Whitewater Freestyle

For some strange reason, this winter in WV we had about two weeks in February that were not just tolerable, but even warm (::gasp::). We used these days, combined with the rain the few days before, to get some high water snowmelt kayaking done on tha’ goods.

First up in the line was Elsey Run near Albright, WV–a micro creek that drains into the Cheat just above the Canyon. All I can say is that it is steep as $^#! and tight. Eddies are few and rhodedendron is everywhere. Coming off of my Chile trip (see below posts), I was used to boating vertical pool-drop stuff. This was not that. For the update, check out JB Seay’s Creek WV blog via the link above.

 

Next up in the lineup was Bull Run. …you know the saying, “Mess with the bull, and you get the horns!” Bull Run is a great steep creek that runs when Deckers Creek is too high. It has the character of a vertical, cleanish, semi-north-fork-of-the-blackwater creek. One of the most notable rapids is called the Matador.

The Matador is a three to four stage rapid. 1) Boof a 3 footer onto a 15′ slide. 2) Catch the eddy in between the burl (optional). 3) Peel out, boof the 6′ ledge onto the slide and duck under the undercut on the left, at the same time driving left. 4) Roll off of the left side of the Matador proper, a 25′ drop into a deep pool.

In the photos here, you can only see the final stage of the drop. Upstream are the two other slides.
VIDEO: Visit American Whitewater to see a video of Bobby Miller running the drop from the top.