By Golly, It's the Gauley

The Gauley has been my favorite river for rafting. From the roar of the water bursting from Summersville Dam at the putin, to the Omega takeout, I've never had a bad day on that river. That isn't to say everything always went as planned, or I didn't swim on occasion, just that the thrills and fun have always been greater than any other part of the experience.

Of the four trips I've made down the Gauley (1 was a combined Upper and Lower Gauley trip), Sara has been my guide for 3 of them. I think I keep asking for her because she not only knows the river very well, but on my first trip when her own brother got in her way at the top drop of Lost Paddle's first drop she ran directly over his kayak. I guess her willingness to give her customers the best route through the rapid overcame her family ties. At any rate, I was impressed.

There are over one hundred rapids in the Gauley. Most of them go unnamed. Between the putin at Summersville Dam and the first named rapid are several minor (class II/III is minor on this river). Initiation is the first class III/IV rapid. It's also where most of the rafting companies take your photo so that they can process the film before you get back from your trip. Initiation is not as clean a drop as it appears. A rock sieve on river right above the drop has trapped paddlers. Our route starts left of center at the top, with slight turn to the left after the drop. Smile as you ride down the tongue, and you'll have a good photo. Just try not to hit the holes on either side at the bottom.

There are lots of class II riffs, a class III Collision Creek, then we find Bud's Boner. Sara always emphasizes, "Bud's Boner was not, repeat not named for his anatomy. He read the river incorrectly at this class IV rapid, and hasn't gotten very many people to call it by his preferred name, Funnel." Her sense of humor has also made the trips more fun.

Now we get to Insignificant. Don't let the name mislead you. It was named by the second group of rafters that ventured forth on the Gauley. They had been told that everything upstream of Pillow Rock rapid was insignificant. They exclaimed after running it, "THIS IS INSIGNIFICANT?" The name stuck.

I really get a kick out of taking novice rafters and first timers on the Gauley just for seeing the terrified look they get when they confront a solid class V rapid for the first time. The adrenaline rush this rapid gives is almost as invigorating as a good hot salsa and chips. I have never filled the raft with more than 2 first timers, as terror stricken paddlers can get you killed if too many of them panic and stop listening to the guide. With 6 to 8 long time paddlers I trust, I know we'll make it through and possibly hook some more people on rafting. No one in my boat has ever swum Insignificant. We did assist swimmers from other rafts, but that's to be expected.

Sara has a method that seems to work quite well in breaking the paralysis fear can set in a paddler. In a move that requires a great deal of self-control, she brings down a dripping wet paddle directly on top of the helmet of the fear struck paddler. This always seems to restore functionality to him; much like a well-timed tap can sometimes clear up problems with faulty equipment. I've witnessed this technique in action, and have never seen it fail to restore motion to those whom she has touched.

We wind our way down stream, passing some more unnamed class II and the wave train of Iron Curtain, named for the Iron Oxide (rust) stained cliff on river right. Just after clearing the hole, you can hear the rumbling of water that is Pillow Rock. This class V rapid is 50 yards of turbulent water descending 25'. I don't know whether it's because her brother often is riding in his kayak, but she likes to run the big raft down the normal kayak route through this rapid. More than once we have had to fight our way clear of the room of doom. I think she enjoys slapping her hand against Pillow Rock, as She has done that every time I've been in her raft. Could it possibly be her way to impress her brother? Nah, we're just such a good team our raft handles like a kayak (of course, if you believe that, there's this bridge in a big city on the Hudson River you probably will want to buy).

There are a few class II/III rapids; I don't remember their names, before the Meadow river merges with the Gauley. The Meadow can easily double and triple the volume in the Gauley. The river becomes meaner and more fun. You start to enjoy the river even more, and then you enter Lost Paddle.

If you enjoy punching through monster holes, You'll love this rapid. This class V is a third of a mile of holes, ledges, holes, pourovers, holes, undercut rocks, holes, chutes, and I did say holes! There are 4 drops to Lost Paddle. The second drop of this rapid always will stick out in my mind, as it was here I saw a 10 man raft flip as if it was a kayak doing an ender. While we were busy rescuing the swimmers from that raft, another raft flipped in the same spot. Then it hit me; those rafts were trying to follow our line. Where we had a raft with 10 well experienced people and Sara was quite adept and giving orders at the correct time to utilize her crew, and we had paddled like hell to build momentum prior to hitting those holes, these other rafters were not well matched for the river and were paying a high toll for trying to imitate us. They didn't try to follow us directly after this harsh lesson.

By the time you get to Tumble Home, the last drop in Lost Paddle, you will be feeling pretty tired. This used to be because no matter how long you stayed in the eddy to remove accumulated water, you couldn't rest long enough. In this age of self-bailing rafts all of these rapids are much easier to get through, and it is the length of time you have to paddle that wears one out. The first trip I made through Lost Paddle, we had just enough time to bail about half the water out between the drops. The last few trips, Due to the water not staying in the raft, we made it from top to bottom without eddying out to lighten the load. Of course, now we run our raft along the kayak routes.

