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:
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.
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.
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
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