New River Rendezvous, Labor Day weekend, 2013
This one is a loosely organized multi-club trip to the New River in West Virginia with a lot of history. It is open to pretty much everyone, practiced novice to expert to river-Goddess. Nobody seems to really know when it started but it dates at least back to the nineties (the 1990's, that is).
In keeping with the loosely organized theme I'm a bit late posting this.
The dates are Labor Day weekend, namely Saturday, August 31 through Monday, September 2. Some folks arrive earlier, some leave later. I plan to show up by ten on Saturday to attend a meeting, much of which will have already occurred Friday night. (Are you catching the loosely organized theme?)
If you are new to this event please don't feel intimidated. Please feel welcomed. If need be then I will happily volunteer to coordinate a trip on an easier upper section of the New or some such on Saturday to get things going for you. After that, hopefully you will have made new friends and the rest of the weekend will flow.
Most of us stay at Ray's Campground near Hico and that's where we coordinate things loosely. 304-658-4386. You don't need a reservation if you are tent camping. Well, at least you didn't need one last year. Give them a call if worried about it. If you want a cabin then you should call them right now. Find a map. Hico is north of Fayetteville, about 5 miles north of where the New crosses under route 19. Look for where route 60 crosses route 19. Get west of that intersection and turn right on Sunday Road before you have a chance to blink. Sunday Road is only paved in the middle so take it easy. Ray's is about a mile on the left. Nice folks.
What to run? Egads the New has had plenty of water all summer. I've never seen this before. Even with zero rain between then and now we should have decent water, maybe more than some would want. Newbies take a look here: http://www.americanwhitewater.org/conte ... /state/WV/ , scroll down to the New, and start reading about the various sections. It's booming right now so we'll just have to watch it over the next couple of weeks. Commentary is invited, especially as regards easier whitewater. From what I know the upper sections develop plenty of big roller-coaster wave trains but stay pretty friendly. At the moment other options are out there for all levels of paddling ability. There are various sections of the Gauley, the Cranberry, the Meadow, and the Williams within reasonable distance from Ray's. I expect some of these to drop out but who knows?
It's fine to just show up for this one or, if you prefer, pepper me with questions. It's all good.
Cheers,
Ken Dubel
O.C.T. New River Rendezvous over Labor Day
Moderators: admins, GinnyN, mod1, mod3, Raymond, slo2rol, mod2
Re: Cherry
And it is currently running.allsky7 wrote:I hear tell the Lower Cherry is a good un for someone of my particular skill set. Not sure what it will look like in a few weeks but wonderin if that might be a possibility?
Steve
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unclefuzzy
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Class II-III options (if there is enough water)
My wife, Nancy, and I paddle the Cherry and "top Gauley" (from the Cherry to Panther Creek) frequently and have taught aspiring intermediate kayak clinics on both.
The gauge to check to see if there is enough water is the USGS gauge at Craigsville - http://waterdata.usgs.gov/wv/nwis/uv/?s ... 0060,62614 .
If the gauge is at 11.0 feet or higher, the "top Gauley" is a good 4-5 mile class II-III run.
The Cherry is smaller and more technical - not as pushy as the Nantahala but similar. It usually has enough water if the Craigsville gauge is at 11.5 feet or higher. The problem is that the Craigsville gauge is fed by the Cherry, Cranberry, Williams and the Gauley headwaters so it can be difficult to tell if the Cherry has enough water. The best way to tell is to visually check the hand-painted paddlers gauge across the Cherry from the post office in Fenwick.
The bottom 3 miles of the Cherry (from Rhododendron Park down) are runnable if the Fenwick gauge is at least 6" (usually when Craigsville gauge is at least 11.5 feet).
At 1 foot on the Fenwick gauge (usually 12.0 feet or higher on the Craigsville gauge), you can put in at Fenwick and paddle 6 miles of the Cherry down to the confluence with the Gauley.
If the Fenwick gauge is 1.5 feet or higher (usually at or above 12.7 feet at Craigsville), it's possible to put on in Richwood and paddle all 9 miles of the Cherry.
We paddled the Cherry from Fenwick to the Gauley a couple days ago. The Craigsville gauge was 12.66 feet and the paddlers gauge at Fenwick was about 8 inches above zero. There were some rock-dodging places but it was still fun. It really helps to have good boat control on the Cherry.
The nice thing about the Cherry is that you can take the time to work on your boat handling skills. There usually are lots of eddies to catch and waves to surf.
The gauge to check to see if there is enough water is the USGS gauge at Craigsville - http://waterdata.usgs.gov/wv/nwis/uv/?s ... 0060,62614 .
If the gauge is at 11.0 feet or higher, the "top Gauley" is a good 4-5 mile class II-III run.
The Cherry is smaller and more technical - not as pushy as the Nantahala but similar. It usually has enough water if the Craigsville gauge is at 11.5 feet or higher. The problem is that the Craigsville gauge is fed by the Cherry, Cranberry, Williams and the Gauley headwaters so it can be difficult to tell if the Cherry has enough water. The best way to tell is to visually check the hand-painted paddlers gauge across the Cherry from the post office in Fenwick.
The bottom 3 miles of the Cherry (from Rhododendron Park down) are runnable if the Fenwick gauge is at least 6" (usually when Craigsville gauge is at least 11.5 feet).
At 1 foot on the Fenwick gauge (usually 12.0 feet or higher on the Craigsville gauge), you can put in at Fenwick and paddle 6 miles of the Cherry down to the confluence with the Gauley.
If the Fenwick gauge is 1.5 feet or higher (usually at or above 12.7 feet at Craigsville), it's possible to put on in Richwood and paddle all 9 miles of the Cherry.
We paddled the Cherry from Fenwick to the Gauley a couple days ago. The Craigsville gauge was 12.66 feet and the paddlers gauge at Fenwick was about 8 inches above zero. There were some rock-dodging places but it was still fun. It really helps to have good boat control on the Cherry.
The nice thing about the Cherry is that you can take the time to work on your boat handling skills. There usually are lots of eddies to catch and waves to surf.
just got a hold of this FOOD list.
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It appears that the New may be trying to settle down a bit. I think it's a fair bet to say it won't be dreadfully-low-but-still-runnable as we've had in some years.
Will it be too high? Hopefully no. Rain predictions are light, lakes are at ordinary levels, and there is still a week to go. There is a bubble working its way through Virginia at the moment but it should pass by soon.
Odd to be worrying about having too much water in August, eh?
Fingers crossed, this may turn out to be a banner year!
Cheers,
Ken
Will it be too high? Hopefully no. Rain predictions are light, lakes are at ordinary levels, and there is still a week to go. There is a bubble working its way through Virginia at the moment but it should pass by soon.
Odd to be worrying about having too much water in August, eh?
Fingers crossed, this may turn out to be a banner year!
Cheers,
Ken
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JesseTaylor
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