Skip to main content

River Rafting Lessons We Learned from the Gauley River

River Rafting Lessons from the Gauley

Sixteen Orion River Rafting guides trekked cross country in a revitalized school bus last September to test their skills on one of the premier white water rivers to be found anywhere in the world - the Gauley River in West Virginia.  The Gauley River, dam-controlled and administered by the National Park Service, offers two sections of river to whet your white water appetite which are not-so-cleverly known as the Upper and the Lower.  The Upper reach of the Gauley, which sports five noteworthy drops, was the section where we spent four lengthy days recreating and - ultimately - getting schooled.



Here is what we learned:

Never underestimate the kindness of strangers.  Whether it was the kind-hearted campers at the put-in who welcomed our oversized rig to crash their party or the boaters strewn throughout the river offering encouragement and advice or the acquaintance of one of our party who was willing to take time out on a Friday to show us all the well-worn, white water routes, we found nothing but people willing to give.  It certainly made our stay more comfortable.

Constant water levels are your friend.  Unlike many dam-controlled rivers I have encountered, when they say “dam-controlled” on the Gauley, they mean water levels that remain constant for hours and days.  Once you are familiar with the set water level, you know - pretty much - what the river is going to do at any given point along the way.  At the least, you know exactly how much rock will be exposed, exactly how big the wave will be and just how the ‘sticky’ the reversal will be.

Back country roads in West Virginia are hell.  Even though the Gauley is one of the most popular rivers in the world, and even though it is administered by the National Park Service, the roads in and out of its egress sites are narrow, rutted, pocked with boulders large and small and hell on a one-time 48 passenger school bus.  Just try getting lost on one to really learn how hellish they can be.

When difficult white water is not also frigid more fun can be had.  I wouldn’t say the waters of the Gauley were warm, but they were nothing like the snowmelt, glacier and cold rain fed rivers of the Pacific Northwest where neoprene is fashionable deep into summer.  I am a cold water wuss due to my Southern roots, but even I relaxed a notch in the temperate waters of West Virginia.

Even dam-controlled rivers can surprise you.  There is an air horn near the launch site for the Upper Gauley which is operated by the Army Corps.  The Army Corps are responsible for the dam.  The purpose of the air horn is to alert boaters and anyone along the banks of the Gauley downstream of the dam that there is going to be a sudden rise in the water level.  It still surprised us on one of our two run days but, fortunately, it merely made for a better tale to tell.

Don’t let the local white water boaters egg you on to do something stupid.  The attitude of white water boaters on the Gauley is schizophrenic.  On the one hand, they are highly cognizant that a majority of the rapids on the Gauley, both Lower and Upper, are dotted with undercut rocks which are especially hazardous to swimmers.  On the other hand, “cash for trash”, meaning tips are better when rafts unload guests, is a definite rallying cry and guides bored with the ‘safe’ routes tend to opt for style over safety (assuming the undercut rocks are as ubiquitous as they claim).

Due to opting for style over safety in the terminal Class V rapid - Sweet’s Falls - partly in response to the local peer pressure, we wound up parking a raft permanently in the middle of the falls and then having to abandon it because it was draped over a boulder midstream.  At least that was an easier lesson to learn than having someone in the raft, or several someones, seriously hurting themselves, or worse.

The white water of the Upper Gauley River was everything we had hoped it would be and, as a bonus, we came away with a few lessons firmly planted in our minds and only a small dent in our pride.



     

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Jim Fielder - Washington River Rafting Pioneer

Jim Fielder was, as they say, larger than life. The former middle school teacher, beloved by many, and former white water rafting outfitter , envied by even more, lost his life recently due to poor electrical wiring and a flash fire.  He lived on Queen Anne hill in a house handed down to him by his mother. The Queen Anne News reported that he was also a former screenwriter and novelist of true crime stories.  I know he had published a book or two, and I know he wrote an insightful article about Mary Kay Letourneau for a women's magazine, but I don't know if I would characterize anyone who has been published as being 'former'.  Once a writer, always a writer. Jim Fielder owned Zig Zag River Runners from the late 70s through the early 90s, and that is how I know him.  But the last time I saw him, he was haunting a Queen Anne coffeehouse, absorbing information and scheming about subject matter you could sink your teeth into.  He was long past his white water outf

Best Time for River Rafting in Leavenworth

The ideal time to river raft the Wenatchee River is between May and July. May is peak, snow-melt runoff, so the water will be cold, the air temperature in the 70s and the water level can be moderate to high. June is nice because the ambient temperature has risen considerably, while the river levels usually are still good enough to provide some exciting white water. July is typically low and slow, but the weather is reaching the high 90s, so rafting continues to be fun, but more memorable due to water-fighting and voluntary swims. Orion River Rafting provides daily, unhurried river trips out of Leavenworth, Washington. Established 1978. http://orionexp.com in reference to: "Spring mountain snowmelt creates excellent rafting conditions in the Wenatchee River." - Leavenworth, Washington - A Great Place to Visit ( view on Google Sidewiki )

River Rafting Rescue 101

Rivers are cold in the state of Washington. Gushing down the slopes of the North Cascade mountain range, westbound toward the Salish Sea and eastbound toward the Columbia, Washington rivers are the result of melting snowfields, diminishing glaciers, brisk Pacific Northwest rainfall and subterranean cold water springs. Meanwhile the Skagit River has all of those factors plus it is water spilled through turbines released from the depths of a very deep and very cold Ross Lake. For those specific reasons, it is not unusual to be wearing neoprene throughout the white water season in the grey and mossy Pacific Northwest. Even on the Skagit in August. And when the river is running high in the spring from snow melt, not only is the temperature of the water frigid (prolonged exposure to 70 degree water induces hypothermia - as I can attest to on a pleasant afternoon without a splash jacket on the Pucon River in Chile) it is moving rather fast. 'Swimmers', as we call persons over