Get Your Gear On: September 2012

Last weekend was Get Your Gear On's first presence at Gauley Fest, and Scoob's (Hartley's) return to Gauley Fest after a three year hiatus due and incident with a bear (non-Gauley related...we'll tell that story some other time!). Anyhow, this year was, as always, a blast... although, the greater paddling community certainly was feeling the affective whispers and shadows of the recent loss of Jeff West. However, everyone brought their A Game and effectively celebrated life, with the awareness that he would want everyone to be safe and "Growl On!". (Look for a post in the near future about safety and pleasure of the paddling lifestyle)...

Now, here's the low down for three days of West Virginia whitewater.

A few Saludaboyz started a week earlier. John D. and Scoob drove up to the Summersville Dam late Wednesday night to car camp underneath the most star filled sky that I (Scoob) had seen in quite a while. I awoke with slight butterflies in my stomach because I had not paddled anything other than our home river, the Lower Saulda in Columbia, SC (with the exception of one trip to the Nanty) over the last three years.

DAY 1

The New River was the decision for the first day. My nerves calmed and as I slid into the water, last of the group as usual... everything came into harmony and it all felt like putting on an old baseball glove and playing with the confidence of an old hand never forgetting how it all works. I was sure it was going to be as bright an experience as the day was beautiful. John and I joined friends from Ashville (Phil and Johanna) with the intention of meeting up with the Saludaboyz, squirting at the Halls later that afternoon.

Here's Phil and Johanna on the Lower Keeneys. I'm realizing that an iphone might not be the best way for me to shoot distant images.

Here's John paddling an Ol' Wavesport Transformer. If you can see him in the middle, it'll provide a sense of scale.

The New River is ancient. Although I am not a geologist, I've had the pleasure of paddling it with someone who is, and at every point of interest he would explain exactly what it was that I was seeing. I remember being truly fascinated then and remained just as engaged on this return trip. Here's a link:
(I think You will need to cut and paste into a new window to make the link "Live")
http://www.wvexp.com/index.php/New_River#Maps

Next, we met the Saludaboyz at the Halls of Karma... They were with a bunch from Chattanooga...
Here are a few good rides and some images from that spot...

That's Andy (BDK) and Big Josh letting some blood get back into their legs...It was just a big 'ol down time love fest for those boyz and girlz that day!

I didn't know these folkz. However, it's always heart warming to see a sunny day in West Virginia. Good Timez!

After a little break at the Halls, we mozzied on down and I continued to have the best day on the water that I had experienced in three years. Here's John lookin' happy to be under the longest arch in the Western Hemisphere!

Here's The Grin!

'Cause I know the previous pic is going to be posted on this Blog!

We continued on down to Fayette Station, effectively completing a truly glorious day re-entering the wonderful world of class 3 / 4 boating. We also had the pleasure of stumbling across the Stand Up in Wild and Wonderful West Virginia Sup Race. That was a hoot!

Here are a couple of Links:

(I think You will need to cut and paste into a new window to make the link "Live")

http://news.yahoo.com/stand-wild-wonderful-sup-race-thursday-gauley-fest-134654546.html

http://adventurewestvirginia.com/vacations/sup-race-new-river/

Here's some of my own video of the event, plus our crew paddling through afterward.

Sorry, about the sideways orientation, still learning my iphone features.

However, if you make it full screen and turn your head; you'll get the idea!

Like I said before, the day could not have been better. We got back to the parking lot and left with great anticipation for more. Good By to the Bridge! Thank You! To everyone and everything that promoted such a fabulous day on the water! Why had I waited so long to get back in my boat? Silly Scoob!

That night it was back to the Bear! The Gauley Fest home of the Cola Crew, Saludaboyz, Saludayakerz, Team V, Pirates, Ninjas, and all sorts for the last ... Well, long before I ever started going to Gauley Fest...Here's to the Bear! and a Good Night's Sleep!?

Stay tuned for day 2...probably will be ready at the end of Monday! I'm posting this now to test it at home. I appreciate your patience!

Day 2

Waking up to a sunny morning in West "By God" Va. is a great place to be! Cars and people were coming in all night long and the "village" grew exponentially. After some conversation with the nice folkz from the Redneck Kayak Club http://www.myspace.com/redneckkayakclub, and several hits from their coffee pot, it was time to load up for the Lower Gauley.

Today' crew was Big Josh, Andy (BDK), Jill, Bailey, Lauren, Robbie, John D., and myself (If I've forgotten anyone... A. sorry! B. post on the blog and give me some "stuff" or "malarkey" or $#!* about it...)

Again, It's been a while since I've been on consequential water. My theory was to run the lower, see how I felt at the end of the day, and then decide on an aqua-vehicle for the Upper. We put in about half way down the Middle, which was nice... The walk down was way shorter, facilities available, etc. As usual, I was the last in the water and part of our group had already taken off and Josh, John, and I didn't find them until the official put-in for the lower G.

It was a surprisingly uncrowded day on the water. Plus, just like the day before, I remembered all the old lines and I felt my confidence returning. As a rule of thumb, the big stuff on the Lower Gauley is like the little stuff on the Upper. http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/River/detail/id/2379
Canyon Doors, and Kuntz Flum were as fun as I had remembered.
The Mashes were pick and run. And of course, I had completely forgotten about Pure Screaming Hell, so that was a nice surprise there toward the end.

Here is Josh and John enjoying some of the flats before the take out.

for what it's worth...Still, working on the iphone techniques, but the river is gorgeous.

