Swiss Fest 2011

We had another great Gauley weekend at Swiss Fest! On the first weekend of Gauley season, it’s become a tradition to camp at the take-out of the Lower Gauley (Swiss) for a low-key paddler gathering.   It was my first year at Swiss Fest, and I loved it. It’s like Gauley Fest, but less commercial and slightly less rowdy.

We enjoyed great company of some top-notch kayakers on Saturday and Sunday. John and I paddled the Lower Gauley with Theron and Tate on Saturday, and then again on Sunday with Brick. I felt pretty rusty on Saturday and flipped about 8 times (although I can confirm that my combat roll is intact) but felt much better on Sunday. On Sunday the line at Diagonal Ledges was really short and John and I had a blast surfing.  

The weather was beautiful all weekend, and then at the very end of the trip, West Virginia delivered on its reputation of being “wild and wonderful”.  We loaded Brick’s truck to the brim with boats during a lightning storm, then traveled down the unmaintained dirt road to get John’s car at Panther Creek. And on the drive home, a double rainbow followed us out of town. 

Vacation in Western North Carolina

John and I just got back from a terrific mid-July summer vacation. We really did it right, with the perfect balance of activity and relaxation, and of course, paddling!

After spending the weekend in the Durham/Chapel Hill area (John went to a wedding and I visited with Ana), we headed West to the mountains. We spent the Fourth of July in Asheville, where John enjoyed a delicious Jalepeno Ale at the Asheville Brewing Company. The next day we drove even further west to Bryson City, where we went to the Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC). That evening we paddled the Nantahala, and a thick layer of fog coming off the river made the run especially beautiful (and slightly more nerve-wracking) for John's person first descent (PFD).

Me and John on the Nantahala

John's PFD of the Nantahala

The next day we opted to hike instead of paddle. The following story is meant to prove that NOT paddling can be very dangerous. We set out for a hike in Smoky Mountain National Park on the west end of Fontana Lake, aiming for a 7.6-mile "fitness style" loop on the Wolf Gap/Twentymile Loop/Twentymile trails. The Smokies are beautiful and the beginning of the hike was full of fun stream crossings and very green forest. A little bit more than halfway through the hike, the trail leveled out and we were both cruising at a pretty good rate. As we rounded a bend in the trail, we saw a full-sized adult black bear in the trail. We made our presence known by shouting, banging rocks together, and raising our hands up to look big. Shortly after seeing us the bear moved off the trail and up the hill about 15 feet, but stayed put after that. We made a bit more noise and the bear still didn't move any further. Contining on the loop would have required us to pass in front (and downhill) of the bear. John had his pocket knife out and was ready to round-house-kicked the bear into submission, but instead we opted to turn around and go back the same way we came.

The next day, Thursday, was the kind of day where one lucky event followed another to make a perfect summer day on the Ocoee River.  Equipped with the waterproof river map we bought for $5 at the NOC, we showed up a the put-in and scouted the first rapid, The Grumpies. Neither John or I had paddled the Ocoee before, and we quickly realized that the map was only going to be marginally helpful for our first time down.  This is where luck came in. As we were unloading our paddling gear, we heard a voice say, "Don't I know you?". It turns out that Ken and Alicia, friends from local Virginia rivers and longtime paddlers, were in town for the CCC's Week of Rivers. They were just about to put on too, and they graciously agreed to show us down the river. What a wonderful day! With their guidance, we had a smooth and FUN trip down the river (with the exception of my run-in with the raft and John saving me). The group also gave us a ride back to the put-in, which saved us from a 5-mile run in the lightning.

Woo! Wave trains on Double Trouble of the Ocoee

On Friday, we began heading back east and stopped outside of Asheville to hike down to the Green Narrows. We got a good look at Gorilla (which is even scarier in person) and snapped a few photos before a torrential downpour began. We were able to scale the very muddy and steep "gully washer" trail   and make it safely back to the car. We drove a few hours east to Charlotte, where we stopped at the whitewater park and did a few laps, before we got caught by the very same storm again.



