Another weekend, another update.

So, it seems that this time every week is update on what has happened since the last blog post.  I don't know if I can call it completely a weekend update, since boating ended last Sunday, and then started again on Tuesday of this week with a Dawn Patrol run of Fike Run with Chris Heim and Christian Figeroa-Tyler.  I finally was able to use my GoPro HD for myself, and I shot a little video breakdown in 2x of all of the rapids.  Fikes is quickly becoming my favorite run in the area.  Relaxing, no consequences, and lots of fun.  Unless you run the Room of Doom incorrectly, then it isn't so much fun.

Video: Dawn Patrole

So that was Tuesday, but like the precedent I set when I started the blog that I would break it down day by day, so here it goes.

Thursday, February 24th

Calls from Brenton Petrillo of River Left Productions and John Quigley about crashing at my place come in, and I oblige.  John and Brian Bridgewater drive up from Virginia Tech/Marshall to our Thursday night pool session, and Brenton comes in late Thursday night to crash with high hopes for the morning.  The pool session was a blast, as we were messing around and having a great time doing stupid things in the pool.  The plan of the boys was to wake up, at 5am and meet a few people from all over to fire up High Ridge Run.  A toast was made at 11:11 with stouts for stouts, and we chilled for a bit before heading to bed.

Friday, February 25th

Brian, John, and Brenton wake up at 5am on a few hours of sleep to only have their start time pushed back.  Everyone ends up waking up at 6:40 and heading out at 7:00 to meet their crew in the Canaan.  I stayed awake watching gauges as I was amped as well for an awesome weekend.  I later headed to my seminar class, already loaded up to head out and boat afterwards.  Chris Heim met me at noon and we headed to Fikes to meet some friends.  On the way, we picked up my good friend Clark and got ready to fire up Fikes with Matt Bernstein and Jeff Blood, who had missed out on running HRR and boated Roaring Creek in the morning.  FYI: Roaring has lots of wood. Fikes was running at a foot and half, and it was a great ride.  At the put in, we ran into Christian, Ernie, and Paula.  Ernie, coming off a broken wrist this past fall stomped his first creek run of the year.  After the quick run down Fikes, we headed over for a higher than normal water run on Muddy Creek.  We spent some time debating whether or not to run Daugherty Run  instead of Muddy, but with the water level and wood situation in the creek, and not to mention Jesse Wilson joined us and the group kept getting bigger, so Muddy was the run to hit.  Plus it was getting late and Daugherty would have run the risk of losing daylight.

Like I've said before, Muddy is a great run, despite the AMD.  This day, we also had to worry about the ever present trees on the run.  Like the previous runs on Muddy, there was a few tree dodging spot.  The trickiest of the spots on usual flows was pretty sketchy and slowed the group up, however I decided to probe a line through the strainer.  I made it through alright, with a hard low brace and breaking a 2" thick branch at the same time, Chris and Jeff followed and we took off towards the takeout.  I also finally nailed the boof on the run that I was hoping to hit, and finally had enough water to make it feasible.  The rest of the group boogied down behind us after they got hung up by the tree and met us at the takeout.  We all loaded up and headed on our way.  

The crew at the bottom of Muddy Falls slide

Chris, Matt, and I met Liz at Ledo Pizza for a delicious dinner and some relaxing.  Chris had plans of the North Fork of the Blackwater with Blood in the morning, and Matt and I were still game planning what was going to happen.  All the while, my friend John Rossini drove down from the Lehigh area to have a West Virginia adventure.  John made it in around 9ish, and we hung out for a bit, watching so kayak porn, and then went to sleep as we had a busy day ahead of us.  Also, the HRR crew hadn't contacted us that they had made it off the river, and we couldn't get anyone to respond.  Turns out, they hit Otter Creek, it flashed, and they had an epic day that didn't finish until 11pm.  We're all glad they made it out ok, as we were all quite worried they would be spending the night in the wilderness.  

