Upper Gauley First-Timers Trip
| River: | Gauley |
| Skill: | Intermediate+/Advanced |
| Trip Date: | 09/24/2022 |
Upper Gauley First-Timers Trip Report by Wayne Jones
Trip Coordinator – Morgan Randell
September 24, 25 2022
Trip participants: Morgan Randell, Ashley Cowan, Sejal Kinker, Marcy Fleeharty, Mike McDonough, Joe Marincel (first-timer), Wayne Jones (first-timer).
The responsibility of writing the trip report traditionally falls to one of the first-time participants, and that shall be me. “But Wayne, I am surprised that this is your first time, I would have thought you paddled this years ago!” is something I heard this weekend. The fact is that I am much more of a turtle than a rabbit, so it has taken me a while to get here, with lots of small steps. I had gotten in three good river trips with a lot of aggressive paddling since Week of Rivers, so I felt I was ready.
Water is powerful, so all rivers are powerful, but some like the Gauley exhibit their power more openly. It is impressive, and daunting. When are you ready for this? Morgan, who organized the trip uses a gauge of being comfortable on the New River Gorge, most everyone’s introduction to big water. That, and having a confident roll. What is a confident roll? It is when you are upside down, you know that, unless something has gone badly wrong, you’ll be able to get back up. If you don’t have that, keep working on it. If needed, break it all the way back down to zero, and get someone knowledgeable to help you put it back together again; it will be better. Say this after me: “hips go first.” Then practice, practice, practice and then practice some more in progressively difficult conditions. Don’t give up.
Then, be like Marcy’s duck. On the front of Marcy’s boat, on the GroPro mount, is a little yellow duck with a helmet. It is fabulous little creature; it is both soft and fierce at the same time. That should be you, loose enough to be kicked one way and then the other several feet by crossing waves or other unexpected things, and fierce enough to drive you and your boat into a standing wall of water far bigger than you.
Here is the list of the big rapids:
Initiation (what?, this is a piece of cake)
Insignificant (hmm, Sejal got kind of close to the ledge hole, now where am I, that was kind of big)
Pillow Rock (big fluffy chaos)
Lost Paddle (long, mostly readable, make your lines)
Iron Ring (scoutable, clear line, go like you mean it)
Sweets Falls (all you get is a horizon line, and then a moment of alarm at the edge)
What else do you need? You need someone who knows what’s up. For me, I was part of team Sejal/Wayne/Marcy for most of the time. Sejal would describe the moves and features, ask if I am good, then head down with me right behind her, then Marcy following along smiling. Team Ashley/Morgan/Joe/Mike was behind us. This was a great example of a well-organized trip. A clear limit on the number of first-timers (Wayne and Joe) then a range of experienced paddlers with two who took lead and beta duties (Ashley and Sejal). Also, a good split of trip planning duties (Morgan) with trip management (Ashley).
My day went wonderfully. After some jitters early in the week (I got so worked up on Tuesday afternoon I had to go out for a long run to burn up some nervous energy,) when we got on the water I felt in tune with the day. By either following Sejal or having her point lines out to me, I hit most everything just right. I did lose my way a bit on my way up towards Pillow Rock, got spun around, and ended up going to the right at Volkswagen Rock. But all in all, super successful; also, it was a dry hair day for me, so that’s cool. Joe did well and enjoyed himself, and Morgan and I watched him do a backflip and roll at the bottom of Iron Ring from the river right eddy, so that was fun! Being the turtle that I am, I pulled my foot off the accelerator some on day two and helped run shuttle instead. All of the group had a good day on Saturday, with everyone aside from me repeating the performance on Sunday.
Other notes:
Flow 2,760 cfs both days.
Good video that helped me visualize some of the rapids: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeBy0eOFv3g
Beware: video flattens things out substantially.
Joe Berry says take the boat in which you feel most comfortable.
This trip report does not detail some of the notable hazards on the river; they warrant additional research.
Many thanks to Ashley for trying to herd the cats, and to his Dad Tony for helping.
Super appreciation of Morgan coordinating the trip, this is a long-standing tradition of the club that is holding up well. I’ll see you next year.