Afterward, it was back to the Bear. Some grub, some walkin', Talkin', catching up with 'ol friends & meeting some new ones. Nothing too nefarious to talk about that night. So, I went to bed with the satisfaction of having had another excellent day. (just to let ya know): I had NO INTENTION of jumping in my kayak for the Upper Gauley the next day. I just didn't feel like rolling the dice that way. So, I was thankful and satisfied with the knowledge that BDK would have room in his raft the next morning. Sleep that night was sugar-plums, unicorns, and cotton-candy pillows.

Day 3: Gauley Fest Proper

As hearding cats always goes, BDK was over booked in the raft. Thankfully, Sean McGreevey graciously decided to kayak, which opened a seat for me. Getting every one together, as always, took a little longer than expected. Our crew was John D. and myself in the front; Caroline, and Robie F. in the middle; and BDK guiding from the back.

Putting in at the Dam. Where's BDK?

Ryan, Big Josh, Coon Dog, Sean, and others in our extended party were all in hard boats. We put in at the Summersville dam beneath a sunny September sky. As we paddled through Initiation, I was glad that I had decided to raft, while knowing that Initiation is simply that. My memories of running the Upper Gauley are all good, even after an eventful swim a few years ago. However, I knew I would have been pushing it to be here in a kayak, this year. Still, this was the first time I had ever rafted it. Honestly, I was terrified of rafting. The possibility of getting knocked out, bounced out, or simply falling out weighed heavy on my imagination. The Upper Gauley is loaded with undercuts and sieves. It's just not a good river to take a swim in many of the rapids.
http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/River/detail/id/2378#rapid140
The holes in Insignificant were larger than I had remembered, and from the raft perspective the undercuts were even more visible. After Insignificant, I was feeling REALLY GLAD to be in a raft with this crew. BDK is a talented and adventurous paddler of all watercraft, but he can make a raft climb a tree (or at least I believe he can). That's him scouting the line at Pillow.

always and audience!

Jonh framed by BDK and Robbie

... for a sense of scale, but realistically the camera just doesn't do it justice.

Pillow Rock rapid was every bit of a tumult. Still, we all stayed in the raft and styled the run. Lost Paddle, the next large rapid happens to be the spot where I swam a few years ago; at the bottom of the Third Move in a nasty boil and I ended up going deep in the slot move at Tumble Home. Needless to say, I was a little nervous about the next several minutes. Again, the precision of the instructions and the results produced were outstanding. We even hit the boof move (in a raft) on river left at the Third Move. Unfortunately, we almost ran over a friend of ours (kayaker) who works at another Cola. outfitter. Still, all is well that ends well and he really didn't need to jump in front of a raft about to boof.

This is when the ol' adage, "The big stuff on the Lower is like the little stuff of the Upper..." really begins to settle in. Because at this point, aside from the hazards at Ship Wreck and few other places, Iron Ring and Sweets are really what everyone looks forward to, or remains nervous about. Iron Ring went seamless. I should note here that we were "loosley" gathered with several friends who were kayaking and not everyone was having as flawless of a run as ourselves. I only say this to reiterate that I was, now, still, very pleased to be in the company in which I found myself. Although, I didn't want to count my chickens, if ya know what I mean!

Sweet's Falls... That's a kayaker there in the center, again just for scale.

Sweet's is a fairly straight forward run, if all the moves are handled well. There is a keeper on the bottom river right side that can swallow a raft and hold onto it indefinitely. To surf a raft in there is quite an exciting prospect. Here's a video of some folkz doing exactly that!

Everyone in this raft made it out safe and ironically a couple of weeks later one of the folkz came into Get Your Gear On and had a good time watching the video. She gave us permission to put it up on the blog. Now, that was cool. At any rate, Saludaboyz were there to get the raft out. Team Effort, way to go! Here's another video of a Saludaboyz' own Coon Dog drinkin' a booty beer about the same time. (If ya don't understand why, then ya probably haven't been paddling in this particular circle much. Let's just call it a friendly anti for a swim!)

Anyhow, the day ended up being a another "dry hair" day for everyone in our raft. Topping out the weekend as an excellent way for me to return to the active boating community. I was feeling again. ...Thankful and Empowered

That night of course, was Gauley Fest! Here are some photos of friends...

at the put in.

Al from Green Light Ink

Repping with the Pyranha Folkz

Ryan, Elizabeth & her Rotty, Keelan,

& me.

Who? LaHoop?I have no idea, but, very talented!!!

The band was fun, beverages were flowing, the band was great, shenanigans were beginning, (no mud wrestling this year, and only one late night match with boxing gloves), and then like always the lights went out at midnight. Then the zombie fun started with the Canadians. All ya gotta do for Canadians is shout through the megaphone, "1, 2, 3, act like a ZOMBIE !!!" Then they all immediately hold there arms out and start gruntingly howling. I was impressed at first. Then after about 45 minutes, of that, it was time for me to head back to the campsite. The rest of the night//// well, Let's just say it was an exzzzellent Gauley Fest, yet again!!!

& Tha'z Tha Zkinny!

post note: We had a fun & SAFE weekend. Yes, whitewater boating can be inherently dangerous. However, there are many common sense rules of thumb. Boat with people you trust and people who trust you. Boat within your comfort range. Know your limits. Know what is a stretch, for yourself and those in your group. Keep Calm. Help when you can. Learn How, first.

Know and practice River Etiquette.

Be self-responsible.

Play nice! Play pretty! Play Fair!