Beginner-Advanced White Water Kayaking – the New River, Wv

OVERVIEW

The New River, WV has sections for all levels. The famous New River Gorge is a class 3/4 stretch that has some of the best white water in the US. To run this section you must have plenty of river experience in a WW kayak, have paddled through class 3/4 rapids before, and have a solid combat roll. The section above the gorge, a 7 mile section from Thurmond to Cunard, WV, has 5 class 2 rapids seperated by a bit of calm water and ends with the famous class 3, “Surprise” rapid. This is a great place for beginners-intermediates to get an intro to big water, and work on river skills like reading rapids, ferrying, eddy hopping, and combat rolling. I’ve never run this section, so I plan on running it on Saturday (9/2) to learn it for future trips. We’ll be teaming up with a great club of paddlers called “Coastal Caoneists” who will be guiding us down this section. The intermediate-advanced paddlers on the trip can run the gorge or tag along with us (if you are qualified, but do not know the river well, you can tag along with the Coastals group). On Sunday I will run the gorge, and can guide any qualified gorge first timers. Everyone else can run the Thurmond to Cunard section again, or head home Saturday night.

For more info on the Thurmond to Cunard section go to: http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/River/detail/id/4119/
For more info on the Cunard to Fayette Station (“gorge”) section go to:
http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/River/detail/id/2418/

So the plan is to meet at Echols at 5:30pm, fill up our gas tanks and grab some food if people want, and head to Fayetteville, WV. Hopefully we’ll have camp set up by 10. We’ll rise early on Saturday to have one of the best breakfast experiences you’ll ever have (Cathedral Cafe baby!!) and meet up with Coastals, then hit the water. We’ll meet back up at the campsite after the run, grab some dinner, do the camping thing, and do it all over again on Sunday. Depending on the driving situation, there may also be an option for some folks to head back Saturday night.

I’ll grab some snack stuff for the trip which will probably include granola/cereal bars, fruit, bagels, sandwhich meat for lunches on the river, water, juice,…other stuff I can’t think of right now. Be sure to bring money if you want to eat on the road, have the Cathedral Cafe breakfast experience and/or want to eat out for Saturday dinner (I’ve heard “Pies and Pints” is awesome).

**You must have taken the intro class with me and have gone down a river with me or have similar experience to be qualified for this trip. Email or call me if you are not sure of your qualifications: dclark@virginia.edu or 962-9737.

I’m posting the trip for 6, since that is how many boats and people (squeeze!) I can fit, but can expand it with more drivers that have roof racks. The club pays up to $80/car in gas, but due to gas prices and the poor gas mileage I get with 6 boats on my Jeep, there will be a $5 trip fee to cover the extra cost.

The Club provides: Gear, gear transport, ga$, lodging fee, tents, sleeping bags/pads, and some food and food monies

You should bring: Gear if you have it, swimwear (don’t forget your feets!), clothes, towel, camping gear if you have it, money for food, snacks, watter bottle (fits in boat), water, flashlight, your sweet paddling skills