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.

rain day

After along dry summer,,with very few trips to the upper yough and my annual trip down the gauly during fest weekend. A welcomed inch and  a half of rain fell locally.Which interfered with my outside work,to let me play in the rain.meet up with Corey to run Bridalveil falls creek to tinkers ,,then tinkers at good flow ,,then went and played on a wave on the cuyahoga river, then stopped by branywine falls and noticed there was enough water for another run below the falls. all and all ,,about the best day one can have on whitewater in Ohio

the melt of 2010

   My paddling adventure started with a 2 mile bike shuttle in shorts for a solo run down a class 3 micro creek to tinkers creek,then meet up with Jon to run tinker at the perfect level of 1000 cfs,,,,for a warm up day before traveling to WV.
    Friday ran into a group of 8 paddlers looking to boat  roaring creek ,but because of the high level and story's of alot of down tree's ,,we chosen to paddle muddy creek for a warm up,,,,,,we thought?                3 swims,lost paddle,lost hand paddles and messed up hand later,,we were humbled by the creek.
Off for more fun most of us went to sovern run , sense we new there was no wood in the creek.
After looking at the flow at the put in,some wisely said no thanks,5 of us put on,and after surviving 3/4 of the run and finding just my second edy,,i choosed to take out,with one other seconding the decision. the 3 finished and then 2 of them went for another run.  
    

      Saturday started off with upper Laural run to the big Sandy,,a fun high water class 3 with a cool put in.
Then off to friendsville area, were 3 of us ran Glade into Buffalo run,,,,,,Glade started out with a great rapid above pic then continued 2 miles of fun to the confluence,, ,,then 2 more miles on Buffalo run.It was so much fun we had to run it again.  Special thanks to the group before us for clearing wood out,,,,,later that day,i got  an invite to join a group going to high ridge run.

       Sunday morning drive to Canaan .Meet up with 7 other paddlers,,and began to hike 2 miles up hill with kayak,then one more mile,,,,,,,,,,when we got to the micro creek,,the hike was well worth it,,Disney land for kayakers ,to many good drops to count.  2 miles of over 1000 feet of  vertical drop,,,thanks to all that cleared wood and made this run possible ,,after that run i was invited to check out a near by creek rumored to have a clean 30 footer.


for more pics

Russell fork

after boating a descent bit in the spring and summer,kayaking for me tapered off.
only getting out 6 days after august.
3 of them days were my first trip to the Russell fork
first day lucked out and ran into some new friends from Kentucky that showed me the lines.
without release,the river was elf,that was perfect to see the river for the first time.
with low water,you can see all the undercuts and bad spots of the river,so you know were to avoid at release level.one of the high lights of the run was checking out the cave of El Horendo.
on day 2 and 3 got i got 3 runs in with my friends Bob and Willis at release level.
with just over a 5 hour drive,it is my favorite fall release river