Saturday, February 26th

We rallied to groups together to meet at Fikes at 9am to start our day.  Matt, Katie, and Clark ran together, and I took John and Laura down with my group as to not junk up the eddies.  John was my guinea pig on Fikes, as I wanted to see if I knew it well enough to take people down it and lead.  The level was down from the day before to about 8" on the painted gauge, not a bad level, but after running it was more water the day before some of the moves ended up drying out.  We ran two laps on Fikes, loaded up the River Princess with all of the boats and headed up to hit Meadow Run.  Everyone had great lines, and we ran two laps on it at 1'. I'm still learning the ins and outs of that river, but I do know now that at 7 foot falls, you can't go too far left.  It's been a mental thing that I think too far left you'll dry out, but now I know.  We didn't scout any of it, and I'm sure John was quite surprised his first lap down when we said go through the left hump, keep going left, and boof at the bottom when we ran Cascade.  What a great run!  Matt fired up the Slide once, and had a pretty good line.  I finally had the chance to to meet someone I have been wanting to for a while, fellow Mountaineer boater, Matt Pascal.  After changing, we headed to Falls City Pub for some Post Boating Refreshments and some pub burgers.  We chilled for a while, then headed back to my place for some sleep.  Got a call from Chris late that night that his group did not get on the NF Blackwater, but instead fired up the epic Otter Creek and had a great time.  

John and Katie hiking into Fike Run:

John taking the easy way down to the put in:

John running one of the slides on Fikes:

Laura running the slide as well:

Matt on the Cascades:

Reverse boof!

Laura on the Cascades:

And firing up the boof

John entering the Cascade:

Getting ready....

...and BOOF!  John sticking the landing on Cascades.

John somewhere in the foam at 7 Foot Falls:

Sunday, February 27th

Long days of paddling, like Friday and Saturday can really start to wear on you.  For the record, I have paddled 12 days in February with a total of 20 runs down different creeks.  Compare that to June, July, and August of 2010 where I only got in 13 days of boating in total.  We could have pushed ourselves for a lot more today, but when checking the gauges, the creeks had dropped too low and the rivers, specifically the Top Yough and Lower Big Sandy were still running too high for our comfort.  We decided that the Middle Fork would be the best bet, although it was running at 4.3' and higher than Laura and I had ever done it.  I dubbed today's trip the "Mental" Fork since I swam twice on the Middle Fork my only other time down it, and then swam again in the Tygart Gorge on our way to the takeout at a lower level.

Personally, I feel that the whole Tygart river system is overlooked by a lot of out of towners.  Most people, in my opinion know about the New, Cheat, and Gauley rivers, but not as much about the Tygart.  The Middle Fork is a tributary of the Tygart that dumps into the bottom half of the Tygart Gorge section.  This gave us a great wrap-up to John's WV Adventure.  Start off with 3 miles of nice pool drop rapids followed by 4 miles of big water, as the rain had the Gorge going pretty good.  Clean lines and 60 degrees made a great wrap up for the trip.  I got over my mental fear of the Middle Fork, and we had a blast.

Chris Loves to Boof the first rapid on the Middle Fork

So does Laura:

John does too!

The slot on S-Turn that Chris fired up: (Center-left rock pile)

John and Laura scouting S-Turn:

A beefy hole in Shoulder Snapper

A very happy, tired John after the 3/4 mile hike out from the Tygart Gorge:

Just for your entertainment, here's a nice shot of Moats Falls on Arden

So that about wraps it up.  here's a little video.  Didn't shoot much this weekend, but did have the chance for some footage.

Weekend Recap  (Sorry it's not in HD, I used that up on Vimeo.  I'll be getting Vimeo PLUS soon so more and longer HD videos for y'all!)

SYOTR,

Radley

Weekend Recap

I Another wonderful weekend has come and gone here in West Virginia.  Most recently we were blessed with unseasonably warm temperatures, which of course caused the snow to melt and the rivers to rise.  These perfect conditions led us to do what we always do, and that is kayak.  Like the last one, I'll just break it down by day since thats the best way I can think of doing it.

