This was my first trip to West Virginia and I am definitely going
back. I got there too late on a friday to catch anyone going on the
New River Gorge, but Fayette Station rapid looked awesome at the
takeout. The New is on my list for this spring. I did the Lower
Gauley the next morning after meeting Liz (Gingerwatergirl) for some
advice of the lines through the rapids and fun at the karoke bar.
If you can do the put-in for the lower at the buck-lick branch and
come in above Koontz's Flume, then do it. I had to hike in from the
Middle Gauley Campground and pay the campground owner to drive my
car down to the takeout at Swiss since I didn't think my car could
make it over one stream going to the put-in. The owner of the
campground has his own marked trial to the river, but it is killer.
Imagine hiking your board and gear down into a gorge with sandles on
for a 1/4 mile and you get the picture. The river was cranking bout
5,500 cfs that day as the meadow river was adding some flow where it
runs into the upper gauley. Starting at the end of the middle
Gauley gave me a good warm up to Koontz's Flume. Don't go right
here as there is an undercut. Canyone Doors is best scouted from
the right bank. Upper and Lower Mash are on the left afterwards,
and are big fun wave trains with holes. Diagional Ledges was
supposed to give me trouble with all their pour-overs, but other
than going slightly sideways over one of them and by body being off
of the board for a second of two, no problem unless I missed the
worst of it. A lot of good wave trains afterwards and then comes
Pure Screaming Hell, then last big rapid on the Gauley. Watch out
for the hole on the right as it has a sieve that could suck you down
and keep you. There is a hole in the middle of the river along the
left of the line between the holes and if you can skirt this one or
slightly hit the edge of it, you will stay out of the bad one. I
was tired by the time I got to this one and didn't get lined up good
at the beginning, so I basically had to point towards the left shore
and kick like crazy and use my arms to to stay left. I missed the
waves of this one because I was going over the sideways instead of
straight on. Take a breather before this one, so you will be fresh
and can get your line earlier. The river is rated class IV with
Pure Screaming Hell getting close to a V. The only bad thing about
this run is very long pools between the rapids and total flatwater
after the last rapid for about 2 to 3 miles. It was the most
technical water I've done as far as having lines you had to hit and
avoiding undercuts, so I hope it is good preparation for the Upper
Gauley this year. If I find out that the New Rivers is just as good
prep. for the Upper G, then I'll let you know after I've done them
both, so you won't have to deal with the long swim through flat
water.