On Fri, Mar 02, 2001 at 08:39:21AM -0500, Rick Sylvia wrote: > I'm interested in taking a rafting trip in West Virginia this year. I > understand there are a number of good ones on the New or Gauley Rivers, and > West Virginia is only about a 4 hour drive (to the border, anyway) from me. > Finding outfitters who sponsor trips is easy, but having never done this > before (anything on white water), can anyone provide any words of wisdom, > suggestions, "do's and don'ts", and so forth? I got my first taste of whitewater on a raft trip in West Virginia about 20 years ago. I've been going back every summer since. The group that I go with has used Mountain River Tours, 1-800-822-1FUN, http://www.raftingwv.com/ as our outfitter, year after year. Not only have we done the New with them, but some of the group have done the Gauley (Lower and Upper) as well as the Breaks of the Russell Fork. Those of you who know about the Russell Fork will get that taking a guided raft trip there is really pretty much putting your life in the guide's hands. Anyway, MRT has been extremely good to us over the years; I've had several opportunities to see them deal with out-of-the-ordinary situations, including an evac (broken ankle thanks to one of the rocks in Dudley's Dip) and they're been tremendous. If you call them, ask for Tressa and tell them that Rich from the GSPs said that she should take care of you. I'd recommend trying out the New as a first trip. It's somewhere easier, and considerably warmer, than the Gauley. If you like it, consider the Lower Gauley, which is around the same difficulty level, albeit more technical but with less water. If you *really* like it, consider Upper Gauley, which is steep, fast, technical, and tough. (I would advise against making it your first trip.) If you like *that*, then consider the Upper Yough -- which I'm not sure that MRT runs trips on these days, but I know that Precision Rafting in Friendsville, MD does. ---Rsk ---Rsk *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Fri Mar 02 2001 - 08:32:34 PST
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