Thursday February 17th

Thursday was an easy day, in the 60s where I traveled to Ohiopyle to run the Loop with my friend Chris Kyle as the river started to rise from the melt.  Chris hadn't had the chance to boat in Gauley Fest, and since he had a lot in store for him this weekend, it was a great time to warm up and shake off the rust.  We hit it at 3.1' which was a great level, and a reminder to me that my playboat is not as forgiving as my creek boat.  The high that day was somewhere in the mid 60s, and I started to get heat exhaustion hiking out from Railroad in my drysuit it was so warm.  

Chris at the Loop Take Out

I kid you not, it was that warm that day.

That day, I also tried using my GoPro Hero HD helmet cam to record the run.  However, I am still learning how to use it, and I didn't manage to record anything from the run.  Thursday night, I did my normal routine of going to the pool session, except this one had a meeting.  The WVU Whitewater Club members in attendance voted unanimously for me to become the next president of the club.  I'm going to have my hands for sorting things out with it, but I'm looking forward to it and I've got a feeling it's going work out well.

Friday, February 18th

The morning was filled with giving a practice presentation of my NERR project to my seminar class.  The afternoon was filled with class IV-V creeking, followed by dinner and beers at the Brew Pub.

After my class ended, Chris Heim met me at the house, picked up Katie Berry, and we headed up to Ohiopyle to meet up with Matt Bernstein, who had just finished running Drakes.  The plan was to run either Meadow or Fikes, and as we got closer to meeting up, the plan was set to run Meadow.  The weather again today was beautiful, in the mid '60s, and I opted out of my drysuit for a more comfortable pair of guide shorts and a dry top, and even in that I was warm.  Upon arriving at the put-it, the level was 1.5', a full foot higher than when Matt and I ran it two weeks ago with Laura.  While some people run it higher, 1.5' was a full on, pushy, steep, continuous creek, and probably the hardest thing I have run to date.  That being said, it was a ton of fun and the run went without incident, except for the time ice from the "Ampitheter" a really cool rock formation on the left after 7 Foot Falls decided to drop huge ice chunks at us from 30+ feet.

Matt running the Meadow Slide

Getting iced after 7 Foot Falls

After hitting Meadow Run, Matt and Katie grabbed food on Rt. 40 and Chris and I took one for the team and went to get visuals on some of the creeks in the Cheat watershed. We found that Muddy, Daugherty, and the Sandy were all pumping as we drove down 26.  We drove the rest of the way back to Morgantown, passed the Cheat which was already over 5 feet, and looked at Deckers from the road, and made browns in our pants just looking at the drops.  Chris jetted off to celebrate his girlfriend Liz's birthday (the wonderful photographer from Toyota Falls) and the rest of us went back to our houses.  We later met up at the Brew Pub for more food and beer, all the while, organizing a plan for the next day of boating.

Saturday, February 19th

Matt, Katie, Chris, and I decided that before we met with the rest of the group, that we would dawn patrol Fikes before the rest of the crew met us at 11am.  First of all, Fikes is just a few, and I mean only a few, minutes outside of Bruceton Mills.  Second of all, it is freaking awesome.  We met up with Chris's friend Matt Sloan from Frostburg and we put on.  Also, shuttle is very short and simple, this is a must do run if you're in the area and it's running.  To check if it is running, there are two rocks at the take out.  The flat rock being covered means good to go.  The more water on the baseball rock in the center, the pushier, and you are in for a ride if the baseball rock is covered.  Also, there is a nice spray painted gauge on a rock there too.  We ran it at 1' on the gauge.  None of us had run the river before, except for Sloan, and that was a while ago.  All in all, the run went pretty well, except for a broken paddle in the Room of Doom which resulted in a swim, a pinned boat, and Matt paddling the rest of the river with Chris's broken paddle.

