Upper Gauley

When someone tells me after a river trip in which they held on in every rapid and looked scared to death at every big drop that this was the trip of a lifetime I know that what they really mean is "I'll never make that mistake again." I took my Pastor, Delbert Walker and his son-in-law Aaron, Aaron's Dad Steve and our visiting Evangelist Randy McPheron down the Upper Gauley River in the pouring rain on Saturday September 26 and we had a very good trip, no one swam and we never had a bit of trouble, until that is when we arrived at where I had left my truck. Always in the past the point of security for stopping people from parking at Mason's Branch, a take out close to Sweet's Falls was a gate that was either locked or guarded. Well we've been able to get down there many, many times by catching the gate unlocked or getting the combination for the lock from one of the bus drivers. Well I out smarted myself. The National Park changed their policy and they now leave the gate wide open and simply tow away any vehicles that are parked illegally at Mason's Branch. Of course I didn't find this out until we had arrived expecting our river trip to be over and finding out that my truck was somewhere else, thanks to J and J Towing, oh those guys don't have a real good sense of humor either. If you are interested it cost me three pictures of U.S. Grant, a picture of Alexander Hamilton and a picture of Abe Lincoln to get my truck back. Anyway, praise God that Alpine was on the river right behind us and we bummed a ride back to the Dam for us and to Appalachian Bible College for my boat. Our adventure didn't end there. On the way out on the Alpine Bus a bus for Class IV ran off the road and we had to sit for an hour and 1/2 waiting, buses blocked in both directions, people couldn't get off the river from their Upper Gauley trip and people couldn't get to the river for their Lower Gauley trip. It was a crucial time for the Lower Gauley people also, they were going to run out of water as they turn the dam down early in the afternoon. I knew the bus driver, he used to drive for me in Fayette County Schools, he didn't look very happy standing there next to his bus. He'll catch flak over that for a long time.
There was some sad news for those of us in the River Community yesterday.
A 32 year old man from Kentucky was on a trip with the company that I work for ACE whitewater and his raft flipped in Pillow Rock, the rapid where they take everyone's picture. When they got the boat turned back over and all the guests back in the raft he started having trouble breathing and went into cardiac arrest, although they did CPR, brought in an AED and sent him by helicopter to a local hospital he died of the heart attack brought on by his swim. A grim reminder to all of us about the dangers in this sport and the need for safety. Hug your loved ones, keep your heart and mind clear - you never know which swim could be your last.
Not much to say after that. I've had a good river year, I'll end up with between 45 - 50 trips on the New and Gauley Rivers this year.
I've gotten out of the habit of writing and will try to do better.
The new job, start of a school year, the river and the garden have all kept me pretty busy.