student comments
Student letter
Lower Yough trip report
Reflections of a Dickerson newbie
" To everyone ....
I wanted to express my appreciation and thanks to everyone ... for all you've done for—and to—me this year. <grin> While I can't enumerate everything, here are a few moments that illustrate your efforts.
I was about ready to quit on kayaking when Tom took me out for a individual session because of a glitch in the May PLP schedule. That session gave me just enough of a clue to see some hope—and keep paddling! Andre, the River Zen Master, has seemed to appear at every important juncture in my progress, starting with the PLP and most recently at Dickerson. And, like me, he's a soccer guy—what could be better?! Sarah has generously shared her experience with a cool intelligence. I hope to tap that knowledge deeply in pursuit of my racing goals. Joe is a great teacher and a great spirit. Who says there are no such things as river elves? <grin> Eric and Jessica spent some much appreciated quality time with me on my first river run down the Cheat Narrows. Is Emily back home from school yet? She's one of my favorite ... people. As is Susan, whom I harass weekly with my confusing e-mail messages!
And there are others whose names elude me now. You all share a passion for paddling, but you have an equal passion for people. In Calleva, you have coupled that with a professionalism that has been purposefully built and nutured. I don't know how successful a business it is, but I know it is a great community with which to interact.
In short, ... has helped me discover an exciting new interest in my life, one that I believe will enrich me for years to come. I am grateful...thank you!
John Munnell
Lower Yough trip report
It was a dark and stormy night...no, wait—that's a different tale. But, it was a gray, damp morning as intermittent showers fell around the sleepy crossroads of Ohiopyle, PA. Having dropped my wife off at the Nemacolin spa, which was my bribe to her for a weekend trip to the Yough (we had visited Fallingwater and Kentuck Knob the day before and would be staying the night after I got off the river), I was now killing time by driving around the countryside as I waited this day's paddling partners. This was a "first-timer" trip to the Lower Yough for Gary Will, Mike Johnson, Sam Kane and myself. It was very late in the season for such a trip, but recent rains had pushed the water to decent levels and "newbie" enthusiasm had pushed each of us to lobby for this adventure. I don't think any of us went home disappointed.
There were three or four other small parties trying to squeeze in another day on the river, too...including a number of familiar faces from the DC Metro area. However, after stories of the wall-to-wall watercraft that are common on the Yough during the summer, a little company was no problem. Andre and Brad, "ace photographer" and our other shepherd for today's trip, began to set the stage for the journey. We checked the gauge at river's edge—2.4—a level that seemed challenging, but ultimately seemed pretty friendly by the time I got to the day's end. Rain began to pelt us as we turned toward Entrance Rapids and Andre commented on how it always rains on him at the Yough. We worked out some jitters through the first waves and gathered up to talk about Cucumber. But as we did, the heavens opened, the sun shone down, and a rainbow arose right out of the drop! It seemed a happy omen, though it did ruin Andre's chance for yet another rainy day on the Yough. Cucumber may be the largest drop on the trip, but it is essentially invisible from upstream. A rock in the current on river left, fortunately visible at this level, represented the only marker to help us set our line. The good news is that the line is relatively straightforward. Brad went first to show us the way—and prepare to take pictures below. And pictures were an important part of this trip.
There are two things you must know about young Sam Kane. First, he is a creature from a parallel universe, apparently one with river water for atmosphere. He split his time on this trip above and below the water, totally comfortable in both. While others worried about cold water and a long day in the boat, Sam flipped, squirted, and cartwheeled his way down the entire river. If there was a hole anywhere on that river that Sam didn't challenge, I didn't see it. He was fearless...and successful! But the
second thing you should know is that Sam loves having his picture taken. And for this trip, he brought a prop—a mask of the character from the Scream movies! So seeing Brad below Cucumber, camera at the ready, was irresistible to Sam. On went the mask and off went Sam...through Cucumber and into photographic history.
In fact, it seems that ignorance is bliss, as we all scooted through Cucumber without incident. I don't think I was the only one who looked back with some surprise and a little pride from below the drop. Andre then told us that if we could manage Cucumber, the rest of the river was well within our talents. Perhaps that's a stretch, but it bolstered our confidence for the rest of the day!
As an example, Gary Will is a remarkable story. I ran into Gary at Lock 6 about 5 weeks before this trip. He had a stroke class as part of his beginner PLP later that evening. He lives a long ways off, so he thought that he would just put in a few hours on the water BEFORE the stroke class as a way to pass the time—a dedicated guy. Three weeks ago, I was on a trip down the Shenandoah with him. He was trying out a new boat, his first time in a playboat. He was amazing that day, struggling with this new equipment, but making a successful day for himself. Now he was out for his first trip on the Yough, again with the same playboat, and making it look as if he was totally in control. From Day 1 in a kayak to the Lower Yough in 8-10 weeks? He must have made a deal with the devil!
Just as impressive was simple power of Mike Johnson. Mike and his daughter were on my first river trip, which was down the Cheat Narrows. The water was pretty high that afternoon back in May—and Mike had one of those tough days. He swam a lot of that river and wasn't a bit happy about it. But as we went down the Yough this Sunday, Mike shared his experiences with a lot of big water (The Gauley!?!) over the past few months. He was a warrior, slicing through waves and punching through holes with aggressive style. I think this is a wildwater racer waiting to be set loose!
We traveled on through the many little rapids that punctuate the river. From the books I've read, many of them have names. But they are so frequent that Andre just began to refer to them as "Little Rapid # 37", "Little Rapid # 38" and so forth. My personal favorite of the day may have been Railroad, a twisty little drop that gently challenged your ability to make quick turns in the current. I was sorry it wasn't longer. Andre apparently thought we were doing pretty well, as he began to challenge us to try more moves and catch more eddies in some of the drops, playing follow-the-leader with him through some of the features. We all did remarkably well.
