Thing to Do #90: Go White Water Rafting

The weekend after Labor Day, a group of eight of us went for opening weekend of Gauley Season.  Last year was my first time rafting the Gauley, and while I was certainly very serious about it last year, I enjoyed myself.  Since I knew what to expect this year, I was excited and ready for some fun.

The cabin Lydia had rented for us was incredibly nice, complete with all the electronic, modern conveniences and a large hot tub.  Saturday morning came early at 6:30AM and we found ourselves suited up in wetsuits and ready to go at Songer by 8:00AM.

I will say at this time that of the entire boating group, the four girls of our own group were the ONLY girls of the trip.  Seemingly the rest of the boating group was made up of two other large groups of men – one with younger frat-boy types and the other was older guys that apparently were celebrating a bachelor party.  Both groups of men were Billy Badasses that didn’t need wetsuits or splash jackets.  Now while it WAS still summer, the water off the bottom of a lake is COLD, as well as the fact that we are in the MOUNTAINS.  In addition, wetsuits provide a bit more protection against rocks and the like when you fall out; I saw numerous shivering little boys with bloody knees that day that looked a lot less cocky than they did at 8:00am.

Another thing to note: the Gauley River is dangerous if not taken seriously.  Hell, its dangerous even when taken seriously.  At that bright and early hour, I smelled the potent, sweet smell of beer permeating through the bus on our way to put in.  I hoped that it was seeping through the pores of several hard drinkers from the night before, but I feared it was from early morning tailgating.  I never found out for sure, but from the actions of some of these men, I believe the latter.

And most importantly: typically the Gauley runs at about 2,500-2,800 cfs; that’s Cubic Feet per Second.  Think about that for a bit.  2800 CUBIC feet per SECOND coming at you.  For whatever reason, the Gauley was at 3,000 cfs that Saturday and it would prove to be ROUGH.

Before we had even arrived at Insignificant, the first Class V, a fluke thing happened in one of the smaller rapids.  A boat got stuck on a rock in the middle of the river, necessitating all the other guides to pull our boats over to the side to walk back along the bank to help free the boat.  None of the guides had ever seen anything like this before.  This took 30 minutes and when they finally succeeded, it had taken quite a bit out of our guide, Matt.  Matt is the same guide we had last year and the one Lydia gets every year.  He’s been rafting the Gauley for 15 years and, like last year, he was the group leader.  This means that often we were the last through rapids, and would sweep through to pick up any rafters that had fallen out or paddles that had been lost. 

After that delay, we had made our way to Insignificant and waited for another boating company to make their way through the rapid.  I had noticed that one boat flipped, losing all its rafters, including the guide.  I didn’t give it much thought as this happens quite often.  Our group made our way through and I noticed that the dumped rafters had been picked up by other boats.  However, Matt noticed something I didn’t and immediately went into action.

“Songer!  Compressions!”  Matt had seen what I had totally missed – the fact that CPR was being administered to one rafter on the river bank.  Our group immediately pulled over and our guides were quickly on the scene.  We stayed for 5 minutes or so, until it was decided that there was nothing our guides could do.  The details of the death are in this article.

Needless to say, the day’s events thus far had put a severe damper on anyone’s ability to have fun.  The river proved to be rough all day and Steve, Lydia, Alex and I played life guards, repeatedly pulling rafters out of the water.  At one point, we had pulled the SAME GUY into our boat three times.  I mean, get it together dude.  None of us had fallen out once and we were pulling in other (MEN) out of the water left and right.  At another point, we had pulled in three guys and they just laid there (one literally laying ON Alex); Matt had to yell at them to get up and grab a paddle as we were still in the rapids!

Going through the last Class V, one boat hit Dildo Rock in Sweets Falls and rafters went flying.  Our boat charged through, picking up two of the fallen rafters.  After Sweets Falls is Box Canyon, which is the more difficult way to go; you can just go around it.  The two rafters we picked up (both men in their 40s) quickly suggested that we go around.  When Matt discovered they didn’t want to go through Box Canyon, we pulled over to the shore and he instructed them to walk down the bank and another boat would pick them up further down.  I was so glad as I was worried that because THEY couldn’t get their shit together, we wouldn’t be able to do what we had planned to do. 

After Sweets Falls, we were done with the Class Vs, much to Chad’s relief.  Although Chad, Emily, Monica, and Chris had a great guide, Keith, who in fact has been rafting the Gauley longer than Matt, they had had more misfortunes, including one rather rough ride getting caught in the eddy that is Hungry Mother.  Chris, Monica, and Chad were all eventually shaken loose, while Emily held on, the boat bucking like a bronco until another raft rammed it, breaking Emily and Keith free from the eddy.

After lunch, the rest of the day went more smoothly.  I jumped in for the Swimmers Rapid (which was rougher than I expected and probably won’t do again) and jumped in from the Jumping Rock.  At the top, I was terribly frightened; it was much higher than I had thought it was (its probably about 20 feet), but I knew 1) if I thought about it too much, I’d be even more scared, and 2) more people were behind us and I couldn’t chicken out in front of them.  I jumped in, holding my nose so tightly that I think I bruised it.  I missed it but Alex went in after me, doing a back flip.  He always has to one-up me.

We did finally get dumped out in Fuzzy Box of Kittens, which is a “safe” rapid to dump in.  Matt flipped the whole boat and he fell out too, so I don’t really count that; you can’t stay in a boat when its upside down!

I think Chad probably won’t do the Gauley again, although he said he was glad that he did it.  Chris and Monica may do it again…eventually.  The river was MUCH rougher than last year, and being in the “High Adventure Boats,” the trip is that much more dangerous.  If this had been my first year, it may have been too much for me.  BUT, the girls proved to still be much more courageous than many of the men of this trip and we all decided that the entire trip would have been made better if we didn’t have to look after other careless rafters that weren’t taking the trip seriously enough.

Maybe next year I can request no stupid boys on our trip.  Think that will work?