It seems that I’ve been the bringer of warm rainy weather this winter.  In November after a lengthy period of unusually warm weather it turned cold just days before I flew out to Africa.  For the following weeks the east coast endured record low temperatures while on the Zambezi the weather heated up into the 90s under a strong summer sunshine.  As luck would have it the week I returned back to Maryland the cold weather broke and the area was treated to big rains.  A group consisting of Steve Graybill, Stephen Wright, and I took advantage of the water and after consulting with friend and creek boater extraordinaire Bobby Miller, hit the steeps of some epic western Pennsylvania creeks.  Later in early January another bout of heavy rains and warm temperatures brought the Susquehanna at Holtwood up to 300,000cfs.  On Sunday the 16^th Kristen Podolak, Steve Graybill, Mark Cecchini??, and I put onto the churning muddy waters where some of us were treated to a surf on one of the biggest wave of our lives, Powerline (aka Shockwave).  It was the perfect way to end my short homestay before once again traveling abroad, this time to Australia for the World Championships.  Again, my trip coincided with another long cold snap which brought the areas biggest snowfall of the season and sub-freezing temperatures.  After being spoiled by the southern hemisphere’s summer I took a major shock to the system arriving home to a snow covered ground and frozen rivers.  That week I sat at home battling a bad case of the flu.  Finally on Monday I was feeling better.  The weather warmed up and later that evening a soaking rain hit the northern mountains of West Virginia.  Tuesday morning with the Upper Blackwater rising through the 700cfs range Bryon Dorr, Steve Graybill, Scott Meininger, and I headed out to Canaan Valley to run the North Fork of the Blackwater.  This would be my first time paddling with Scott and his first time down this fantastic West Virginia jewel.  Although short and not super difficult, its continuous and unforgiving nature makes it one of my favorite runs in the state. 

We arrived at the put-in around 11 and were on the water by noon, Bryon in the final Small Solo prototype, Steve in his Y, Scott in a Diesel, and me in my Medium Flirt.  Now you may wonder what I was thinking paddling a playboat down the North Fork.  My answer is simple, I don’t know.  Maybe it had to do with the fact that I’d just flown back from New Zealand where I was stuck paddling heli runs in my Flirt after my Solo got stuck in customs.  Or maybe it was because I had previously run the North Fork at a very high level in my old Dagger Kingpin a year earlier without incident.  Well the level this time was quite a bit lower, and without going into too much detail I will say that it was just a bad idea.  This became obvious when I lost my ferry angle at Worlds Ugliest and fell off upside down into the big pillow above the sieve.  Luckily I didn’t hit anything and rolled up in perfect position to paddle out to the left.  This wasn’t the only scare on the trip.  Earlier, at Glutial, Scott missed the first river right eddy and then while going for the last chance eddy just above the slide he caught his paddle and almost flipped.  Luckily his brace held him upright and he made the eddy just in time.  (Authors note: The right side of Glutial has been run at low water but I don’t know of anyone who has done it on their first run, without scouting, and upside down.)  After scouting for 10 minutes Steve decided that, although scrapey, the normal lip looked doable.  I had my doubts but before I knew it he was stroking for the lip.  At first his line looked beautiful, he made the lip, took a big boof stroke and launched.  This was about when it fell apart.  Instead of launching out away from the drop he caught a rock which sent his boat bouncing straight up into the air before nosing down sending him vertically towards a deceptively shallow pool.  About 2/3 of the way down the 30’ waterfall he twisted into a freewheel-like maneuver and landed on his side flat.  Needless to say our decision to walk was pretty easy after Steve’s probe.  He was lucky.  The rest of the run went relatively smoothly.  Everyone nailed a sweet boof at Cow Pissing on a Flat Rock and Double Indemnity.  At Rainbow Room the line shifts from river left to river right at low water requiring a tight left to right approach between a mid-stream rock and the shore followed by a narrow 5’ boof.  Scott ran and was pushed left up onto the midstream rock high and dry.  Bryon aced it and even made the boof left to avoid a tight eddy turn at the bottom.  It was an unbelievable demonstration of Bryon’s skill and the Solo’s speed and maneuverability.  Shortly we arrived at the take-out and after the invigorating hike back to the cars packed it in and hightailed it back to DC.

Joe Stumpfel

2003-2005 US Freestyle Team