To be fair, the day was not without incident. Remember the photogenic Sam? He was our first swimmer...and on flat water! While tricking for the camera, he ended up on his side, just below the surface. We all expected him to explode back up, but were surprised when the boat rolled bottom-up and Sam's head appeared beside it. As best we can figure, he just fell out of the boat! Sam swam to a little rock in the middle of the river, Andre emptied the boat for him, and we left him to balance there on top of the rock as he squeezed back in. Is there a lesson here? Maybe it's that nobody ever expects to swim—and everybody does at one time or another. In fairness to Sam, he won back big points later in the day as he "accidentally" fell into the first hole at Double Hydraulic. From above the drop, we watched as Sam took the line we didn't want. But to our delight, one paddle blade rose above the drop like a flag as Sam asserted his claim by surfing the hole!
I was the only other swimmer on this trip. As we scouted River's End, perhaps the second to last rapid on the trip, Andre noted the eddy behind the first big rock. "Stay left, prep the turn early, and surf the standing wave into the eddy, if you drop too low" were our instructions. Gary and Sam made the eddy. I think Mike blasted the wave and conquered the rest of the drop, as usual. But I was a little right, a little late and a lousy surfer. I flipped in the wave and began a bumpy descent down the middle. It took me a moment to get set-up for a roll, as I always seem to end up over my back deck when I flip. It was shallow and I bumped a lot of rocks; I knew a pop in the nose could not be long in coming. Luckily, that never happened, but my roll attempts failed—I kept hitting things and couldn't seem to get any power in my efforts. I opted for the swim and popped up to find Andre beside me.
With a quick reminder to keep my feet up, off we went to the bottom of the rapid. There are a couple of lessons I took from this swim. First, a "reliable" roll is not reliable until tested repeatedly in heavy water...and even then, many things can prevent a successful roll. But I'm only embarrassed about one thing. I was in the company of some really good paddlers, so why didn't I look for the bow rescue? I hung out under water for quite a ways down that rapid—certainly there was plenty of time to signal for the assistance. I was later told that this is a common error of those progressing through the intermediate stages. We learn to be self-reliant...but forget to ask for help when we need it. I hope I remember next time.
It was only at the bottom that someone noticed I had a broken paddle in my hand! Even now, I have no idea when that happened. Fortunately, it turned out that Brad was an expert C1 paddler. As I had spent exactly four and half minutes practicing for the possibility of using a broken paddle one day, he swapped with me and went merrily off down the river. He stopped on shore briefly to find a branch to jam into the broken shaft to use as a handle—amazing! Even with this seeming handicap, Brad was still able to show Sam a few tricks as we made our way through the last bit of the river.
One last challenge through the big waves at Brunner's and we were done for the day. Because we were out of season, the cars were parked just a short walk up the hill. (Normally, a shuttle bus takes boaters to an upper parking lot.) Happy paddlers stripped off and prepared for the 3-4 hour drive home. Andre and Brad had done a great job of guiding us down. The "first-timers" had passed this test on the Lower Yough. And in the process, we had spent a wonderful day in a beautiful place. I can't wait to see the pictures!
J. Munnell
reflections of
a dickerson newbie
We were lowered down wooden steps close to the bottom of the course.
The entry looked scary even with Tom walking each of us (in our kayaks) down
the steps to the water, but it wasn't as bad as it looked.
It has taken me four years to get to Dickerson. But it took one member of our student group only 5 months (since her May PLP) to get there. I guess there is something to be said for lessons (and athletic talent).
Did you know that all put-ins to the course are seal entries of some kind? Even the eddies are somewhat turbulent and many have a very strong upstream flow so you can't just sit and rest. Tom warned us in the beginning that we should always include the possibility of swimming as part of the plan.
Three of us had never even seen the Dickerson course and were feeling pretty intimidated. It was a good time, though, to start paddling the course. With only 2 of 3 pumps running, the flow is lower and therefore slower than normal. At the outflow, with the river level high, the last drop is small.
After playing in some of the more gentle rapids and eddies near the end of
the course, and practicing our combat rolls, we carried our kayaks back up to
the next higher put-in. We played in the eddies, ferrying, peeling out and S-turning
into next eddy and then either paddling back up or continuing down the course
to the next good
practice spot. Eventually, each of us was pushed off our intentions by the force
of the current.
One student flipped in a hole, rolled and flipped again. When he tried rolling, the force of the water grabbed his paddle and it was gone. (The first time that happens, it is really shocking.) Tom gave him a bow rescue, handed him his paddle, and finished the course without a paddle. I was practicing eddy hopping, more or less successfully, until I too was blown off by the current. At that point I had to scramble to get enough speed to punch through the next hole. Didn't quite have enough speed, and my tail was dragged back into the hole, until I paddled hard, harder and my very hardest! I was surfed along the hole to the side before I could get out.
The next run, two of our group elected to go from the top and the rest of us from the same middle put-in as the second run. Near the end, one person flipped, rolled, flipped, tried to roll again and swam. Another flipped (in the same place) and rolled successfully on the third try. (And, just so you know, that sticky hole didn't keep either one after they flipped.)
What did I learn from this experience? Besides something called spinning down the eddy to re-position myself for a peel out, I was reminded of something very important. It doesn't matter how scared I am. I have to paddle with confidence. A tight, collapsed body and tight little movements work against me when I am dealing with pushier and more turbulent water. I don't mean I always have to more aggressive—sometimes a gentle peel out works well—but I have to be relaxed and get myself out there through the eddy line into the current at the appropriate speed and edge angle for the push of the water. With Dickerson at the edge of my envelope of skill and experience, it was the moving with confidence that helped me paddle the course.
Susan Applegate