East '08 update

This is a retro-posted update of a couple of trips out East in '08. A group of us (Dwall, Chuck, Tracy, Amy, Kyle, Will, Duffy and I) met up with Lazer at the Chattooga River in Georgia for some classic Southeastern boating. Amy, Will, and Dwall all did Section 3 together, while the rest of us put in at Bull Sluice and ran Section 4. Section 4 was gorgeous and the Five Falls were sweet! We had a great day and everyone ran laps on the Soc' em Dog boof until we were exhausted and could barely paddle out! Dwall was on his first trip out east, and after running Section 3 and firing up Bull Sluice, he wanted to do something else that was close and fun. We decided on the Ocoee River because the Upper Ocoee was running. We ran into some other AR boaters at the put in (Ryan Center's crew) and then proceeded down the river. Everyone was having a great time and Dwall was loving the Ocoee. He ran Alien Boof, even though he had never boofed before this trip, and did great. In fact, Dwall only screwed up in the olympic section. Not bad at all for his first trip out east. After the upper section, several of us continued down the lower section as well! Enjoy the pics!

Later in the year, I returned to the east to go boating on the Gauley River and the Upper Yough River. Bryan and I met up with Nate, Ernie, Cody, Scott, and others who were already in West (by god) Virginia. We started our trip off right by playboating on the Upper Gauley the first morning. It was my first time on the Upper G and I was loving it! Big waves and holes were everywhere, and more downriver play than I've ever experienced! After lunch, we decided to finish the day by joining a group of AR boaters down the middle section. We had a blast playing it up until it hurt, oh so good! The next day we met up with Tango (a buddy from CO who works on the river) and decided to do something a little different, so we creekboated the Upper G. It was a little pushy at first, but after getting used to it I loved creekboating the Gauley just as much as playboating it. The boof at Sweet's Falls was especially rewarding in a creekboat! We finished the afternoon by joining the other crew on a playboating session down the Lower Gauley. We had a blast surfing it up in five boat hole and diagonal ledges. Wow, I just realized we actually did the entire Gauley River on this trip! How cool is that?

Bryan and I pulled out of the Gauley with the rest of the crew and headed north to Friendsville, Maryland towards the Upper Yough. We found a sweet log shelter in the forest to crash in and enjoyed a fine gas station meal under the stars. The next morning, we rallied to the put in and were so enthusiastic about boating that we out ran the release for a minute or two. After a safety meeting, the water caught up to us and we boofed our way down the UpperYough loving every minute of it! The river was actually really creeky feeling and had tons of cool maze-like boulder drops. This was more my style than the Gauley and therefore, far more fun for me. At times I would land a boof only to begin charging for the next! What a sweet river run! Our crew all went for the hero eddy at National Falls and all got worked a little, except for Scott. I had the single best hole ride of the day and put on a memorable show to say the least! Bryan and I headed home feeling satisfied with our trip East.