Reflecting back on our vacation with a bit of the back-to-real-life blues, I am so grateful to have great people, stupendous luck, and paddling in my life. I feel refreshed and I can't wait to hit the New later this summer.

My first race: Richmond Riverrock

The Richmond Riverrock festival was held this weekend, complete with competitions in every flavor of "extreme"outdoor sport: a mud run, SUP race, bouldering competition, 10K trail run, and kayak big air contest.

There was also a boatercross race, which is a head-to-head race where kayakers circle around a series of buoys placed within a set of rapids. This year was the first time they had a female division, and they were struggling to get the minimum number of participants for the race. So, after some encouraging from my friend Erin Johnson, I signed up. To my surprise, I placed second (behind Emily Jackson) and won $100! Erin came in third, so overall I would say it was a success!  (Keep in mind there were only 6 participants, but I still consider it to be a pretty cool experience.) Rich Young took some fantastic photos of the entire festival, which you can view here.

Cheat Fest 2011

Albright is small town in the northern part of West Virginia, whose main industry is coal mining (I think). According to the 2000 Census, 247 people live in Albright, almost a quarter of whom live below the poverty line. Although I haven't scoped the nightlight myself, I am fairly certain that weekends in Albright are pretty low key. No ritzy night clubs, that's for sure.

Now imagine a parade of several thousand kayakers, arriving in four-wheel drive trucks double-stacked with boats of every color for every occasion. Every once in a while a Subaru will pass by with one of those tiny "under water" boats covered in more glitter than a little girl's dress-up party. All of the boaters congregate in two "campgrounds" (fields) that border the festival grounds, setting up tents in no particular arrangement or order. Add some gear vendors, about 12 hours of bluegrass music, a few barbecue tents, and some beer. Welcome to Cheat Fest.

We're all here for the same reason: whitewater. Albright is centrally located near a lot of it. The Cheat River narrows (III/IV) runs through Albright, but the Big Sandy (V), Youghiogheny, and Tygart rivers are all within reasonable driving distance. I heard that Cheat Fest was originally started 17 years ago to advocate for cleaning up the Cheat, which was heavily polluted by mining runoff. The river's health is greatly improved, so gladly the cleanup efforts have been effective.

John, Ethan, Zander, Zander, and Mike drove up early and paddled the Big Sandy on Friday. Theron, Joe, Gelb, and I arrived as the late crew on Friday night. After powering up with omelettes-in-a-bag for breakfast (genius!) and wrestling with the hardware on the seat of my new Mamba, our crew got suited up for the Cheat. I felt great on the river, and by the end of the run I felt I was starting to feel much more comfortable in my new boat.

At the end of the run, we hauled our boats up the steep muddy (but thankfully short) takeout and got ready to load up and head back in John's car. One minor detail was missing...the key to John's car! Which was tragically left in a shorts pocket at the campsite. This is where the unlucky story starts to turn lucky. While John caught a ride back up to the campsite, we discovered his car doors were unlocked and we could access our warm clothes AND the beer. Very shortly after John found his key, he ran into someone who was going back to the takeout anyway and hitched a ride back to meet us. From then on everything went smoothly and we made it back to the campsite with plenty of time to enjoy the festival. (The only other bummer was that Ethan was sick and went home. We missed you, Ethan!)

At the festival we visited Josh Tracy's Eddyflower tent and watched Gelb hula-hoop with very unique form. I also bought my first piece of original art for $20. Not bad.

On Sunday we ate omelettes for breakfast again (still awesome) and did another lap on the Cheat. It was a perfect sunny day and I had a blast. We rode home Josh's river van and listened to Rage Against the Machine on the portable boom box while John and I shared Tina Fey's new book. What a wonderful weekend!

Tonight the big trucks loaded with boats are gone, the fields are empty, and Albright is returning to its normal routine. We're looking forward to next year!

