russell fork detour to manns

thanks to work being slow,i was abail to join kyle for a three day trip to the russell fork.

on our way south ,we got an invite from john  to join him on Manns  creek.After quick decision making we went  Keeney creek[take out of Manns]to meet up with john.then,On our way to babcock state park,.after scouting  grist mills falls at the put in,we all had great lines over the falls,which was good my confidence,sense my nerves were ramped up,to say the least.This creek is not for the weak of heart.Manns was full of blind drops and boofs everywhere.john did a great job guiding us down,i can't imagine being able to remember all those lines ,we made it to the new river in two and 1/2 hour,to paddle the new in the dark .this may be the best run in West Virgina.

sat. and sun.were spent with great people and whitewater at the Russell fork

 a link to a good video of manns creek

labor day weekend 2011

Jeff Blood getting some action at knife's edge on the Moose

Went up to the Adirondack's to paddle the whitewater release of the Raquette and the Beaver and was fortunate to get a run on the Moose the Friday we arrived .Saterday our group grew from 12 on the moose to 15 for the Raquette,most with good lines.Sunday was more chilled on the moshier section of the Beaver,unless you choose to run the spill way.then a short drive to the eagle section of the Beaver for several laps on the short fun run.When tired from all the laps,alot of us paddled  to our campground just down stream.That evening we ate great around the fire,thanks Dave and others for the food.After a long night of rain,,,me ,Jeff and Karl ,wanted on early start because of the long drive home ahead of us.got some info for the Oswegatchie. and made our way down the run,,on the low side but a fun run to end a great weekend with new and old friends.the next day found out our other friends did the section down stream of were we took out and then headed to the water gap.

 

Merv on the slide part of Colton falls on the Raquette

David Carey making the spill way on the Moshier look easy

rope swing on paddle out of the Eagle section of the Beaver

last drop above the portage on the Oswegatchie,section #3

for more pics of the labor day weekend

red creek

 a nice write up by Dave,about a winter adventure we had in March or April?http://riverleftproductions.com/riverleft/wp/

Seneca creek

after 2 runs on the upper B,we went Davis for pizza,when shorty after we checked the river gauges and noticed Seneca gauge was 3900 and going strait up,,,so we drove to the Seneca creek take out to sleep.

we new we wanted an early start for the 13 miles of whitewater in the wilderness.

As we drove up the mountain to the put in,the temp dropped to 25 % and snow all around.
the day started cold,but the mile hike in kept us warm..the water seemed low as we first put on ,,but luckily

the were side streams feeding in around ever turn.When we got to the rapids ,,it was a nice low level.

                                                            Upper Seneca Falls

                                                                         Knife's Edge

                                                                        drop near the end

                    Lower Seneca Falls.                                             
            
   After Lower Seneca falls there was 4 miles of class 2-3 and about 5 portages because of strainers.
We got off the river at 3:30 with temps. in the 50's,,ended up having a great day on one of the most beautiful creek in WV.
more pics of the creek

Friday  morning  woke up to winter conditions for my kayak trip.

while traveling east ,made some phone calls and ended up meeting some friends for a run on drakes ,then we went for a quick run down the nearby meadow before dark.

next morning,while checking river gauges ,decided to try and catch all the creeks over in the stonycreek watershed .meet at somerset,got on the stony gorge,then roaring fork ,dark shade creek,and topped the day off with 2 laps on paint creek,the best of these creeks.

Sunday i finished my weekend with one of my favorite runs,north fork   of the blackwater to hendricks
at good flow for a great weekend.