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Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2015 11:13 pm
by GORDON
I saw Catt tagged in some rafting pics on Facebook....
Our raft flipped over right at the top of the Pillow Rock rapids, and I was helping the ladies get back into the raft and I was the only one who didn't make it... I swam that Class 5 from top to bottom. One of my top-5 "Cheated Death" moments.
At the lodge that evening some random dude asked, "Hey did you hear about the guy who swam Pillow Rock today?"
Edited By GORDON on 1445397237
Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2015 9:11 am
by TheCatt
Did you still tag Pillow Rock with your paddle from the water?
Every time I came to a Class V, I was like "Don't fall in cuz you don't want to swim this crap"
We ran a tiny boat (4 person), which is EXTREME (or something). Of the 4 people, I fell out the least. We took a tiny path on the final Class V where big boats don't fit (and take an easier way out).
5. Sweet’s Falls
The final challenge of the Gauley's Big 5 is a 14-foot waterfall. If you're lined up right, it'll be a thrilling and fun drop. If not… you might be swimming. And after the falls, you have to keep those paddles ready to avoid tipping on the rock at the bottom. Or, you might have to swing left into "the box." Just barely big enough for a raft, you'll have to wiggle your way out of the jokingly named "poop chute," which might hurt your adventurer credibility.
Yeah, we went into "the box," and promptly got stuck on a rock and flipped. One friend ended up in the poop chute. The other people went down the right rapid, I went down the left rapid, popped up and saw no one around.
Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2015 10:02 am
by GORDON
We successfully did Sweet's Falls, and we even paid for the videographer that day.
Our video shows about 4 rafts in a row either flipping on the falls, or getting pasted to Postage Stamp right after. Our video shows us approaching the falls, then some fucking girl sticks her arm in the camera saying OOOO LOOK AT THAT and she perfectly obscures our killer navigation.
Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2015 10:25 am
by TheCatt
GORDON wrote:We successfully did Sweet's Falls, and we even paid for the videographer that day.
Our video shows about 4 rafts in a row either flipping on the falls, or getting pasted to Postage Stamp right after. Our video shows us approaching the falls, then some fucking girl sticks her arm in the camera saying OOOO LOOK AT THAT and she perfectly obscures our killer navigation.
Yeah, if we had stuck right of Postage Due, I bet we would have been fine.
I hope you killed that bitch.
Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2015 12:16 pm
by GORDON
Well, we didn't know until we got home and watched the video.
But I did wish death upon her.
Postage DUE. That sounds correcter. I haven't been there since 97 or 98.
Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2015 12:20 pm
by TheCatt
One thing I noticed was that every time there was multiple ways to get through a section, our guide tended to be an outlier in the path chosen.
Me: Why are all the other boats going the other direction?
Guide: You said you wanted the harder path.
Me: I didn't say that.
Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2015 12:32 pm
by GORDON
Our guide the first day kinda sucked and was the one who flipped us over when he got us stuck to an easily avoidable rock, sending me through the class 5.
Our guide the second day was named "Raven" and he was hilarious.
River guides are an interesting sort of person.
Edited By GORDON on 1445445208
Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2015 12:49 pm
by TheCatt
Our guide was interesting. He had some moonshine he'd made for the bus ride home.
When I fell out, I got pulled into another boat. The guide there had long flowing hair, and I thought looked pretty laid back. Within 5 seconds I realized how wrong I was. He was practically a drill sergeant with his boat.