Archive for August, 2009

Can I Get An “Aw Yeah”? Gauley Season’s Coming

Monday, August 24th, 2009

Today, I felt the wind blow.  It wasn’t the summer wind, either, like the one that brings a storm in, or blows us back upstream on while we’re out rafting on the New River.

If you get bounced out of the raft, it feels like you're way above the river

If you get bounced out of the raft, it feels like you're way above the river

It means one thing only into this part of the country:  Gauley Season.

Aw yeah!

Sometimes it feels like it’s never going to get here.  Other times, like this year, we’ve been loving the high water all season long.  But still, it’s like watching a wave that’s going to break on you.  Here it comes- better get ready.

How to know when Gauley season is coming:

  • The calendar.  It starts the first Friday after labor day.
  • Lots of Colorado license plates in Fayetteville.
  • Old friends are out on the New River.
  • Kayaks everywhere.
  • The southern accent becomes audible as all our buddies from down south arrive.
  • The humidity disappears, and the clear blue football weather rolls in.
  • The air smells like neoprene as all the local guides get out last year’s Gauley gear.
  • You start to think about Pillow Rock.  All the time.

Got more?

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How To Paddle The Gauley River (Like You Mean It)

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009

If you come to run the Gauley River this season (and it’s coming up- starts the Friday after Labor Day), you better paddle hard.

And, honestly, that doesn’t mean go through the motions, or just paddle when you feel like it.  We call that weenie paddling.  If you’re caught weenie paddling on the Gauley, you’ll kindly be asked to de-board at that time.

And don’t try to fake it.  We can tell.

OK, I know that sounds a little harsh.  But there’s a reason for coming off that way.  A couple, actually.  First, it’s kind of a joke.  Kind of. We like to mess with our guests just a little, because we’re rowdy, and, hey, take a joke, will ya?

Second (and this is the better reason), the better you paddle the more fun stuff you will be able to do in a raft on the Gauley.  Honest.

Here’s why:  when you paddle, what you’re doing, in essence, is pushing back off the water and pushing yourself into the boat.  So it actually makes you much, much more stable to be paddling in big rapids when your guide tells you to.

Also, if everyone in the boat is doing that, the boat goes right where it’s supposed to go.  And on the Gauley, we like to go big.  If you want to go big too, you’ve got to paddle hard to get there.  So there’s that.

It makes a big difference from your guide’s perspective, too.  Your guide is there to show you a good time, to share something special with you, and, yes, to get crazy with you out on the river.  Paddling hard is like telling your guide that you are prepared for anything that might happen, and thank-you-sir-may-I-have-another.

Paddling hard means you get to surf.  It means you get to hit huge waves.  Run the biggest lines.  Go for that one slot where it looks like you’re not going to fit.  The Gauley is a demanding river.  Make sure you’re ready to do what it asks of you.

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What Everyone Needs To Know About The Gauley River

Thursday, August 13th, 2009

One of the things I love about Gauley Season is the anticipation leading up to it.  I always get a ton of questions when I’m taking guests down the New River before Gauley:

Hey! We're on two wheels!

Hey! We're on two wheels!

  • Am I good enough for the Gauley?
  • What are the rapids like?
  • What’s the hardest rapid?
  • Do people get hurt all the time?
  • What’s your favorite color?

Here’s a post to answer some of the questions that seem to be foremost in the minds of the uninitiated…

Am I Good Enough For The Gauley?

Probably.   The vast majority of people are ready for a day on the Gauley, with only a few who really shouldn’t try.  If you’re only going to get off the couch once a year, go to the movies; don’t go to the Gauley.  But if you like doing exciting things, then sure.  Go for it.

Remember, running white water is all about having a good time.  If you’re freaked out about the Upper Gauley (read: hard), try the Lower first (read: not as hard).  Both are equally fun- it all depends on you.

What Are The Rapids Like?

Big.  It’s important to keep in mind that, while the Gauley is a class V river, there are over a hundred rapids, most of them in the class III and IV range.  The classification system only tells you how difficult rapids are, not how big they are.

In the Gauley, we luck out by having really huge rapids that are (sometimes) not terribly difficult.  That just means there are big, crashing waves and holes everywhere, which we in the river community call “fun”.

The really cool thing about the Gauley is that, almost always, the biggest part of a rapid is right where you want to go.  That’s what separates it from a lot of big white water rivers; most of them keep you running away from the biggest stuff.  On the Gauley, you just point right toward it and paddle forward.

What’s The Hardest Rapid?

Lost Paddle.  At least, that’s my opinion.  Everyone has a different “hardest rapid” on the Gauley.  Also, that’s at fall flow, or what we consider normal water levels.  Also also, everyone who doesn’t say Lost Paddle is wrong.

Lost Paddle is the Gauley’s 1/4 mile long class V beast, with 4 (some say 5) distinct drops, including 2nd drop’s famous “Hawaii 5-0″ wave, and 4th drop’s aptly named AKA, Tumble Home.

At low water, Iron Ring is the hardest rapid.  At very, very high water, they’re all hard, but Heaven Help Us is probably the hardest.

Do People Get Hurt All the Time?

No.  Statistically (and practically), very few injuries happen out on the river.  There’s risk, sure.  But people don’t get hurt much at all, and when they do, it’s usually Band-Aid stuff.  I’m not a lawyer, I’m just sayin’.

What’s Your Favorite Color?

Blue.

Any other questions?  Feel free to leave them in the comments…

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How Gauley Season Works

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

During the summer, we dream.  We dream of the weekend after Labor Day.  We dream of -you guessed it- Gauley Season.

In our dream of the Gauley River, we dream of cool weather and intense whitewater.  We dream of rafts going through huge waves.  We dream of sunshine and crisp water.  We dream of waterfalls.  We dream of going Big.

This is where you start. Cool.

This is where you start. Cool.

Dreaming is fine, because we know that, eventually, Gauley Season is coming.  It’s a magical time (not to sound too dorky, but it really is, like, unicorns-kind-of-magical) when everything that’s cool about whitewater is in one place: West Virginia.

And what exactly is Gauley Season?  Well’ here’s a little bit of an explanation.

The Gauley has a big dam on it called the Summersville Dam.  Behind the dam is, you guessed it, Summersville Lake.  The lake is great, but we’re mainly concerned with the river on the other side of it.

Anyway, the dam is controlled by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.  All year long, they save water behind the dam for flood control and lake recreation and to create hydroelectricity.

In the fall, it’s time to release all that water.  Not all at once.  Gradually.  So we can raft on it.

The reason the Corps is so helpful to rafting is multi-fold.  First, they have to make room in the lake for big winter and spring storm water.  The make room by releasing a lot of water through the dam into the river below.

Second, they used to do it all at once.  Twenty two days straight of running white water.  That used to be Gauley Season.  But legislation introduced in the 80′s helped us spread those days out.

Now we run (this is the tricky part) 5 four day weekends and 1 two day weekend, for a total of -you guessed it- 22 days.  But now they’re spread out over 5 Friday-through-Mondays and one Saturday-Sunday at the end.

If there’s extra water after that, we get -you guessed it- another weekend.  That one usually coincides with Bridge Day, the big BASE jumping festival on the New River Gorge Bridge.

And that’s how Gauley Season works.  So if it seems like, in August, we’re dreaming a little bit, well, that’s natural.  We’re just dreaming about -you guessed it- Gauley Season.

You coming?

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