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Post by Tony Daniel on May 21, 2018 20:09:08 GMT -5
Date: Sat. May 19.2018 River: Buckhannon Alexander to Tenmile Level: 8.0 ft Coordinator: Tony Daniel Participants: Tony Daniel, David and Ruth Bell, Andrew Gillespie, and Don, Dave, and Jeanne (the VA crew) Comments: I picked this river because I knew there were runs upstream we could do if we got a lot of additional rain or we could run the main stem if we didn't. As it turned out we had mostly sunshine and a beautiful spring day. I met the Bells and Andrew at McDonalds and rest of the crew at the put in. A quick look was all it took to determine that we would be boating the main stem (Alexander to Tenmile) rather than the forks which looked too low.
I carried a county map which aided in reducing shuttle time. We were able to get it down to about 35 minutes on the return trip back to the put in. So figure about and hour and ten minutes all together- but do take a county roadmap.
One of the paddlers realized they did not have their pfd after the shuttle was run. That paddler met us at beans mill (the beginning of the class III whitewater) after retrieving their pfd from a takeout vehicle. I wisely got the country road map so that I could find my vehicle in it's new location of beans mill.
The trip is around 9 miles long. The river is very scenic, clean, and the only trash I saw was at access points. We saw some ducks and Andrew spotted a deer. We were enjoying the sunshine, taking our time, and no hurry since one of the group was meeting us 1/2 way down the run (after retrieving the pfd).
The river was a bit scrapy in spots. The class III rapids are challenging because you often can not see the bottom the rapids due to large boulders. This is a river where you need to be able ferry, catch eddies, and brace to be successful. A bit more difficult than the top gauley, cherry or down elk. Wood is always concern on this river so we boat scouted accordingly.
We reviewed river signals before paddling into the first class III of which there are about 5 or 6.
Everyone did great. I think the lower level may have made the run more difficult because it wasn't very padded out. There were a few out of boat experiences but they were short in duration, and folks self rescued back into their ducky or sit on top. Some of these rapids would not be fun to swim from the top.
We said our goodbyes at the takeout. David and Ruth took me back to my vehicle. We made a wrong turn or two, burned some time on a rough road that did take us to the river but not to beans mill. We did some backtracking, but eventually got some good beta from a local and located my vehicle at the intermediary point of our paddling trip.
While descending down Beans Mill Road it got dark and it was raining. A group of seven teenagers was hiking out (one was using a crutch) because their vehicle, a four wheel drive truck, would not start. I waited at the rr crossing near the river in my vehicle while David and Ruth went four-wheeling in their truck to help a couple of teens see if they could get their truck to run. Meanwhile it got darker and rained harder. Eventually David got the teens to accept they could'nt get their truck to run even with jumper cables. The serpentine belt to alternator seemed to be the culprit.
The remaining teens continued to hike out, in the dark and rain with no cell service We picked them up in our two vehicles on our way out of Beans Mill and transported all seven to Weston.
One of kids had a relative who had been admitted to the hospital so we dropped some of the kids off there as well as a residence in Weston.
While hiking out the teens had encountered a pack of coyotes. They described their ordeal during the drive as "a ring of protection" and telling how the got herded back down the road, The ring of protection consisted of the five teen hikers, a sword, a sheef to the sword, a knife, and of course the crutch. They described the white alfa male coyote in detail. Honestly, the teens in my vehicle seemed pretty freaked out. They admitted they knew the truck broke down a lot and a couple of the kids mentioned they would'nt be going to beans mill again.
After we dropped off the teens, the Bells and I hit McDonalds in Weston at 11:00 pm. I had the big mac. So much for my vegan ways. It had been a while since I ate that granola bar for lunch.
Somehow I propped my eyelids up and made it back to Oak Hill at around 2 am. I used Sunday to recover.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Two weeks in a row the river didn't get us, but the shuttle proved eventful (busted oil pan last week on the upper meadow shuttle). My personal triumph was at the take out. I got out unassisted and was able to carry my boat up the bank and to a vehicle. My pride sunk a little bit when I realized I only had one dry shoe but I found the missing culpritt when I got back to my car. I don't wanna get too cocky, despite my new hips.
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Post by Tim Broughton on May 21, 2018 20:29:31 GMT -5
Glad I went last time. Even more happy to have passed on this one. Maybe next time!
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Post by David Bell on May 21, 2018 20:39:13 GMT -5
Tony...their vehicle was actually a two wheel drive SUV. A very old beat up one. I have no idea how they got it down there and absolutely no idea how they were planning on getting it out! It was pouring the rain and everything was mud. They were also using my non waterproof phone as a flashlight. We got their vehicle started but I saw the belt was so loose, nothing was turning. After quite a while of thrashing around (they weren't very mechanically inclined) I convinced them the best I could do was offer them a ride and for them to come back later with a mechanic. I probably could have done more to fix it if it hadn't been the middle of the night, pouring the rain, sitting in a sea of mud, no real tools, no way to jack it up and get the wheel off for better access, etc. We ended up getting home at 2am also. An FYI...Mickie D's new fresh ground beef in their Quarter Pounder actually is noticable better.
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Post by Woody Davis on May 21, 2018 20:55:18 GMT -5
I wanted to catch this one... especially after missing the Bells at Stonycreek . How it goes I guess
Glad you got theBig Mac.. my fav
Very cool coyote ring of protection and kudos for having the patience to help with all that
Awesome trip report
What are you guys thinking Memorial Day weekend ?
Have some shaky LY / Slip plans in place but nothing firm
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Post by Tony Daniel on May 21, 2018 21:23:16 GMT -5
woody, I'll probably be chasing southern wv water- rain predicted this week. Hoping paint creek runs again, summers county wv got hit hard with water, so maybe boating that direction if we don't get more rain during the week. Pocahontus county just ended a flood warning, Currently some flooding on the news in Greenbrier county.
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Post by Don Keller on May 24, 2018 13:01:07 GMT -5
Tony,
Thanks for the trip report and putting the trip together.
From the VA crew (Don, Dave and Joan),
We got semi lost getting out of there and luckily found a spot high up where we got cell data service and downloaded a route out. Probably lost about 15 - 20 minutes compared to just going back to put in and heading back from there. Part of the route were on roads that would more like rock strewn paths.
I got home about 2:30am after dropping Dave and Joan off in Williamsburg around 2am.
Great run and glad we made the drive.
Dave and I each had a swim but no big deal. If you do not swim once in a while, then you are not having enough fun.
Keeping eye on message board for something maybe on Saturday in Class 2-3+ range.
SYOTR.
Don.
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