Gauley Rafting

[pa mt man]

My friend just booked a rafting trip for my wife and I for sept the 16 on the gauley river in WV. When he asked me if I wanted to go I asked him if there was an age limit. He said just 18 or older. I said the other end and he said no.
I have never whitewater rafted before and my wife did it when she was in college over thirty years ago. He did the Gauley a while back and said its something to see when they let the water out. I just went to a few sites and it looks pretty intense. If my wife see's the pictures on those sites I know she will not go. My wife can't swim.
Have any of you guy's done the Gauley or ones like it?

 

[Elkgunner]

You planning on the Upper or the Lower Gualey? I think the Upper is more challenging from what I have heard. I have had buddies who would guide on the Gualey during the release in the fall and talk about a circus it is with all the rafters/kayakers hitting those magical few days when they release water.

I have done a lot of Class IV and V in rafts, and I would be hesitant to take a non-swimmer in Class V, and a lot of Class IV I will actually make kids and wimps walk around them if it is feasible. I have always wondered if Eastern Class V is like our Western Class V, as we usually don't outfit and run commercial trips on Class V in Idaho.

I would find out who he booked it with, and give the Outfitter a call and talk to him about your questions. Most guys in the Rafting Outfitting business are pretty cool guys and will be honest with you (unlike other Outfitting areas), as the Rafters don't want a mis-hap that ruins anybody's day. Call the guy, ask which trip, tell them your physical conditions, your swimming ability, and ask if the trip is right for you.

Here is a picture of a Class IV rapid that was probably running at an unique level that makes this rapid Class V. As you can see, the cataraft is flipping.

 

[TheTone]

Gunner, wheres that picture from? I'm assuming Idaho, just wondering the river.

 

[pa mt man]

Thanks Gunner. It is the upper on the second release date. I called and talked to the guide and he said that the my wife would be alright. He said the "you will not be doing any swimming in the current, it will take you where it wants to". I also told him we have never done any real whitewater rafting before. He said "no problem". We went on and disscussed wet suits,life jackets,helmets and it sounded great.
When I was about to hang up he asked "your doing the lower Gauley right".
When I told him we were doing the upper there was silence and then he said "you'll be alright".

What I'm going to do is plan a trip somewhere this summer and see how we like it. If we don't like it there are friends who want to take our place.

 

[Kyhunter42]

Gualey

I have rafted both the Upper and the Lower Gualey. I believe the Upper was a little more challenging, but it is nothing to worry about. Most of it depends on your guide. The guide controls the ride, all you do is paddle. Each guide is different. Some will play it safe, while other will take it to the extreme. Each trip down the river is a little different, depending on what each guide thinks the group can handle.

The water is cold, but it isn’t that bad. The worst part was the morning. We had to put on a cold wet wetsuit. The morning temperature was around 35 degrees. Once we got on the river everything was great.

Who are you going with?

Here are a couple of our pictures.

 

[pa mt man]

We are going with Rivers resort. The cabin for two nites, the rafting trip and breakfast lunch and drinks on saturday costs 305.00 a couple. Do you know a better deal cause there are quite a few other couples that want to go?

 

[Kyhunter42]

We also went with Rivers. It was a good time. We stayed 2 nights and it was $180 per person for 2 nights lodging and 2 days rafting (that was October 2004). We did the Upper Gualey the first day and the Lower Gualey the second day. They send a guy down the river in a Kayak to video the trip. We you get back to camp the splice together a DVD with a couple of songs on it. It’s pretty cool. We bought a copy. They say the files are encrypted and can’t be copied, but that is not so. We bought one copy and copied it for the group. Their place is about 45 minutes from the river.

We had a really good guide the first day, a guy named Matt, and a stick in the mud for the second day. On the first day our group consisted of us (6 firefighters) and a married couple. The woman in the married couple was scared of water and they both were offended by profanity and off color humor. Like I mentioned in the first post, the guide can make the trip as extreme as you want it. We wanted to go BIG!!! We wanted to hit the rapids hard and take some chances. We didn’t care if we got wet or flipped the boat. That was part of the fun. However we were limited as to what we could do. We actually had to take the raft to shore so the woman could collect herself. She actually broke down and started crying hysterically.

The second day was a little different. We requested the same guide, but he got assigned to a different raft. After complaining to the office they put us in a boat for 6 people. We thought that was going to be fun. Seeing that all 6 of us were firefighters and swift water rescue technician, we were placed in the lead boat. The function of the lead raft is make it through the rapids as safe and as fast as possible. Once the lead raft is through the rapids we had to paddle up stream and set up a safety zone in case any of the other rafts flipped. This meant we had to twice as much paddling as the other groups. On top of that our guide refused to take any chances and would not even attempt to GO BIG.

I suppose that could happen with any company. It just depends on who your guide is. Usually the guides move around and work for different companies, so it is all the same.