The Gauley River is the trip I wait for all year. Great river, great rapids, and great playspots are just a few of the things to look forward to. I get to see all my friends and get to attend a great party put on by American Whitewater. The crew met at Jon’s house where the trip would begin. Gavin from Alabama Small Boats decided he would drive the company van so we could all ride with him. This was awesome considering that the gas prices were almost $3.50 a gallon in Alabama. Jon (The Baptist), Gavin, Timmy, Chad (The Whiner) and I packed up and headed out around 8:00 P.M. We drove to Gadsden where we would pick up the Charlie Mix. Seeing as how Charlie’s boat and paddle got stolen the weekend before I took my C-1 Flirt and made a kayak for Charlie to have something to paddle. We now had six rednecks in a big van going to stay down by the river. The only thing we needed was a redneck with a mullet. Where is Leif when you need him? As Gavin was driving, zzzzzz...... We arrived at the put in at about 8:00 A.M. We asked the ranger if it would be alright if we could sleep next to the dumpster. Irony that the Alabamians were white and next to trash. Hmmmmm. We got up at around 10:15 to get breakfast. To my suprise, Nick came running up and was excited to see us and paddle with us. We put on and headed down to Geek's Wave. This is a great spot to throw big front flips, bigger than Famous Leif's head. We hurried down to Pillow Rock where to our dismay we foud out that we were to late to enter into the Wavesport Open. I still wanted to get a good plan on downriver moves and needed to show Timmy and Chad the rapid. As I was walking down I noticed the ramp and I said " Charlie, the ramp looks sick." This was 2 seconds before someone informed me that a kayaker had just broken his back. I then said "Charlie, the ramp looked sick." We ran the rapid and eddied out at the bottom. Looking back up about 75 % of the people flipped on the pillow. We cruised down the river throwing some great stuff and I thoroughly enjoyed Chad an Timmy having great lines through all the rapids. With the water dropping we were not really playing but more trying to get to the takeout without running out of water. Great lines and great day.
Day 2
We put on the river and I took a big sigh of relief. Saturday and we were in West Virgina. This day would however be a little harder for Chad. Chad swam at a no name rapid because I dropped into a hole and did not know he was behind me. Sorry Chad! He got stuck up against a big rock and had to come out. From then on, Chad flipped at all five major rapids. As karma would predict I got beatdown at Pillow Rock. I was surfing the wave at the top and peeled off it. As I approached the pillow, the guy in front of me was slowing down to splat the rock. As I got to the rock, I flipped to not hit him which made him flip. I rolled up at the bottom about 15 feet below Volkswagon Rock. I carried back up to run it again. Heck you can not drive 10 hours to the Gauley and not at least splat Pillow Rock. When we got to Sweets Falls a raft was stuck on top of the finger rock. You could see a blue speck and see the water shooting into the air. This made it easy for everyone to know where to go. Getting to the takeout we sat there until Gavin came back with the van. I have been coming to the Gauley for 12 years and this is the first time I have ever been able to drive the van down to the takeout. Now was party time. We headed back to camp anxious to see what all tents and people were there. Dagger had an open bar which was a nice stop. There were also some kegs at certain tents but you had to keep an eye out. I really enjoyed the Keen Footwear tent and stopping by the Astral Buoyancy tent to see Yonton Muehler. I had my water bottle with me and Yonton quickly turned my water into wine. We watched the new Wethouse video, which was a great video. Half kayaking video, half documentary. After a few too many we decided it was time to hit the hay. zzzzzzzz..........
Day 3
Gavin took a vote and because he was the only one on the insurance, he did not want to boat because we would be driving at 6 in the morning. The drive home was not that bad until we got south and there was the remnants of Hurricane Rita. Winds howling and blowing us off the road made the trip home kind of windy but we made it. One of the best Gauley trips ever and I cant wait until next year when we get to go again.
Day 4
I got up on Monday and to my suprise it had rained enough to get the Mulberry Fork of the Warrior running. When this section is running people come out of the woodworks to come surf the waves. Not to my suprise I got to boat with David, owner of Surface Dynamics and the rest of the crew from the Gauley. The 5-0 was great offering up some front flips, back flips, and the occasional phonics monkey. If you have never been here you need to come down this winter. Sick playspots on a sick river. We like to call it Baby Dries of the New. Another great day of boating in the state of no rivers, Alabama.
Jeremy Adkins A.K.A Flying Skeleton