Conestoga Wagon and Table Rock, both class III, come up and get you a bit wet, as if to tell you WAKE UP YOU IDIOT IRON RING IS AT HAND! Seven miles downstream of Summersville Dam, Iron Ring is class V/VI. Some of its danger is man made. In the first quarter of the 20th century, an attempt was made to create a logging passage through this rapid. Mother Nature handily won the war, and what remains is a large iron ring in the cliff on river left, and some fairly nasty rocks in the water.

A swim in this rapid is definitely not desired. That said, a swim is survivable (got the info first hand). On my second Gauley trip, Sara was not my guide, Our set up was too close to the sluice and instead of skirting the edge of one of the top holes to get an assist in raft alignment, we slammed hard into it. I was doing a hard backpaddle in the rear right seat, and the combination of our angle and my paddle placement pulled me out of the raft at the top. I don't know how, but I held on to the paddle. I pointed my feet downstream and tried to keep them on the surface. Foot entrapment is never a good thing. I somehow avoided the holes, and maintained a course behind the raft about 5 yards back until they were able to slow down and get me. I was swamped by waves but suffered no permanent damage and had only a few minor scratches, the seat of my wet suit took more abuse than the rest of me.

In rafting, running a waterfall is among the hardest thing to get right. If you move too fast and the current will kick the ass end of the raft down faster than the front flipping it with spectacular effect (unless you are one of the former raft occupants). If you move too slowly and the hole at the bottom will suck you into the base (sometimes unceremoniously dumping the contents of the raft). Angle the raft more than a few degrees off of the straight path, you end up with swimmers in what may be a keeper hole, not good and known to be fatal to some. Now that you get the picture, Sweet's Falls class V is the next rapid we get to and the lunch stop awaits our successful completion of the run.

As we make our approach, one last chance to become sensible is offered a sneak route to the left of the falls. We are told that once we pass the hole at the boulder garden entrance, if we wish to sneak, someone will have to yell left. We have never yelled. Silent except for the commands of Sara and the growling of the water, which all too soon becomes a roar.

We clear the big hole at the entrance. We angle through the wave train trying to avoid the little hole, yet still aim for left of the double hump where the crease in the flow will give us a shot at being upright when we hit the bottom of the falls. Adrenaline surges through our bloodstream and we invariably paddle a bit too hard. I've heard Sara mutter an "oh shit" on more than one occasion, and have hit my paddle on Snaggletooth Rock on 2 different trips.

Running Sweet's Falls along our course places us in a dangerous spot, there's a mother of a hole dead ahead after the drop from that point, and if we manage to stay in the raft, we have to punch through it. On impact, it's hard for everyone to stay in. We've been lucky; we usually dump only one person out. The breakdown has been 2 one year, 1 another year, and 0 the other 2 trips. Within seconds of hitting the water, we have a line in their hands and have dragged them to the rear of the raft. Regardless of where they were, we want the raft between them and Postage Stamp Rock. Every second counts. It takes us about 10 to fight clear of the hole and drag the swimmers onboard. Sara turns the raft and yells for all ahead. The current is trying to send us into the box canyon, with a myriad of undercut rocks, on river left. Postage Stamp is begging us to ram and slide under her. Postage Stamp is a rock about as big as a small cape cod house. Water flows under her and people have been killed by water filled rafts slamming into swimmers trapped against her. Somehow, we pull clear of her with just a few inches to spare. We now have to paddle even harder as lunch is at river right just below the Falls.

We ferry across to river right and have our gourmet lunch, I settle for just soup and sandwiches. We watch as other rafters try the falls and the sneak route.

Ooh, bad move they don't have enough momentum and hit the hole that had caught our boat.

Not too cool, 4 swimmers have hit the box canyon.

Hey, there's Sara's brother. Wow, he boofed the falls (boof is the sound the kayak makes when it lands flat in the water). Smooth. He joins us for lunch.

Look, that idiot kayaker is now stuck on that rock in the middle of the falls. Oh, he's directing his group like a maestro. Too bad his group follows his instructions as well as a cat heels on a leash! 2 out of 7 don't send in swimmers. Now it's his turn. WOW, he just ended up swimming into the box canyon. Glad I don't use his company!

Another group runs the falls. They're from the National Guard. We clearly hear the orders. We laugh as 2 of the 4 rafts hit angled and spill out their raft's captain. This is fun to watch.

Wait a minute, isn't that Sara's brother again, no he's sitting here. Where's Sara. She's in his kayak and about to run the falls. She's not as smooth as her brother, yet flawlessly executes the rapid. His smile at her accomplishment is not to be shared with her. He immediately lets her know where she needs to improve. She grabs a sandwich and tells everyone to get ready to leave.

Paddling below Sweet's Falls we have about 2 miles of relatively flat water. On this stretch Sara starts her elephant jokes. She knows quite a few, but she tries too hard, or maybe it's because we're tired after eating, few of us laugh. I found out after my first trip, she's really deciding if she likes us or if she should dump us at Guides Revenge the next class II-III rapid on our itinerary.

