Ray's Campground (Hico, WV)
Gauley River West Virginia
Yo, I am super excited for this trip and here’s why:
First, its the weekend of the NRGE so its gonna be automatically awesome.
Second, we are going to one of the coolest places in West Virginia, Kanawha falls. It is a natural (and in some spots quite unnatural) whitewater playground.
Third, this is going to be a really cool opportunity for both whitewater beginners and those in the more intermediate/advanced category to come together and do some dope stuff.
The general plan is as follows:
Wake up and eat (remember this trip will be Sunday morning the 18th so if you aren’t coming to the Extravaganza or are leaving Saturday there will be no easy way for you to attend). The number of people who can come is directly dependent on how many boats and gear we are able to bring up, and how many cars are available– I am making this a waitlist only event for now and putting the max number of people at around 10 but all this is subject to change depending on interest, cars, and boats. Anyway we will drive over to Kanawha falls which is at the confluence of the New and Gauley Rivers, hopefully getting there around 9:30. At this point all new peeps will hop in boats and learn your basic strokes, wet exits, and maybe do some rolling practice depend on water temp, cold gear availability, etc. This first section will also be a great opportunity for intermediate level paddlers to practice teaching basic technique and rolling!
After about an hour or so of beginner level work, the more intermediate/advanced crew will paddle over to the falls (hopefully bringing a good chunk of beginners as well, I wanna get a big pool float) to run them. Again this is an awesome opportunity not only to practice running larger drops, but also for beginners to get a chance to glimpse a small part of the amazing things one can do in a kayak.
As a disclaimer the falls certainly are class IV so being able to roll is a must to run them. Check out the american whitewater description here: https://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/River/detail/id/2391/
*note the page is outdated and they aren’t illegal anymore.
If you would like to watch a video some of our very own members (including Hannah and myself) running a few of the drops last year click or maybe copy and paste this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMgEhvaccpg&feature=youtu.be
What to bring:
Towel
Warm clothes
Water
Dry gear
Boats and kayak stuff if ya got it
Club provides:
Boats, warm gear and kayak stuff if you don’t