It’s almost time again to wpe the dust off your boats, grab your paddle and hit the water. And there’s no better place to do this that in West Virginia at the Gauley River. Every year, when they open up the gates at the dam on the Gauley River, you will see hundreds of tons of water gush out of those gaping tunnels, creating some of the best white water in the world.
The water roars out of these massive pipes with a sound like the end of the world, and rafters and kayakers put in right there and ride the river down it’s several stages. I have only rafted the Gauley once, but it was a great experience. Paddler Magazine seems to share my enthusiasm. This piece on the virtues of the Gauley brought back some fine memories of the days when I was a junior guide and rafting was my life…one wonderful, albeit short summer long ago.