Katie and Chris at the put-in:

Sloan getting ready to sneak Hubbard's Cupboard, a very dangerous slot with high pinning potential.  When you see the pyramid rock, go left and bang down the sneak or walk around it on the left.

A view of Hubbard's Cupboard from downstream after the sneak.  Yea, it's nasty.

Collateral damage from the Room of Doom

After we finished running Fikes, we hurried to Bruceton Mills as we were over half an hour late to meet Mike Maloney and Brett Ciccotelli who drove down from Pittsburgh and Nik White who drove out from DC to meet us.  Unfortunately, Mike and Brett went to the wrong spot so us being late had no impact on the group.  Which was great, because I hate being late and impacting others.  Since they ended up in Albright instead of Bruceton Mills, we had them meet us half way at the put-in for the Muddy.  We boogied down the Muddy and had a great time, despite the AMD, although with the snowmelt it wasn't as bad as it could be.  

Katie and Mike at the put in

A very surprise Matt

Mike in front and Nik in the back on the first slide.

Nik punching the hole on the first slide, Matt in the back.

Matt and Chris coming down the slide.

The money shot, a DEMSHITZ approved brown by Chris

There were other browns of course, I tried to take nice picture of Matt and Katie, but Matt photobombed their own pic with the brown hand.

Baby brown by Brett, showing the big slide in the background.  No pictures of that one, just video.

Another one of Brett, nailing a random boof.

Matt with another boof and brown.

Just for fun, as I know they are great paddles but have a reputation of snapping around here, there are 7 intact Werners in the stacker......

After packing up at Teter's Campground, which is the takeout for the Muddy, we debated whether to do a highwater run on the Narrows or head back to Fikes or run over to Friendsville to run Bear Creek.  After checking the gauges, and me asserting my desire not to run any big water, we drove to Fikes.  In the middle of the caravan, Matt called my cell and said "Let's do Bear to mix it up" so we headed over to Friendsville.  Bear Creek is very similar to the Savage, with a few exceptions: it runs more often, there are less people on it, it's steeper, it's tighter, and the section we ran takes more time to run shuttle than it does to run the river.  It runs through Friendsville, drops 100 ft/mile, and it has some fantastic boofs and slides thrown into the boogie water for good measure.  We ran two laps on it, before calling it a day because we were all exhausted.  Only Mike and I had run Bear Creek once before, but it was Katie who led both laps.  She was paddling so fast in her Micro that I couldn't keep up with her in my Everest.

Heading towards the take out after an amazing day.

Brett and Nik bouncing through a wave train on the way to the takeout.

I didn't have the chance to take any pictures on Bear because we were moving so fast.  Nik shot helmet cam footage of the second lap, and we managed to run the whole two miles of the creek in 17 minutes!  After we go to the takeout, we loaded up and got changed so we could head back to Morgantown for some food.  A few of us grabbed dinner and brews at The Varsity Club, the closest place to eat from my house.  We hung out, relaxed, and then headed back to the apartment where Nik, Brett, and Mike crashed for the night with plans for the Lower Big Sandy in the morning.

Sunday, February 20th

We all woke up and headed to Bruceton Mills to meet up with John Quigley's North Fork of the Blackwater group from the day before to show them the easy way down to the put-in when the roads from the normal way are bad (which they were).  We got down there, got dressed, which at that point I had realized I forgot my union suit at the apartment but luckily Mike was generous enough to lend me some pants to wear.  We ran shuttle, which currently, the Cheat Canyon takeout road is in pretty good shape for February.  Our two groups split up and we headed down the river at a nice level of 6.35'.  Being pushier than it was on our last big group run, we did have a fair bit of carnage and a few swims, but it still ended up being a great day on the Sandy.

Katie dropping Wonder Falls

John styling Wonder Falls

Nik White nails his first run on Big Splat

Wood Report on 1st Island, there is a tree in the far right slot (far left in the picture) of 1st Island.  Gotta run the left side of the island until it is cleared.

