THINK RAIN: Dildo

Mark and I wanted to get in another Gauley weekend before Gauley Fest. We also decided to finally check out the Lower Gauley. So on Saturday we did just that. It was a beautiful run but ultimately we were disappointed. First off the amount of rafts was absolutely incredible. Horrifying actualy. We looked up river and saw nothing but rafts. The flotilla was huge, way more than I'd ever seen on the Upper.

We found the rapids to be rather short and not terribly exciting and the miles of flatwater extremely painful. Nonetheless it was worth doing once. The most excitement of that run occurred when we got to Diagonal Ledges. We took one look at the line at the main play spot and didn’t even stop. We weren’t interested in waiting. Just a short way down however we found another hole, and no line. In fact there wasn’t anyone near it. Mark decided it looked like a good play hole and didn’t understand why there was no one there. So he went on in. He did a few spins and cartwheels and came out saying it was a little sticky but good to go.

So in I went. I surfed back and forth a little and then tried spinning but this just put me in a side surf. Then of course I immediately started getting window shaded as I realized that the hole was a lot more powerful than I thought. It wasn’t very big, but it has some bite for sure. The scene must have been quite amusing. I kept rolling up and getting window shaded again. In between monologue went like this… “Mark…*window shade* …I hate…*window shade*… you…*window shade*….how do…*window shade*…I…*window shade*…get out…*window shade*…of here??” That went on for a while until I finally managed to flip and grab some green water with my paddle. The whole time Mark was shouting out non-helpful advice while at the same time trying to suppress uncontrollable laughter. humph!! Not my kind of play spot. If only he could have gotten video of it!!

Mark surfing at Canyon Doors, Lower Gauley

Me at Canyon Doors, Lower Gauley

The next day we ran the Upper Gauley again. It was Mark’s first time down this year. Everything was going fine until we got to Sweets Falls. He didn’t remember the line too well and I asked if he wanted me to go first. He said he was fine and went ahead. I watched as he went down and followed a bit behind. He seemed to be going too far left.

As I watched I realized in horror that he was a good bit off. As he went over the drop he came to a dead stop. It was a terrifying moment. I wasn’t far behind him so my first thought was that I had to go farther right so I wouldn’t run into him. I was nervous because I didn’t want to be too far over but I had no choice as I hit the big green tongue I realized that I was exactly on line. In fact I had a great clean run. It probably helped that I was concentrating on doing well myself so I could help him if he needed it. In the time it took me to catch up to him he had slid off and was paddling down beside me. Below is his account of what happened:

As I left the staging eddy above Sweets the only thing I could remember about the line was that there was supposed to be some sort of seam that you were to follow over the drop. Looking around, I saw no seam. I started thinking about alternatives and my memory said that the entire middle was good to go (at least that's what I thought). Then I saw a seam, it was far off to my left and certainly further left than I remember ever going off the drop but since I didn't remember there being any reason to not go somewhere other than the way I had been going, I went ahead and paddled toward the seam. As I went over the point of no return I realized my mistake as I could see water spraying off a large rock right in front of me! I slammed into the rock with considerable force and somehow immediately vertically pinned on it with water rushing over top of me holding me forward onto the front deck of the boat. After a moment or two I realized I wasn't going to move anywhere unless I did something. So I started straining to straighten myself upright in order to change my shape in the water to see if it would dislodge me. Luckily this worked and I slid off the rock and into the frothy water below. Somehow I had managed to keep ahold of my paddle through all of this so I easily rolled up (to chearing from the crowd) and finished the rapid. I found myself quite tired despite how quickly it all happened I was grateful that the day was almost over.

He had pinned on Dildo rock. A week later someone wrapped a raft over it.

Luckily he was just fine. A little sore but overall okay. The experience definitely shook him some though. Overall though we had a good time and looked forward to returning for Gauley Fest the following week.