Hike into pillow rapids viewing!!!! (GAULEY FEST TRIP)

OVERVIEW

THIS IS COMPLEMENTARY TO THE GAULEY FEST MAIN TRIP YOU WILL NOT GET OFF UNLESS YOU ARE ON THE WAITLIST FOR BOTH

Okay so, here is the deal. Gauley fest weekend is gonna be a chill relaxing weekend for me, not a sendy one, BUT i wanna watch people send it on the river. Gauley fest is a weekend where the dam to the gauley is released, so there are tons and tons of people rafting, kayaking and even SUPing down the river and there is a perfect spot to watch them from. So what I will be doing is hiking down to the river bank, finding a nice rock to sit on, and posting up for the day.

This is a very easy trip, in terms of what we will be doing for the day HOWEVER the hike down to the sitting area is steep and unmaintained. In fact it is technically closed because it isn’t maintained by the park service. That being said, we hiked it last year as do a large number of people during Gauley Fest weekend, so we will do it again. The hike is incredibly steep and at parts is more of a mud/rock/root scramble than a hike– I did a lot of butt sliding last year. It is also incredibly short– 0.8 miles. Generally speaking it is very doable unless you have an injury or anything that would make this type of scrambling dangerous/extra strenuous.

Here is the alltrails link: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/west-virginia/path-to-pillow-rock

If you are down to do some sliding and scrambling, the rest of the plan for the day is to sit and hang out on the rocks and watch the festivities and hopefully see Mitch and our ODC friends send it down the river. Timing will be loose, but we can try to get to the rocks mid morning and head out in the afternoon.

That means we will be on the rocks for quite a while. So, I would suggest packing a lunch and snacks, plenty of water, sunscreen, and anything else you might want for the day of chilling (ex. i’ll probably bring some drinks for myself)

Then, when we are done with people watching, we will scramble our way back to the car and head back to the campsite where the festivities will begin (or continue, really)!!!

What to bring:
Sunscreen
Sun hat (baseball cap or the like)
Shoes you are okay hiking in (NOT BIRKENSTOCKS OR ANY NON SECURE SHOES if they are sandals make sure they are secure (Chacos, bedrocks, the like))
Sandals if you wanna get your toes in the water
Clothes for the hot river sun
Daypack!!! NOT A TOTE BAG!! I REPEAT NOT A TOTE BAG FOR THIS HIKE
Snacks
Lunch
Plenty o water
Other drinks if ya wish (a reasonable amount we r not going crazy at the water)
sunglasses
Whatever else u want for a day by the river

Questions: shoot me (jade) a text at (804) 980-5222