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Whitewater Rafting/Kayaking

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buckeyebri

buckeyebri

Fight the Good Fight Everbody
    • Any BPers that are into whitewater rafting or kayaking? My daughter and I did a rafting trip on the New River in West Virginia yesterday. It was great! We actually surfed up on the first good rapid and we were in the front of the raft which was incredible. We did this four times on the rapid and I got dunked on the third one. Later on the trip we body surfed through one of the rapids and between a couple of huge rocks. If it weren't for some folks that wouldn't paddle in the raft, it would have been a perfect trip.

    I have done a lot of kayaking on the big lakes and played in the surfs. I have also kayaked on some pretty swift rivers in some class III or IV rapids, but this was all done in a 14' kayak. I would love to try one of the smaller 9 or so foot kayaks on the New and hit some of those rapids. I would definitely have to work on my roll abilities though....:biggrin:

    On a side note, does it almost always rain in West Viriginia? I swear 90% of the time that I have been in or driven through WVA it is raining....
     
    Friday I took my scout troop to the Ocoee River in Tennessee, and we did the middle run. Had a blast. It has some level 4 and 3 spots, and that was as intense as some 12 year olds could handle. :biggrin:

    We used a guide and those 6 person rafts...which is why none of us are dead. :banger: Parents are always like - "I want my child back" and like that. :shake:

    Wicked fun and a great way to get out of the N'Awlins heat for a week.:p
     
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    We had a guide plus 2 trainees on the raft.....saw a lot of boy scout and other types of groups on the river....I was jealous of the guys in the little kayaks as I watched them play in the rapids....and yes, my wife told me I better bring my daughter back alive.....
     
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    The New River has a number of different venues... Upper New River and Lower New River... Upper has rapid levels 1-3... Lower has levels 3-5; they also have the Gauley... altho if you do the Upper Gauley in the Fall they let the dams go... and those will be the roughest ass 5s you'll ever experience... Was the best I've ever been on and I've done quite a few including Snake River...

    I remember taking my then 16 yr old male son... to the Fall Upper Gauley... and first words the guide SCREAMS at us in the prep meeting... "this ain't friggin Disney... people DIE here" .. I couldn't look at my son... I felt the daggers... it was WILD... you start staring right up at 3 massive and raging water shoots from the dam release.. you're shot out of a cannon.... and it doesn't slow down...

    Another pleasant one is Ohio Pyle in PA... they have a number of different venues too.. it's kinda at the juncture where PA, W VA & MD meet...
     
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    Another 'amusing' story about that trip... before a number of the rapids, the guide pulls you over to tell you how to take the upcoming rapid(s)... on one particular one... he starts screaming again.. "do NOT get thrown out of your raft on this rapid... do NOT get thrown out of your raft on this rapid... but if you do, be prepared... do NOT fight it, it will drag you down about 50 feet... and will keep you under for 30-60 seconds... but it WILL let you out.. you'll end up about 200 yards out that way near that huge rock wall"... that got our attention.. yeehaa
     
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    MililaniBuckeye;1493614; said:
    What's your son now? :biggrin:
    Click to expand...
    He's still male.. altho he almost lost his equipment when we got to jump off this 50 ft rock wall... He's a well put together 26 yr old... but he wouldn't talk to me half the trip.. he was pissed... scared.. and pissed... but then he really started getting into it... he had a blast... but he'd never do it again... not sure I would either... it was rougher than my wildest expectation... haaaaaaaaa
     
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    We did the Lower New, I believe the guide said that the river was at about 6 feet, but I think it was higher depending on how they do it, because I could never touch and I am 6 foot. He told the trainees that the river has 12 different levels it goes through and each one has to be handled a little differently.

    The biggest mistake my daughter and I made was to switch out and let the others go up front. None of them understood how to paddle and weren't really paying attention to what the guide was saying. They should have been on the Upper New doing the float trip. Our guide did a great job of keeping us in the right lines.

    They were trying to talk us in to coming back and doing the Gauley in the fall....They said that is why most of them were there.
     
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