It's September and Gauley Season is here. With all of the local rains we had over the summer, Summersville Lake was full and ready for the big fall release schedule!
If you came out over the summer, the Lower New River had great water levels all summer, the best summer levels in years! Now its time to step it up to next level. The Gauley is waiting for you.
As you plan for when you can come take part in the Gauley celebration, consider what some feel to be the most exciting weekend in the world. The third weekend in October is the date of the 2009 Bridge Day Festival (the 17th).
Every year as Gauley Season approaches, memories of past Gauley trips come to mind. I feel my heart rate pick up a bit and then I realize I am already holding my breath.
But wait, we're not at Insignificant or Lost Paddle Rapid yet. Take a moment and breathe again. We're still on the bus.
The adventure of a Gauley Season river trip begins on the bus ride!
Every Sunday of Gauley Season, ACE sponsors a contest named "Surfing Sunday."
This contest is usually decided per trip on the video made by the videoboaters. The winners are selected and announced after the video of each trip.
Besides the eternal lasting fame and glory of being the winners, the winning boat gets the dubious honor of receiving a Surfing Sunday T-shirt to take home to immortalize the event!
Not just a great trip, not just fame and glory, not just an awesome video, but all that and a T-shirt, too! This is a coveted honor and one that we as guides fight hard and fiercely to win for the people in our boats.
Like the Lower New, there are so many good, fun rapids making this a difficult question. So many good choices, let's see ... paper, rock scissors ... one potato, two potato ... eeny, meany, miny, mo ... nothing's working.
Let's pick out one by analyzing the features of some rapids:
Often when I take group of rafters down the river, the adventurous and curious will ask what it takes to be a raft guide.
Well first, you have to take vow of poverty. You won't get rich by being a raft guide, but you will get to meet people from all over the world (the best part of the job) and take them down some of the best whitewater in the world!
If you budget your time and money wisely, you can make ends meet, make many friends, and have a great time doing it.
Of all the rapids on the Lower New River, I think I love Miller's Folly the best.
As a raft guide, I like to ask my guests which rapid they liked the best several times during their trip and see if it changes throughout the day. Interestingly enough, it is not always the class V rapids people like the most.
You may have heard of the famous West Virginia feud that escalated to bloodshed and years of bad blood between the two families.
In the town of Grandview, outside of Beckley, there is an interesting theater drama that depicts some of the underlying issues of the long-time arguments that may never be settled.
I am speaking, of course, of the fabled feud between Hatfields and McCoys.
Some say it began with an argument over the ownership a pig!
