We flew to Pittsburgh, PA to pick up a car from Jamie (Cathy's son) and Crissy (his wife). Since we had never visited West Virginia and had to drive through it to get home, this was the ideal time to do so. And since West Virginia is the home of a lot of white water and we hadn't done our rafting trip this year, what a better place to go rafting then on one of the best rivers in the East. And since it is always better to raft with people you know especially in big water, we asked Zach's sister Julie and her husband Doug if they wanted to go with us. We knew Julie and Doug were somewhat adventurous after their trip to Costa Rica and were pretty confident they would sign up. They did.
Besides rafting we wanted to see the sights of West Virginia. On the way down from Pittsburgh there wasn't much to see until we actually arrived at the New and Gauley Rivers area. We went to Hawks Nest, which has a very nice overlooks of the New River. One of the overlooks was called Lover's Leap and had 257 steps down to reach it, which, of course, we had to walk back up. Then we drove to Gauley Bridge looking for the bridge but finding only that this was the place the Gauley empties into the New River. From there we drove to the New River Bridge. It is the largest arch bridge in the world amid second tallest in the US at 857 feet above the river. Then we took a short hike to see more of the gorge and take some distant pictures of the bridge. That trail took us to some cliffs overlooking the river. We found some nice places to climb and scramble. Then we went on one more six-mile hike to the Kaymoor Coal mine (now abandoned).The hike was along the river and the mine very fascinating. We could still see the old buildings and safety signs. There was stairs going down to the river, 820 to be exact, that Zach just had to go down to see what was at the bottom. Of course, Cathy followed. There was some old mine stuff but the real challenge was the 820 steps back up. Zach ran the whole way, but Cathy was not quite as energetic and it took her a little longer to ascend. We ended up doing about 1200 steps that day.
After that we checked into the hotel and met up with Julie and Doug to discuss the rafting trip the next day.
The Gauley is a very formidable and challenging river and Zach was ready to go. It has over 50 rapids class 3 or above. The rest of us were very relieved to hear the water level wasn't high enough on the Gauley and we would have to do the New. The Lower New, the part we rafted, has 16 rapids class three or higher. It is a much bigger river than the Chattooga or Ocoee (one's we rafted before). Cathy and Julie's biggest concern was staying in the raft. We told the guide that his tip would be bigger if they stayed in the raft. He made sure they did. We never said anything about Zach or Doug staying in the raft and the guide has some surprises for them later.
Although there was some big water and three class 5 rapids we did not find the New as technically challenging as the Chattooga and Ocoee. It was just right for Julie and Doug on their first raft trip. All the rapids were followed by calm water, so it was not intense all the time. We stopped at an 18-foot cliff and Zach was the only one who would jump off. Once he was up and looking down, he was somewhat hesitant to jump and the videographer took some very funny video with Zach and a chicken. At one point our guide told us we were going back on a rapid to surf it. He also whispered to Cathy and Julie to hold on. He took us right up to a rock and touched it several times. Next thing we knew Zach was in the water. After Zach climbed back in the guide turned the raft back to the rock and Doug went in closely followed by Zach. Talk about conspiracy! It was a great trip and we got some great pictures and video, which we're sure everyone will want to see.
The next morning the four of us went for a 6-mile hike by the river. It was scenic and uneventful until we walked past a rattlesnake. Zach and Doug went past without noticing. As Cathy and Julie went by Cathy saw it and couldn't say anything and just started running. When she finally said snake we all walked back to look at it. It was about 5 feet long and was coiled with its head and rattle up. It was a close call.
The rest of the day we went looking for West Virginia sights. We went to the John Henry statue, Big Bend Tunnel, Tamarack (the best of West Virginia's arts, crafts, artists, and food), historic Bluefield and Bramwell, and Pinnacle Rock. All of these were disappointing. We decided people should go to West Virginia for the rafting, hiking, skiing, and etc, but not to sightsee.
We'll go back for the Gauley.
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