On my first Gauley trip, Sara hit the hole at guide's revenge in a way that sent 3 of my friends swimming. It wasn't a bad swim, and they enjoyed cooling off. But fair, it wasn't. Aside from our running over her brother, which had been her call, we had executed each and every call she made with precision. It may have been as a result of that first intentional dumping that we started asking for Sara. Except for my second trip down the Gauley, she has been our guide of choice.

Wood's Ferry, class IV, has a nice hole referred to as Julie's Juicer. We exacted our first of several paybacks to Sara, by hitting this hole at an angle that tossed her into the water on trip 3, and on trip 4 she countered our action enough to get 2 of us to join her in the water. If she's around when I make my 5th Gauley trip, we'll have to see who swims!

The last wave trains encountered on the Upper Gauley are found in Backender. It's a blast to try and ride the bow through some of these waves. The takeout comes up fast. The climb to the busses seems to last forever, and had lots of poison oak and ivy alongside the trail. It was a relief, when on my last 2 trips; the pickup point was made much easier.

On trip 2 I got more adventurous and booked a trip that took us through the Lower Gauley as well. Koontz Flume, class IV-V, is the starting rapid of the Lower Gauley. Riding the flume is far better than any amusement park ride that calls itself a flume. The awesome size of the waves, from the trough of one you can't see over the crest, really give you a rush.

A couple of class III rapids, Canyon Doors (named for the decorative sandstone cliffs on river right) and Junkyard (the junk is visible on river right) follows after Koontz Flume. There's about 3 miles of easy paddling, just a few class II riffs between you and some more fun. The Mash brothers are coming.

Upper Mash, class III+, is a boulder garden that is run as if you are a ball in a pinball machine. Knowing where your paddle and your neighbors' paddles are can save your teeth. Lots of highsides are in order, and unless you have run it flawlessly, as we did, you may wish to eddy out at the bottom of it before you get to Lower Mash, a solid class IV.

Our guide misread one of the holes in Lower Mash, and fell out when we hit the first reaction wave. I think he was surprised at how fast I hit him with a line and was able to pull him in before we hit the boulder garden downstream. Luckily, the raft coming behind us didn't get to see him in the water, as his cousin was its captain.

We raced ahead of the other boats, and plowed through Diagonal Ledges, class II-III, that is until we hit Hawaii Five O Wave. We managed to get a full five minutes worth of ride time surfing our 10-man raft. We pulled of the wave and set up for rescue below the wave, call it intuition if you will, the second wave through flipped while trying to surf. We got all five of their swimmers, including our guide's cousin. We kept silent about our captain's plight in the earlier rapid and got to try surfing the wave again after the last raft in our group went through. We stayed on the wave for another 5-minute surf that was flawless.

Heaven Help You, a class IV formed when the river is constricted and ends up forced between two huge rocks (the Pearly Gates) at the bottom. We hit the hole at the bottom with lots of force, and a good angle. The only problem was, another raft was already in the hole. We knocked them out, miraculously, no swimmers from either raft. We were stuck only a little while. To my knowledge, no plans are under way to change the name of the rapid to Heaven's Gate, and alcohol and barbituates are never allowed to be used immediately prior to or on raft trips.

Rocky Top, BFR#2 (I don't remember where BFR#1 is), and Upper Stairsteps are the next class III rapids we hit. Aside from some good wave trains and holes, we had plenty of time to enjoy the scenery. Lower Stairsteps, class III-IV, forces you to notice it. The hole in the middle of it is almost as wide as the river, and it demands we punch it hard. As we hit it, something caught my eye on river left. With a quick sweep of my paddle, I snagged a paddle from one of the other rafts that someone had dropped. When we regroup after the rapid, we returned the paddle to its proper raft.

Rollercoaster, Cliffside, Rattlesnake, then Roostertail are the next class III rapids. Then a flat pool greeted us with a chance to relax for a while. Some of us swam along side the raft, some of the other rafts had water fights, and we had a nice break. Soon we would need to work once more. Our raft assumed our normal position as lead raft. The next rapid would be the last of the major rapids for our trip, and we were now ready to go for it.

At the top of this rapid is a turn to the right. We go over a ledge, and now we're in Pure Screaming Hell, class IV-V. As the first raft through, we worked hard, and hit Hell Hole dead on. We eddy out at the bottom and some of us head upstream with ropes to try and snag swimmers before they hit the strainer to the right of Hell Hole.

The trick to throwing a rope to a swimmer is to aim for his face. Instinctively, you will move your hands to protect your face. If the throw bag is coming at your face, the odds are in your favor of grabbing it on the first toss. Time is extremely important when you are trying to keep people out of potentially deadly strainers. Our goal was to get people far enough above the strainer so as to keep them alive. The five people we rescued were very glad we were there.

We regroup once more, put people into their proper raft and shove off. Kevin's Folly, class III, presents no challenge. We arrive all too soon at Omega Siding, our takeout. Another trip survived, another day of fun and excitement almost over. We celebrate with a feast of Italian food. The next day we'll drive home.