Wood is also in the standard line of 1st Island, just underwater here at 6.35'.  Wood is in the center of the picture in the pour over.

After finishing our run, we loaded up, got changed and grab some grub, at the Mill Place.  A restaraunt/bar/hardware store in Bruceton Mills that is now becoming a habit of mind to visit after every Cheat or Sandy run.  The food is wonderful, it's quiet, the prices are fantastic, and if the special is pork chops with stuffing and mash potatoes, get it.

So that pretty much wraps up the whole weekend's adventures.  With more rain coming, we'll be busy next weekend too.  And of course, what you did all of this reading for:

Presidential Melt - On Vimeo

SYOTR,

Radley

Creeking Gear Review - To Pass the Time While Videos Render

So, while I work on the video from the last few days of fun, I figured I would write a review of some of the gear that I got for creeking this season.

Pyranha Everest:
So after my three swim day on the Middle Fork out of a Dragorossi Mafia last month, I decided that it was time that I invest on a real creek boat before I start getting on harder and more consequential runs.  I picked up the Everest in January, and since getting it, I have had the opportunity to try it out on: Toyota Falls, Muddy Creek (EFL and LF runs), Bear Creek, Lower Big Sandy, Fike Run, Top Yough, and Meadow Run.  When it comes to speed, the boat is very fast.  I sometimes find myself on other people's sterns because the boat is fast and doesn't hang up much on rocks.  I've never paddled a Burn, neither the old or new one.  I sat in a 2010 large Burn at the pool once, but that is the extent of my experience so I can't compare it.  What I can say is that it ISN'T just an XL Burn.  Side by side, there is only a hair difference in size between the two boats, but the Everest seems to have a little more rocker and volume, as well as a softer edge in the front of the boat.  This makes the boat pretty forgiving as I tend to bounce off of everything that I hit.  The one except was the Little Spat rock, where I managed to hit it dead on, carp a few rolls, and swim, but hey, everyone does it.

With the performance coming from the back of the boat, the Everest carves and snaps into eddies as easy as my playboat when the edge is engaged.  When it comes to boofing, the speed and the bow rocker make it a boof machine and resurfaces super quickly/doesn't go completely under at all.  During the approach to Wonder Falls today, I managed to get offline and slam sideways into the big hole at the bottom of the rapid.  Got windowshaded, and surfed for enough time to not want to be in the hole any longer.  I was quite surprised how well the Everest surfed out of the hole without much effort.

Basically, it's sweet.  I love it, and I hope Pyranha keeps making them for years to come, because I'm going to go through a few of them living in WV.  In case you were wondering, I'm 5'9", 190 pounds give or take, I have a 32" inseam, and I tend to carry 10-15 pounds of gear in the boat with me (unpin kit, first aid, dry box with camera gear, snacks).

Werner Powerhouse:
Huge fan of Werner Paddles, since I've been using a Sidekick for the past year for playboating, I decided it was time to upgrade to the Powerhouse for creeking.  My Sidekick is 191cm, bent shaft, and fiberglass; the Powerhouse is a 197cm.  For power, the extra length is amazing.  Very surprised how much more reach I get with extra length.  Also, the blades on the Powerhouse don't "grab" and mess me up like I've noticed when I used the Sidekick for creeking, even though the Powerhouse is a longer paddle.  Not going to write much else, except the FG blades scratch relatively easy.  I've had the paddle for a few days and it looks like some friends' paddles that they have had for a few years. (I am abusive to paddles) The carbon model takes this abuse better, but my opinion is, and yours may be different is that I'm probably going to break it anyways so might as well have it be a cheaper one.  That, and buy a new one more frequently than have a carbon paddle with blades the size of the step down.  The carbon ones are also lighter, but at 190, I could care less.

