New River Gorge Extravaganza ’13: Base Camp

OVERVIEW

WHAT IS THE NEW RIVER GORGE EXTRAVAGANZA?

The New River Gorge Extravaganza (NRGE) is a choose-your-own-adventure megatrip that the club puts on in the fall to one of the best outdoor recreation destinations in the nation, perhaps world, and is only 3 hours from C’ville. The New River itself is 1 of 10 National Wild and Scenic Rivers in the US, and the gorge and surrounding area (including the Gauley River/Summersville area) hosts excellent white water kayaking for all levels, rafting, mountain and road biking, rock climbing, hiking/backpacking, and caving. Due to the outdoor rec opportunities and natural beauty, this area of West Virginia is also very popular for tourism. The club makes various trips to the NRG area each year but the goal of the extravaganza is to bring all of the club’s popular genres/activities and people together for 1 amazing weekend.

The way this generally works is that numerous trips are organized for the Extravaganza, and each trip meets at Echols Dorm at a particular time, snags gear if appropriate, then heads on out to the campsite with plans to re-form on Saturday morning and embark on some sort of adventure. This allows for 2 fabulous nights of partying around a campfire and 2-3 days of multi-adventuring. Some of these adventures require prior experience/skills and all of them can support but a finite amount of peeps, so to allow everyone a chance to experience this event I have set up this “Base Camp” adventure (see below).

Each year I tweak the set up of this gig to fine-tune the ease of organizing while minimizing confusion and maximizing quality. So, HOW IT’S GONNA WORK THIS YEAR:

1. Sign up for this adventure if you want to come out for this awesomeness. Hopefully you will soon see a plethora of adventures associated with this trip.

2. Sign up for said adventure(s) as your experience level and your time allows. The leader of each adventure will be responsible for your camping gear needs, food, and transportation. **If you sign up for multiple adventures you will need to determine which group you will ride/get gear with; you’ll need to coordinate with those trip leaders.**

3. **Withdraw from this “adventure” after you’ve officially joined the trip list of another NRGE adventure (remain on this adventure if you get waitlisted). The point of this trip is to allow folks to go who don’t make it onto an adventure, or who just want to go to camp and do their own thing.

WHEN?

The weekend of 10/4-10/6. The departures will most likely be from Echols at various times on Friday, the 4th. In their trip descriptions the trip leaders should indicate what day/time their adventure(s) will depart from the campsite. You might end up only doing one activity, or none, during the weekend, which will give you a day or two to explore or hang out at the campsite. As for this trip, I’m putting down a tentative 4pm departure time as that is about average of when most trips depart. I will be departing earlier and will coordinate an appropriate time with you as the trip draws near.

My plans are to lead a mountain biking trip on Friday and a beginner kayaking trip on Saturday. Look for those trip postings, as well as others, soon!

CAMPING:
We’ll be staying at Ray’s Campground: http://www.rayscampground.com/

There is plenty of space, bathrooms/showers, firewood to purchase, and good people. For directions you can follow the link above or the “adventure destination” link posted with this adventure.

The club will cover part of your camp fee ($9.00 per person per night)

FEES:
For now I am putting down $20 as a base trip fee to make sure everything gets covered (you may have additional fees depending on the adventure you choose). The bill can get pretty hefty with a huge group traveling, camping, and chowing. I don’t want this trip to put too large of a dent in the club’s checking account, but may be able to reduce the fee. The club’s officers are currently working on getting some outside funding to help subsidize this trip. I’ll know more as the date draws near and will let you know. Whatever the case, your trip fee goes toward lodging fees, food, ga$, and camping gear rental (we had such a huge turnout last year that we had to rent several tents!)

THE CLUB PROVIDES: Camping gear (limited availability) including tents, sleeping bags and pads, appropriate adventure gear (except hiking boots), some gas money, some food, and some lodging fees.

YOU SHOULD BRING: Your camping gear, whatever toys you want to play with, clothes (prep for cool nights and mornings) including appropriate attire for your adventure(s) of choice, flashlight, towel, toiletries, sunscreen, money (for restaurant dining, snacks/drink etc, particular adventure fees, etc)

Drop me a line if you have any questions – dclark@virginia.edu

Happy Trails!