Last weekend I headed down to the USA for another paddling roadtrip with Ryan and Wil from North Bay. We were going down for the North Branch of the Potomac River festival in West Virginia. The boys picked me up at my place late thursday afternoon with the N.O.P.E van nd boat trailer.
After a couple stops for food and gas we made it just outside of Pittsburgh for the night at 02:30 AM on friday. The boys grabbed a room while I slept in the van. We would soon be on the road again after hooking up with Leah and Wayne who were also staying at the same hotel.
We met up with our USA counterparts plus a couple more Canadians in Ohiopyle at the Lower Yough putin. Everyone geared up and hit the water. It was great to finally be able to not have to wear a drysuit for a change as the weather was great, water a hell of a lot warmer than back home, and no bugs.
After a quick run down the loop section we headed over to PS Composites near Friendsville, MD for a tour before heading off to run the 8km section of the Cheat River Narrows section. The weather was great and still holding for a beautiful day on the river. I managed to have an excellent front, back, and side surf in a small hole just below where the squirt boaters were playing.
After dinner at some pizza hut we headed off to what was supposedly a 30 minute drive to the campground but turned into almost an hour. You just cant make a 1983 Chevy van towing a boat trailer go that fast on the steep up and down curves in the hills of WV.
We arrived at the campground just in time to avoid being locked out. Soon tents were up and drinks were semi-flowing around the campfire.
Saturday would be a early day. We heading into Westernport for breakfast before heading off to the putin for the NBP. The skies were overcast and rain was in the forecast but we did not care as we were only going to get wet anyway. The three of us headed down river from the main group as we did not want to slow anyone down for any reason. We managed to hookup with another group of PA boaters.
One of the boaters recognized me and sad "Are you the Canadian". I replied "yes one of them". He then said "Are you the one in the Phil's hole video on youtube". I replied "yep that be me". After introductions were made ... I had an amazing surf time in the small hole at the normal lunch spot. The highlight of this group was a guy paddling that was 83 years old. He took up kayaking when he was 75ish.
We had a great day running the river with this group. It turns out they are planning a Lower Yough weekend in the summer during one of my planned trips. Looks like we will be hooking up and paddling together.
Soon it was time for dinner followed by a campfire and drinks.
Sunday came way too early. The plan was to pull the pin early and head over to the ASCI white water park in McHenry, MD for the day before making the trip back home. We got there and the water was not running yet. Ryan and Will checked out the park to see what would be lurking under the water later on once they turned the pumps on.
At first they only had two pumps on. I ran the first drop and was re-circualate around the big eddy a few times before I was able to get out of it and head down river. The boys decided they were just going to play on the back half of the park. I had never really thought about putting my battery in for my pumps until I was full of water as I had not had it in for the other paddling we had already done.
After I finished my first run. I wend back to the car to get my battery. Sometime during this time they cranked on another pump. The water was just a rocking which now made it even more difficult but fun to navigate the river. I did have a two out of boat experiences when some of my fellow heckler paddler friends showed up just to see what was going on but not paddle.
After a few more succesful runs it was time to leave as we had a long drive ahead of us. We left the park at 4:30 and got to my place at 2:30 monday morning. The boys headed back to North Bay after sleeping in for a bit.
Yes it was a long drive but we had lots of fun paddling in four different places.
