the best rivers to kayak on the east coast. Big water and big fun. They do not call it the “Beast of the East” for nothing.
If you planning on taking a PFD down the UG anytime soon, I would recommend waiting until the first release weekend of September of 2014 and jump on this trip. The river isn’t going anywhere and neither is this trip!
SYOTR.
Dennis Ashford