Other useful things:
SR Tsunami Elbow Pads - My elbows aren't broken, but they aren't the most comfortable pads.
Pelican Dry Box - My HD camcorder, helmet cam, point and shoot, and iPhone are still functioning
Shred Ready Full Face - I broke it, but shit, I still have my teeth.  My next one will be carbon though.
IR MicroWave Handwarmer Pogies - Warm and Wonderful (which is different from Wild, Wonderful WV, if you were wondering)

More stuff to review in the future, such as my camera gear, new IR Lucky Charm skirt, and the IR Wrist Warmers!

SYOTR

Wrapping it Up

First of all, I'd like to preface everything you are about to read with this: I have one of the kindest roommates know to man.  Without Goonz graciously allowing kayakers to sleep on our couch and floor for the last few days, none of what happened would have been possible, and I cannot thank him enough for his hospitality.

From the previous post, it is pretty obvious that things have been going on down here in DubVee, and like every good kayaker, I have been taking full advantage of it.  Let me try to break it down, day to day.

Wednesday, February 2nd:

Warm temperatures, early morning rain carried over from Tuesday night, as well as a killer hangover.  I awake around noon to find that rivers are running and people want to paddle.  Wednesday is one of my class days, and therefore prevents me from being able to paddle at all, however Mark Campbell and Mark Maderic headed out in hopes to chase some rain and fire up Bear Creek.  I was hoping to hit a late afternoon run on Toyota Falls after my class, but I too was skunked.  They left Friendsville and headed to Mo'town.  We grabbed some grub at the brew pub and hung out at my place that night.

Thursday, February 3rd:

Waking up early in the morning, due to Mark and Mark needing to get back home Thursday afternoonish we head over to Toyota Falls with Chris Heim to fire it up.  Chris's girlfriend Liz agreed to take photo and video for us, so here is a sample of what she was able to get.

Hiking in:

Chris firing it up:

Me browning the drop:

The Marks firing it up:

Mark Maderic on the slide:

The video I put together for us:

Toyota Falls in HD

After running two laps on Toyota Falls, we hiked out and debated at the car what to run.  We decided to drive to Albright, WV to see what was running in the Cheat watershed.  Currently the Big Sandy gauge is broken, and while everything was going up, it was going down.  While driving down Rt. 26, I noticed the Little Sandy was pumping and we headed over to check out Beaver Creek.  Checking at the put-in, it was a little too low, so we headed to Muddy Creek which was originally was our plan anyways.  Mark Campbell ran it after Cheatfest 2010 so he lead the pack for most of it.  Although low, it was a lot of fun and has two great class IV slides on it as well as plenty of III+ish boogie water.  I can't wait to hop on that one with more water!

After finishing, Mark and Mark headed back east to work and band practice as Brenton Petrillo from River Left Productions headed east and Matt Bernstein headed south from Pittsburgh to meet me at the WVU pool session.  After meeting up at a crowded pool session we grabbed some grub at Sheetz and headed back to my place.  I went to bed as I had seminar in the morning, and Matt and Brenton prepared for a day on the North Fork of the Blackwater.

Friday, February 4th:

Meeting up with Dave Carey in Friendsville, the crew traveled to Davis to fire up the Blackwater, only to get skunked by low water.  Halfway through seminar, my phone starts buzzing and I know that means.  I jogged home from class and met up with those guys, as well as rallying Christian and Brandon from Morgantown for an afternoon Lower Big Sandy run.  The level on the iced over gauge was 6.1' and it was a great run.  Knowing that I would be the weakest member of the group, as well as knowing that many other big name WV paddlers were going to be on the river with us, I was amped.  A good mix of nerves and excitement filled me as I drove out Rt. 7 past Deckers Creek it shifted much towards amped as I knew I had the chance to redeem myself from my three swim day two weeks ago on the Middle Fork, and have my shot at breaking into the next tier of boaters.

The LBS run started with traversing icy roads into the Cheat canyon and then up the road to the put in.  After a short hike down the put in road, we made it to the creek at started boating.  We ran without incident until we got to Wonder Falls, where Brenton freewheeled into a beatdown.

