GAULEY MARATHON :)

Well it was only 23 miles of the Gauley River... 23 awesome miles!! Ranked #2 in the US and #7 in the world, The Gauley River offers amazing white water!! My heart still beats fast when I remember the wipe out at SWEETS FALLS :)

After so much fun rafting I almost forgot all the fun we had camping the night before. I have only camped twice in the past... oh... prob 8 years.. since HS. Anyways.. both those times were 'interesting' experiences. So now I have a fun camping experience to remember! Of course we had way too much food. Brats, Speides (sp?), Gourmet Hamburgers, Grilled Asaragus, Pasta Salad, Potato Salad, Smores... mmmm :) Fun times hanging out with the gang. Lots of laughter :) Can't forget to say C showed up with his station wagon already full.. with just his stuff! I braved the chance of ending up in KY and rode with C :) Only one U-turn.. and we knew right a way we'd missed the turn... not 75 miles later :) (sorry C... I won't forget about it)

So rafting.... on the bus ride to the drop off point... the safety talk does a good job of getting you scared. Then you hit the river..and boom first rapid of the day. Then you remember... it's not that scary ;) JUST ADRENALINE PUMPING FUN!!! The white water is amazing... dropping into holes that make the raft disappear then back up. Roller Coaster waves that are 15 feet high. The excitement of making it through the rapid still in the raft! Watching the video is great, but doesn't come close to capturing your feelings going down the river. Water is so powerful and out of control sometimes :) Just amazing :) R has a great play by play of the wipe out at Sweets Falls on his blog, plus some trip pics. Pillow Rock and Sweets Falls I think win as my favorite rapids of the day.

What I remember of SWEETS FALLS. Coming into the 14 foot drop.. you can see what's ahead. I remember the box on the left from last time. Two rocks that are just wide enough for a raft to fit thru then a sharp turn right back into the river. It's like the water makes a tight L. And I remember every raft that tried going through there flipped! So we're coming in on the left side of the rapid. Instead of straightening out to go over we turn sideways. Rafts don't go over 14 foot drops sideways :) I don't really remember much. Just being underwater... popping up. Knowing dildo rock is straight ahead.. and I don't want to go through the box so I need to swim hard right.. only I'm going left.. left.. left. Yes I admit there was almost panic. Then I saw our raft at the mouth of the box... ok all I need to do is grab that handle.. but it's so far away.... I still don't know how I got there. Guess the flow of the river was in my favor. So I grab the handle and Robert (he had just finished pulling Rex in) grabs my life vest. But the river is working against him pulling me downstream. Rex gets his bearings and comes to help out. Abby grabs my paddle which is just in way of them pulling me in.. still not sure why I didn't just let it go down the river. They get me in the boat.. and my adrenaline is pumping... fright changes to "that was soooo awesome!". So.... since we have the 'bus', a larger raft then everyone else since we wanted to stay together, we can't fit through the box... we have to fight our way across dildo and go down the main rapid of the river. So minus one paddle 4 of the 5 of us now in the raft start paddling. We are making our way... as we are perpendicular to dildo rock we go highside. Meaning the raft is not on the water anymore but up against the rock. Of course I am on the opposite side of the raft so I try to jump across.. but really I'm more like standing up and can't find anything to hold onto... I scream "I'm going swimming again" and almost give up. Somehow I stayed in the raft.. we flattened out and made it down the rapid.. again "that was soooo awesome!".

Next summer. Upper Gauley in a Ducky. Single Person Inflatable Kayak :) Bring It :)