Gauley and New Rivers – Friday thru Monday – September 28 – October 1, 2018

[Neil]

Here’s the plan:

Friday, 9/28 drive out to Summersville, WV.
Camp at the Battle Run Campground. They don’t take reservations. It’s First-Come-First-Served but there are usually plenty of camping spaces. Some people will stay in a hotel in Summersville.

Saturday, 9/29, paddle the lower Gauley
Meet at Fran’s Family Restaurant, 607 Main St, Summersville, WV 26651, on Saturday morning at 8am.

Sunday, 9/30, paddle the lower Gauley again because it’s such a great river. We’ll decide Saturday where and when to meet.

Monday, 10/1, paddle the New River, meet at Cathedral Café & Book Store, 34 S Court St, Fayetteville, WV 25840 at 8am. The New River is a shorter run so we can get on the road early enough for the drive home.

Let me know if you have any concerns, editorial comments, or good ideas.

Topic

[Bart Richwine]

I plan to come down for the festivities. I will be camping at Battle Run in the back of my truck.

[Mark O’Handly]

I’m planning to go and probably Kate too.

[Jennifer Brock]

I’m planning to go and share a campsite at Battle Creek with John G.

[Neil]

We have plenty of water for this trip. Maybe a little too much. We ‘ll need to watch how much rain they get today and tomorrow to see the final river levels. Right now AW says:
Upper Gauley – Runnable at 3747 cfs
Middle Gauley – Upper runnable at 4507 cfs
Lower Gauley – Runnable at 5290 cfs
New River Gorge – Upper runnable at 7.1 feet

The weather forecast looks good. According to the National Weather Service:
Friday Night – Partly cloudy, with a low around 54.
Saturday – Mostly sunny, with a high near 69.
Saturday Night – Mostly clear, with a low around 53.
Sunday – Mostly sunny, with a high near 74.
Sunday Night – Partly cloudy, with a low around 57.
Monday – Mostly sunny, with a high near 75.

[Neil]

The rivers are rising!

Upper Gauley – Runnable at 3506 cfs rising at 423 cfs per hour
Middle Gauley – Above Recommended at 5056 cfs rising 634 cfs per hour
Lower Gauley – Upper runnable at 9830 cfs and rising 1718 cfs per hour
New River Gorge – Above Recommended at 9.07 feet

We’ll need to see if there’s anything that we can run on Saturday. Meet at Fran’s for breakfast at 8:00 am.

[Neil]

Gauley and New are going to be too high this weekend.

[Bart Richwine]

I’m OK being “shuttle bunny” for the more experienced paddlers. If need be, I can keep myself occupied while the rest of you paddle.

[Neil]

Lower Gauley has doubled its flow since 8:00 last night to 18,600 cfs. It’s also above recommended. We’ll look for other rivers to run. Most likely class III – IV, read and run with some scouting. They’re likely be debris or strainers due to the heavy rains and high river levels.

[Author]

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