2009 Top Yough Race

The Second Annual First Official Isaac Ludwig Memorial Top Yough Race was held on Sunday, April 19.
Geoff Calhoun won, (completing his weekend sweep) followed by Matt Fithian, Matt Walker (pictured above), Jay Ditty (c-1) and Evan Garcia (short boat). Full results and multimedia coverage should be available soon at Immersion Research and/or LVM. Evan, in addition to killing it in his Jefe, gets special note because he had never paddled this river before.


The race was from above Swallow Falls to the bottom of Suckhole rapid, which at race flows (323 cfs) is a 10-13 minute race.

Hanging out after the race.



Nori Onishi and Shawn Yingling entering Swallow Falls.


Much thanks to Roger, John, Walter and Matt for administration and timing for the race- it was good fun and much appreciated guys.

I have few more photos at my picasaweb account. If I hear of more, I'll link to them later.

Big Sandy Race

Photo by Katie Buddenberg. Thanks Katie!

Saturday, April 18, a group of usual suspects met at the take out and hashed out the 2009 Big Sandy Race. Jay Ditty was the ringleader, and Willy Witt clocked everyone in at the finish line. I served as start timer, sending racers off at one-minute intervals.
We raced from the put-in bridge at Rockville to the pool below Little Splat, roughly 1.66 miles.
The level was 5.7 ft.
This race was easy to do and fun. We should have more of these all over the place!

Special Thanks to the safety folks at Wonder Falls and Little Splat.

1. Geoff Calhoun	Greenboat	13:52
2. Matt Walker	T-slalom	14:01
3. Brian Menzies	Greenboat	14:10
4. Jay Ditty	Response c-1	14:11
5. Dave Gore	Response	15:09
6. Shawn Yingling	Vortex	15:16
7. Ed Gaker	Nomad	15:17
8. Jake Greenbaum	Nomad	15:26
9. Nori Onishi	Cerro	15:47
10. JB Seay	Burn	15:50
11. Ben Dunham	Nomad	15:55
12. Lila Thomas	Greenboat	16:12
13. Willis Phillips	Phat	16:37

After hanging out and chatting a bit, these four decided to add a 2nd leg: Above Big Splat to below First Island.

1. Geoff Calhoun	Greenboat	16:30
2. Jay Ditty	Response c-1	16:50
3. Brian Menzies	Greenboat	17:10
4. Jake Greenbaum	Nomad	18:26

Winter/Spring Update

Its been pretty quiet and dry so far this spring. Last weekend was the first good stretch in a while. Lots of people got out on the Top and Upper Yough, Big Sandy,and Blackwater. We still haven't had that huge rain event where everything is running high and you start checking the little micro creeks.

I did the entire Blackwater a few weeks back. I like paddling all the way down to the bottom. You get miles more river, and you don't have to hike with your boat. I always say I'm a boater not a hiker. I've been working on documenting some of the more visually impressive rapids in there, and at comparing waterfalls with the historical sketches of Porte Crayon for a future post.


JB Seay making the second move in 'Hundred Yard Dash", paddling from the river right eddy. Photo By Alden Bird,



Alden Bird making the same move, viewed from downstream in "Hundred Yard Dash". This is the put in rapid featured in my previous post


Panorama of "My Nerves Are Shot, I can't Take it Anymore" featuring Jay Ditty, Adam Johnson, Ed Gaker, and Alden Bird, twice each. I was pretty close to the river for the shot, so the upstream and downstream portions of the photo are closer than they appear. Without a crane, this was the best spot i could shoot from. Photoshopping by Adam Johnson. Thanks!



Lindy Point from river level. This is a very popular overlook and day hike near Blackwater Falls State Park.


I also managed to get out on the Big Sandy for a quick run with an old friend, and a new one.

Ben Dunham on Wonder Falls.



Nico Zegre on Wonder Falls.



JB Seay on Big Splat, the top of which seems more cantankerous these days than it used to. Pushes right. Photo by Ben Dunham.

Upper Blackwater Put-in Panorama

When you walk down to paddle the Upper Blackwater, near Davis, West Virginia, this is what greets you as you emerge from the trees onto the riverside boulders. ( Click for a bigger view. )



The standard start for the trip is Hundred Yard Dash, starting dead center, but everything upstream to the base of Blackwater Falls has been run at one point or another. For reference, this photo was taken at about 280 cfs. The river has been run down into the 100's, but many prefer 250-300 as a minimum level.
Maximum is user discretion, but I know of at least one recent run by Justin Venable at 750 on the Davis Gauge. Solo, no less.


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Elsey Run

The snow and ice have relented and we got warm (for February) temps, and on a weekend no less. Saturday night everything shot up, and Sunday offered lots of options. I enjoyed a lazy morning and caught up with a group who had just finished Daugherty Run, in Albright, WV. Five of us got together and headed up the mountain to paddle Elsey Run

Elsey is the steepest run in the Albright area, starting off with just a few minutes of warmup and then getting right into the goods.
Here is Art Barket getting back in the water after portaging around a log.
Note the heavy glaze of ice; we had difficult conditions for scouting and portaging drops. Slippery and cold.
From the first big scout, (which has a log in the entrance) Elsey falls out of the sky for a good half mile. There are 10 huge boulder drops, right on top of one another, with minimal eddies, logs in play, caves, rhododendron everywhere, and tough scouts and safety. You know, awesome. Sitting in bed last night, I realized I still smelled like Hemlock sap from all the scrambling amongst the trees. (*edit: looking at the map, this section falls at about 800fpm for a 1/4 mile)
JB Seay (me) enjoying the boof at the bottom of Acid Drop the first of the big ones. Photo by Art Barket.


Art in the middle of an easy one in the steeps.

For you guys who have run Elsey, the "room drop" is still diverting through the cave, with an uphill paddle to get to the old line. We skipped that one.

Sam Burk hitting up a nice slab of sandstone.


Ben Ledewitz styling the very next drop. JB Seay, Adam Johnson, and Sam Burk on safety. Art Barket behind the lens.


Me in the middle of my favorite drop on the creek. Photo by Art Barket.
This marks the bottom of the Captain Insano section.

Ben Ledewitz finishing er up. Photo by Art Barket.
Below here the creek transitions to high speed mank (description courtesy Ben Dunham) still short on eddies, and lots of logs and Rhododendron, but less stacked up. After a half mile of that, we reached the bedrock section of the creek, with half a dozen 10-25' slides all in a row.


Adam Johnson on a slide in his borrowed kinda old school creekboat. Whee.

As the canyon opens up, there is one last big one on the run, a 70 degree slide with some unfriendly guardian rocks on its right side. Sam and Ben aced that one, but with light fading we had no photo. In the classic video Fallin Down you can observe BJ Johnson and Colby Mackley running this drop with good result.
Below the Big Falls the creek is read and run all the way to the Cheat. It's a good thing, as at least one of the landowners along this section has threatened several times to shoot kayakers floating by for trespassing on his property. For this reason, we park at the Daugherty run take out just downstream on the Cheat and move fast when checking levels or finishing a run.
For more info you can check out my gallery, Art Barket's awesome set of pics and Sam Burk's post on the Team Riot site.


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