Moormons River - Laura's First Descent!

April showers bring May flowers! 

This week, we lucked out - we got the showers AND the flowers all in one mid-April weekend! The rains on Saturday caused river levels to spike, with most rivers quickly reaching "above recommended" levels. By Sunday morning the Rivanna river in our back yard, which normally flows at about 60 cfs in the summer was hitting flows of 24,900 cfs! It came within two feet of flooding over the bank at our house and the muddy water spilled over the river trail down the road.  

Mom and Dad arrived on the gloomy Saturday afternoon, but we were rewarded on Sunday with picture-perfect weather. Marie took my parents, her mom, John, and me on a spectacular tour of the gardens at Morven. We even got a VIP tour of the Japanese tea house. 

In front of the award-winning tree!

Entrance to the Japanese Garden

My Monday the rivers had calmed down a bit. John styled his PFD (personal first decent) on the North Fork of the Tye with Josh Tracy. Since we both had the afternoon off, we later joined Ethan and Laura for a lovely float down the Doyles-Millington section of the Moormans River. Laura looked like a pro on her PFD. Mom and Dad tagged along at the put-in and take-out as our favorite riverside cheerleaders and photographers.

Ethan and Laura

Beautiful evening light

Bring it on, April!

Powell Returns!

Spent another great day on the river this Saturday! Emily Powell was back in Virginia, so she and I and the three Johns (Tiedeman, Gelb, Ossler) headed to the ol' Trusty - the Maury. The level was around 530 cfs and we did two laps. John (Tiedeman) had an awesome boof off of Corner both times, and I finally ran the Kitchen clean on the second run. Check out the video here.

Maury River in February

On February 6, Goshen Pass was still running (but dropping) for the third day in a row. John, Zander, Mike K. and I decided to give it a go at around 400 cfs. Even though the water was low and some of the lines were a bit bumpy, it was still a very worthwhile day on the river. We did two laps and it was a beautiful, sunny, dry-hair day.

Creeking 101: Notes from Last Fall's Creeking Clinic

Last September, I took Dave Kessman's Creeking Clinic. The two-day, two-student course was held on the Lower Yough in Western Pennsylvania and was very worthwhile. Before the clinic, I had almost no experience in a creek boat and was unfamiliar with both the lingo and the technique that is specific to running creeks. I jotted down some notes of what drills to practice, which I've listed below:

- Rotation Strokes

- Power Stroke: both hands on one side of the boat; head follow all the way through the wind-up

- Cruising Stroke: wind up, unwind; hand goes straight across face and doesn't stop

- Draw Strokes: open and closed face (bow, hip, stern); sweep and draw combo

- Boof Stroke: same as power stroke; practice planting paddle and crunching forward

- Spins

- Back-ferry: switching angles on eddy line

- Front-ferry: use draws instead of prys to adjust angle

- Smears: lateral angle; smear rock; power stroke on non-rock side; switch edges mid-air

- Boofs: crunch forward after power stroke; practice boofing holes

- Wording: boof vs. smear, edge vs. lean

Pump up the Volume

Welcome!

As we wait for the rain to come and the weather to warm up to temperatures that permit circulation in our phalanges, I thought it might be helpful to funnel my constant "I-want-to-paddle-now" thoughts into a fancy new blog.

The urge to record my paddling tidbits was recently heightened by two awesome events that have aspired within the last two months:

1. John's declaration that he wants to train to be an Olympic Slalom Champion, and my resolution that I might as well earn the glory in the women's category.
2. My recent acquisition of a CREEK BOAT, which I have long yearned for and was made possible by a generous and surprising gift from Dr. JT.

So, there you have it: this is my paddling blog. I'm pumping up the volume of my water craft with my new lime-green Mamba creek boat and hope to be able to post photos of gnarly boofs and smears sometime soon. Get your claw, fist-pump, or your favorite "woot" holler ready -- "Don't Worry Mom" has arrived.

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