September/October 2013 - Bluegrass Wildwater Association

Lower that day. There's not much way to tell what'sgoing on upstream when you're putting on at WoodsFerry. I started making calls and leaving messages.The rest of the day was interspersed withupdates from the scene and sporadic gauge checks.("Yep, it's still shooting up, holy crap!") I left aboutfive replies to my own post on the forum, further reinforcingthe feeling that I was the only boater not atthe Gauley right them. It was the strangest experience,knowing roughly what was happening, watchingthe gauges, guessing what the situation was andseriously considering whether there was any way forme to ditch work and make a hell run to the put-inbefore dark. Eventually I learned that the muddywater had reached the put-in before the BWA contingentand that most of them had bailed, but that JeffKirkner and Joe Wheatley had put on. Jeff, I knew,was pulling from his experience of a trip we did inthe spring several years ago at 6750. My best estimatewas that the water was in the seven to eightthousand range. Things are bigger at that waterlevel, but most of the river is more open with just afew key hazards to keep in mind. I hoped Jeffremembered them.Later that evening I got a call from a very happyJeff saying that it had been an epic and rewardingday, and we shifted plans around to meet the nextday. Jeff's main emotional component appeared tobe disbelief that he and Joe had been the only onesin the party who actually got on the Lower Gauleythat day. Just goes to show, a little experience cantake you a long way.Saturday. Gauley Fest! The happiest Saturday inmy world. Denile and I got started early, but ran intoMORE torrential rain on the way to WV, adding to theuncertainty about the water level. I met up with Jeff,Joe, Phillip Cornette, Pat Attkisson and the esteemedtraveller Millard Blakey. The water was still brownand swift at the put in but there was no way to determinewhat the water level really was. We wereguessing between five and six thousand from thebest data available. Pat, after a few experimentalrolls in a new boat that he had never paddled before,decided that it just wasn't his day and the rest of uspeeled off into ender waves.It had been several years since I'd seen theLower at a good stiff elevated water level, and it tooka little getting used to. Backender still had a prettystiff kick and an extended wave train below it. AtKoontz's Flume, Five Boat Hole had predictablyshrunk and had a line of eager hole hogs waiting tosurf it, but the big waves above it hadn't washed outyet and despite the fact that I was pretty close todead-on my intended line, I still got an unintentionalbig, soft, fluffy surf on the second wave. Too muchfluff to punch, should've been a little right. At LowerMash both Joe and Millard got a little overly focusedand didn't pull out of the wavetrain to the right intime, resulting in some squirrel-dancing with thehydraulics below, but no swims. We snuck leftaround the hole at the bottom of Heaven's Gates,even though others were running it with mixed success.From there on out we just bombed down onebig laughing, happy big brown wave train after another,occasionally pulling off to surf. Pure ScreamingHell was pure bliss. Purgatory and Hell Hole still hadsome kick, but less than usual and the wave trainthrough the center of the rapid extended another fiftyyards past what was usually the bottom. We finishedoff the day with some more surfing and took off theriver practically glowing with the light of pure satisfaction.The Eventual call on the water level basedon the reading at Belva shortly after we took off wasapproximately 4800 CFS.GauleyFest that evening was the usual ecstatic,wonderous event that it always was, but this time itfelt different. In recent years, the festival has seemedto overshadow the whitewater, and on that day thewater was having none of it. The NPFF booth rockedthe house with Steve Fisher and his entourage helpingto promote it. We got some good deals, I got acreekboat that I'd been shopping for, and a goodtime was had by all; but when I went to sleep thatnight I wasn't thinking about the friends I'd bumpedinto at the fest or my new boat, I was thinking aboutthe Gauley and wondering what the water level wasgoing to be the next day.So, if there's a moral buried in all this mess, it'sprobably that you shouldn't get too focused on justrunning the Gauley during Gauley Season at 2800CFS. The Gauley is a beautiful and fantastic wonderlandwith lots of different faces, and most people onlyknow one of them. Get out and experience theGauley in the Spring and Summer, or even over theWinter or late Fall when it's running at less predictablewater levels. Not only will you discover a treasuretrove of exciting runs and probably have theriver all to yourself, but you'll have the experienceand knowledge that you need during Gauley seasonwhen the water level varies. Believe me, it's wellworth the effort.9