Mountain State of Mind: December 2011

2011 has been a great year for me. It started off cold, frozen, and swimming on the Middle Fork of the Tygart River in West Virginia in early January. February was still cold, but I started to get my act together and began a love affair with Big Sandy drainage with many enjoyable runs down the Lower Big Sandy, and small tributary Fike Run higher up in the drainage (as well as Meadow Run on the other side of the ridge). March and April kicked it into full gear with more runs on the Big Sandy and Top Yough in my first Greenboat. As things began to warm up, paddling started to heat up and I got out more and more. May means two big things for me, the end of the semester and Cheatfest. At Cheat Fest, we raced, partied, and ran the Lower Big Sandy 5 or 6 times that week. I got to see some good friends, and share the love for the LBS I had with them. It still continued to rain into June, and we were lucky to get some warm weather runs in on plenty of stuff. July dried out but the Upper Yough released every day but one that month and I managed to bang out 17 laps including a last place finish in Mens K-1 Long in the Glorious Upper Yough Race. Tired out the lack of new runs in July, the first weekend in August meant my first trip down south. That weekend, joined by good friends from the area we loaded up the jeep and drove south to Saluda. A sleepless night of nonstop driving got us to the put in where a short break took me down the Green Narrows for the first time. Two more days of fun and Greening followed, but word was no release for our last day there. Fortunately rain came, and a low but fun first run down the North Fork Blackwater River with my trip companions happened. September meant the start of school and Gauley season, and hurricane season. Of course, Labor Day meant a trip to New York for Beaverfest with the crew. We went non-stop from WashPa to Fowlersville Falls to kick off a weekend of Bottom Moose, Raquette, Beaver, and Oswegatchie boatings. A few days later, following Dave Carey down Dunbar Creek after the second hurricane led to a cracked boat and catching the tail end of the water during my first Upper Blackwater trip led to a destroyed boat. Hard work at Gauley Fest (and partying, and Upper G runs) got me a Nomad which helped chase the following storm's water down classic Delaware Water Gap creeks Van Campens and Hornbecks. The rain kept coming in October, and we kept boating. Halloween weekend marked my first ever run on Gluteal Mash only days after my first run down the Russell Fork Gorge. Wrapping the season up was the greatest show in sports, the Green Race. The beginning of November was marked with another trip down to Saluda with a pitstop in Johnson City to visit displaced Morgantownie, JB Seay, and run the Watagua. Taking friends down the Green for the first time before the race was a blast, and we wrapped that trip up with a run down the Tallulah Gorge in Georgia. The rest of the month slowed down as finals and holidays kicked into full gear, and I managed to paddle still through November and early December.

2011 has had its ups and downs. I paddled 154 days on 38 new rivers, logged over 1000 river miles, and what would be a over a half marathon in vertical feet. I broke 3 creek boats this year, but my Nomad's going strong! My swim count is less than optimal, but I've got something to work on for 2012 like learning how to roll. Met many new friends, saw lots of people (including myself) make huge strides, saw and shared new rivers with many people. It was a good year, so I'm going to share the highlights.