This June proved to be a pretty epic month in WV. I remember paddling once for 6 days straight on epic whitewater, ranging from Deckers Creek (650cfs!), the Big Sandy, North Fork of the Blackwater, Arden Section of the Tygart wave (high water), and Red Creek–all in a row!
Please enjoy these photos:
Don Smith in the middle of the meat, NF Blackwater, Thomas, WV
Don Smith running Rainbow Room, NF Blackwater. A siv lies directly below his right paddle blade.
Hiking out of the Blackwater (for both NF & Upper runs). Feel the heat!
Putting into the NF of the Blackwater you see this spectacular waterfall, Douglass Falls. Its a 40’er that has been run maybe 5-6 times due to the rock in the landing…
Tyler Huock (sp?) runs Wonder Falls, Big Sandy River, WV.
Wait, how did this get here? Adam Johnson trad climbing the final pitch of the day at Seneca Rocks, 300′ up.
JB Seay runs Eyes, Deckers Creek, WV
These two shots (above and below) are from Deckers Creek, which is just outside of Morgantown, WV. This is the Pioneer rocks section which is solid Class V-V+ boulder garden drops with more bad siv’s than you could even imagine. In a few words: Hard. Dangerous. Steep. Sick.
Above, JB Seay is running a rapid called Eyes, named due to the rock on the right side of the photo because if you run it wrong, your eyes meet the rock. Oh yeah, a siv is barely visible on the right side of the photo as well…
Oliver Grossman runs End of the World, Deckers Creek, WV.
End of the World is probably my favorite rapid in WV right now. It has two lines. Center and Left. Above, Oliver runs the center line, ending the mess with a boof into the mess pictured. The left line has got to be the most in-your-face rapids I have ever run. Drop after drop, boof after boof. Metaphorically speaking, if you put your hand up about 2 feet in front of your face, this is the realm where most rapids lay. End of the World happens to lay about 2 inches from your nose–intense and fast!
JB Seay ferrying between two eddies on Deckers Creek, WV.
I think one of the main things that sets Deckers apart from most creeks is its super-unique moves. One rapid involves boofing to the right on a right stroke (Brow), and the next involves catching moving eddies between some of WV’s hardest rapids (the Trio, Eyes, Teeth, End of the World). Sick! To see more on this creek, visit American Whitewater.
The level of Deckers in the photo’s was about 400cfs on the guage. The day before Jay Ditty, JB Seay, and I caught it at about 650cfs in the afternoon–ceartainly a mediumly-high level. Eyes and Teeth pretty much turned into one rapid. There was a breaking wave in the crux of Teeth that you had to bust over to get through the two undercut rocks. Additionally, End of the World was simply incredible.
That is it for now. The east coaster’s are waiting for rain by running the Russel Fork and Gauley. Until next time,
-Adam Johnson
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