CTR: Dries - Saturday, 4/20

[Jim McClure]

Paddlers Brent Samples, Charlie Reddington, Julia Ruthford and myself. Brent said level was 4500-5000 cfs. We're guessing that it was about 7-8 feet at Fayette Station. It was a sunny 55 degrees and a bit windy at times.
This was my first time on The Dries and I did it right cause we ran it twice. It was a great level, I might have scraped one rock all day. The holes were somewhat ugly, but easily avoided. Let's just say I'm glad I wasn't in my Fun. The current however, was just WIERD. Charlie commented that it was like Whitewater Park Eddies. Brent calls it "Funky Water". It pushes and pulls your stern in all directions. We all took turns leading and picking lines down the river. It was mostly incident free with Brent doing 1 combat roll as he got sucked down The Poop Shoot upside down (a slide move in the rapid called Landslide). But in typical Brent fashion he waited to flush out then was back to business. My claim to fame was my first creek boat stern squirt in a hole at the bottom of Mile Long. I wasn't expecting it but I came out right side up. Julia did what she always does (MAKES US GUYS LOOK BAD!), and Charlie just makes everything look easy. So it was a great day to get wet on The Dries. This is a very beautiful stretch of water with an easy shuttle,I give the scenery an "A" .

[Brent Samples]

Great fun and glad we ran it twice! hope to get back on it some evening this week, want to run the poop shoot correctly ;D, thank you all for coming up...

[Julia Ruthford]

Yes indeed it was an awesome day kayaking and two great runs at yet another really fun level for the Dries. Fun rapids that are technical enough to make you pay attention but still mellow enough for spinning and grabbing a mid rapid surf or two along the way. And best of of lots of big water-esc hydraulics and fun boogie water to play with. Thanks much guys for a spectacular day on the water!

[Charlie Redington]

Good stuff!!! Thanks

[Tony Daniel]

gotta love them boil lines on the dries, definately funky!

[Lauren Beyer]

I'm gonna needa get out there on one of these trips... I've just been hesitant as it's the start of the season (I wanna make sure I've gotten my muscles back first!) & it's still kinda chilly. I also have no clue what's out there & before the recent discussions of Wet The Dries making this section become popular, the only thing I've heard is that it's huge with giant holes & scary stuff. But, I guess that's dependent on the levels... which again, I'm unfamiliar with what the different levels mean on this section, so I'm going to need help deciding when is a nice level for me to try it first would be...

[Julia Ruthford]

Lauren Beyer,

I think you would have a lot of fun on the Dries...think NRG or lower Gauley difficulty kind of rapids (in the technical sense...the feel of the river is different than either) with a bit bigger water feel to them and of course the goofy water/randomly boiling eddy lines effects that occasionally very unexpectedly squirts you. Paddling a boat which that happens to on any and all rivers...it seems fairly normal to me though nice for once to have a more legit reason for randomly sinking or ending up upside down. The 4500 to 5000 cfs level we paddled it on Saturday would be a great one to start with...not too huge but still some of the bigger water feel. Holes to dodge and ferries to make and a couple places you have to pay attention to your line but otherwise lots of room/water to play with. 6000 to 7000ish and 11,000 were also lots of fun too...a bit bigger but no monstrous or scary features yet at those levels. Water temps are improving quickly too. On a warm day rather pleasant though with cooler air temps still borderline dry suit/dry top weather. Hope to see you on a river soon!

[Lauren Beyer]

Thanks for the info Julia Ruthford! Since I still don't feel like I've gotten my muscles back enough yet that I would do the NRG or LG quite yet this season, and since I haven't even seen the Dries at all yet, I think I'd like to try it at a level that's easier than the NRG or LG. I'd also like to go with someone who knows the lines, Brent Samples that's you. I will try it at those bigger levels sometime too... but maybe Brent could recommend a fairly easy level range (though still with water - so that it's not creeky or scrapey), that I could try if it comes around. Thanks!

[Brent Samples]

Hey Lauren, i think mid sevens low eights at Fayette Station (roughly 3500-5500 cfs in the Dries) is a good first level. the drops are all easily readable, holes are avoidable, and waves are nice, mile long is spread out and slower and landslide is easily walkable if needed. Given the length of the run It really helps too if you can run it a couple of times back to back to get the feel for the run. i think the hardest part to get used to is the "funky water" between rapids as this is not something we typically don't encounter on summertime NRG and fall LG (however this funky water is good for future trips as the UG is full of it).

[Lauren Beyer]

Thanks guys... I'll keep my eye out for weekend lower-ish Dries runs.