Crazy day on the River

slevin_kelevra

slevin_kelevra

Member


Sorry for the long post, worth

reading.

I am going to try and explain

this day as best as possible.

One of my friends and I decided

to go kayaking on the Upper Gauley River in West Virginia on Sunday. The run is about 9-10 miles long with 5 class

V rapids and a couple class IVs. We are

both experienced kayakers that have been paddling a lot over the past 6 years. I was in a small play boat and my friend was

in a creek boat. We ended up meeting up

with 6 of his friends from his college who brought up their own raft about the

same time we were putting on.

It was a partly cloudy day and

the water temperature was comfortable. The first 2 of the big 5 went really

well. After the second one I had come

down following my friend. We both had run perfect lines and were feeling pretty

good. As soon as I get past this rapid I

see rafts lined all along the river to the right with some park rangers. They start screaming at me to get down

river. I had no idea what was going on,

so I continue down river. I paddle down

a little further and meet up with our friends on the raft. They had given a paramedic a ride over to the

shore to help someone who was receiving CPR.

We sit t there for a little watching up river as paramedics are pumping

his chest trying to revive him. Within 5

minutes a helicopter circles in(which is why everyone was screaming at me to

get down river) and lands very carefully on a rock in the middle of the

river. This was all cool to watch him

precisely maneuver down as mist from the water began coming up around him. I

learned today his raft had flipped and when pulled from the water he had

cardiac arrest. +vibes to him and his

family.

Next we paddle through some small

rapids til we get to biggest rapid on the river, lost paddle. It’s the most technical and longest rapid on

the river. I haven’t swum, wet-exited, for 2 years.

There was a lot of rain the night before and combined with the dam

release this rapid was pumping. I made

it through about 9/10 of the rapid and wound up in a huge hole right at the

bottom. A hole is an area in the river

where water recirculates, similar to a hydraulic. I got flipped several times

able to roll up every time and side surf for a little bit til I got flipped

over again. It got to the point where I

couldn’t roll back over and I had to pull my skirt. I thought it would flush me out but it didn’t. It held me in there for about 40 seconds

flipping me in circles meanwhile my boat is still in there hitting me. I can hold my breath for over 1.5 minutes,

but this is completely different. I’m

struggling to breathe and get out of there but I can’t. There were periods where I could not get a

breath. Towards the end of it I was too

tired of fighting, I could not struggle anymore. I was trying to pull up on ends of my kayak

to get a breath, but this was not working.

I remember thinking to myself this is how it ends. I have been in positions where I had to swim,

but never anything where I accepted my own death. I was spinning around in there thinking “this

is how I die.” This was the scariest

thing that has happened to me in my life.

Next thing I know I was down river with my head barely above water

gasping for breath. I found out later that a couple weeks ago a Navy Seal and someone he was with had died in the same whole I was in.The raft we were

with also flipped and everyone on board swam the rapid avoiding the hole I was

stuck in. I didn’t see it but apparently

some of them had a pretty rough swim.

This really freaked one of the

rafters out who was with us, combining what he saw below the second rapid. We decided it was in his best interest to

scout the next class V rapid. He decided

he didn’t want to run the rapid and he just walked it. We were supposed to meet up with him below

the rapid. We sat at the bottom waiting

for him. He never came. We waited a little longer and still he didn’t

show up. We went up to the woods and

started blowing our whistles and shouting his name, but received no

response. We started hiking the woods

back to where he left and could not find him.

We searched an hour and a half before we decided it’d be best to get off

river before it got dark and go call the park rangers to find him. We get to the bottom and meet someone who had

talked to the park rangers. They asked

if we had lost our friend and it turns out the rangers found him in the woods

and took him back to the put in. We get

back to the trucks and find out he had seen a cub in the middle of the woods

and did not want anything to do with the mother bear so he turned and sprinted

as fast and far away as he could.

I have taken many river trips and

have never seen anything like this. It

was a wild day on the river. I thought I

have been in near death experiences before, but nothing like this where I

accept that this is how it ends. Over

all it was a nice day and a fun one. A

day I will remember for the rest of my life.

(Sparknotes for those who thought

it was too long: Kayak down class V river, saw a guy die and a helicopter land

in the middle of the river on a rock, get stuck in a hole on the biggest rapid

accept that I’m dead, friends also swim, lose somebody three quarters through

our trip, he ended up seeing a bear, all in all turned out to be a good

memorable day)
 
That sounds pretty crazy. I've rafted on a class V before and it got pretty scary sometimes. I could never imagine doing it in a kayak. At least you guys all made it out.
 
Damn, sounds like such a crazy experience. It's always awesome to hear those stories where people think they are dead and then they walk away from it.

My friends and I always ride mountain bikes on this trail that basically follows a river all the way down to the lake. It was real hot out that day and this creek is all snow melt so it is cold as fuck and we decided to jump in. Almost all of the creek runs along slick granite. We were messing around right where the lake runs into the river and there is a bridge right above it. We see a Fire truck pull up and the guys jump out. They tell us right away that we might want to get out of the river because a body is coming down. That is when shit hit the fan. We jumped out of the river and ran back up the trail. Within the next few minutes fire trucks were all over the place and and ambulance was at the bottom of the trail. Minutes later a helicopter was right above us. Firemen were all over the place and we hiked up to where the guy fell in (Angel Falls) and they had ropes in the water and we thought for sure we would be there as a limp less, dead body was pulled out of the water. Fortunately, we never had to see any of that. They spent awhile longer searching for the guy and he had died. Just be smart where you jump in NS, the guy got in above th falls, slipped, couldn't grip on anything to get back up, hit his head on the granite, went unconscious, and then got stuck underneath a rock, drowning. Be careful NS. What seems safe might not always be that safe.
 
Damn man, been close to that getting cycled in a hole with your boat pounding on you. I know that feeling. Its a calculated rush that is part of the fun of paddling.
 
fuckin intense dude... i was a whitewater guide this summer and i fell out in a hole it wasnt too much fun being sucked under
 
yo dog, your suppose to ball up and relax, the hole will spit ya out, you just have to relax and it will eventually spit ya out, then you just gotta eddie out after and take some breathes
 
Sounds nasty man, glad you made it out OK. I've never kayaked anything that big so I've still never been recirced.

Is the gauley fest over for this year already or is that in the fall??????? I have a buddy who wanted to go down for it, but he swims more than me so I don't know if we'll get on the river.
 
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