We boogied down the river, until we got to an icy Big Splat.  Half of the group ran it, and two others and myself walked.  The seal launch notch at Big Spat is very icy causing carnage for the one individual who used it, swam, and had his new boat pinned on the rock in the runout of the drop.  We unpinned the boat, and continued down the river at a decent pace with little carnage.

Brandon Renner running Big Splat:

At the takeout, we loaded all six people and six boats onto the River Princess and drove back to the put in.  Even made it down the icy put-in road that we hiked in earlier that day.  We parted ways, with plans to boat the next day.  Brenton headed south to boat in NC, and we headed back to Morgantown to rest.  After pit stopping at one of my most favorite places to eat in all of WV, The Mill Place in Bruceton Mills.

Friday night wrapped up with more hanging out at my place and rallying the troops for a Top Yough day.

Saturday, February 5th:

The original plan was to run laps on Top Yough, cook some burgers and dogs, and hang out for the day.  Once we arrived at the take-out, we found that four boaters we were expecting did not show leaving us weak on support for the run.  With newbies and being cold, our run took three hours, meanwhile Jon Harmon ran six laps in his Stinger that day, and finished with plenty of day light.  Surprisingly, the run went off without any carnage with the exception of a few barrel rolling sessions.  For some reason, I struggled to take photos that day as my camera was constantly fogged up, but I did manage to get a few taken.

Mike Maloney enjoying his brand new Immersion Research Double D Drysuit!

Steve Kroser handpaddling his PFD in February, this man is hard core.

Just like I said we couldn't have done this without Goonz, the same goes for Matt as he was the brains that day.  Here he is leading the group.

Laura Linzey warming up above Swallow Falls

Chris Heim running Swallow Falls

Jeff Felton running Swallow Falls

Radley Miller at the bottom of Suck Hole

Steve Kroser at the bottom of Suck Hole, and in case you were wondering, he rolled up and nailed the boof.

In addition to photos, we managed to shoot a little video, and edited while Matt, Laura, and Chris went for a 2nd lap.

Winter Top Yough Video

After getting back to Mo'town, we cleaned up and Matt, Chris, Katie, and I headed to Keglers to relax and eat some food.  More hanging out and resting happened at my place.  Laura still wanted to boat tomorrow with plans of more Top Yough, however it was on the rise.  I planned to take Sunday off, and rest as I did not want to run the Top Yough and it was on the rise, stating that I would only paddle of Meadow Run was going.  After dealing with an infected toe due to my drysuit bootie, I went to bed exhausted from three straight days of paddling.

Sunday, February 6th:

Upon waking up, I checked the gauges and saw the Top Yough was over 700 cfs, so I wasn't planning on boating until Laura called.  She crashed in Ohiopyle Saturday night, and woke up to find that Meadow Run was indeed running at half a foot on the put in gauge.  Matt and I rallied, droved to Ohiopyle, met Laura at The Falls Market for some Egg McLeos, and then we headed to Meadow Run.  

Meadow Run has a very short shuttle, it is tight, technical, and has amazing scenery.  Not too difficult, but it does require you to be on your toes.  It starts mellow, then you reach the Cascades, which is exactly that, a big ole slide with a nice boof onto a smaller slide at the bottom.  More boogie water takes you to a boulder garden and 7 Foot Falls, and then a little more boogie water and you're back in Ohiopyle at The Slide.  Since 1/2 a foot is pretty low, The Slide wasn't 100% runnable but after scouting and setting up safety, Matt fired up the second half of the slide.

Matt's Run on the Slide

After that, we hiked to the cars, changed clothes, stopped by Wilderness Voyagers as we all needed minicell foam for our boats.....especially Matt's poor Burn, and then headed home.

Now I'm watching the Super Bowl, gear is drying in the room, and I am exhausted.  I'm going to end the post at that because it's been pretty long.  Expect a review on my NEW Pyranha Everest soon.  It's virgin run was the browning of Toyota Falls, and so far I love it.

SYOTR