Gauley Season

Ahh Gauley Season

As Gauley season winds down, so does the paddling season for alot of people (not us), it would seem important to tell everyone about the Got Boof Crew experiences with this great river this season. The first weekend of Gauley Season, Keith, Rick, Matt, and Jason ran the marathon for the first time (that's all three parts of the Gauley in one day). We put on at 7:30am in the haze and before the sun had risen on the river itself. After running insignificant, I turned around and had one of the most surreal experiences to date on a river. Here we were, sitting in the fog of the Upper Gauley, at the base of a great rapid, ABSOLUTELY ALONE, looking up at this red ball of a sun rise over the sheer rock walls behind us. It was amazing. The rest of the day went without a hitch, and was actually alot easier than we expected the 26 mile journey to be.

For Gauley Fest weekend, we decided double laps on the Upper G were in order for Saturday, mud and all. Of course the trail and parking lot were purely disgusting making for such a turn off to such a great river. We put in our two laps, climbed the hill mud and all twice, and went to the festival to see all the new kayaking gear and drink as much of the Liquidlogic beer as we could, then decided to drive home the next day and skip the muddy adventures.