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Misty New River Gorge Morning
That’s right. I was dancing in the sun – hopefully nobody saw me (for their sake). I’ve been slack and I’m not ashamed. There’s been so much going on in New River country from river doings to marketing to Meet & Greet Weekend 2009. It’s been a whirlwind. I have to say the highlight for me was Meet & Greet. A whole bunch of folks piled in the 1977 Bluebird deluxe motor coach and headed to the river for two days of New River whitewater rafting!
The first day we rafted from the old Wildwater basecamp in Thurmond to Fayette Station. The level was a beefy 5 feet on the Fayette Station Gauge (about 11,000 cfs on the Thurmond Gauge). The ministry of disinformation was in full effect that AM when we were told it was more like 6 feet. It made for a grab bag of rafting surprises! All told, the waves were big, the whitewater plentiful and the grins huge.
Saturday night we grilled out and threw down some tunes. Bobby Ahlers and Bodie worked the deck like the whitewater minstrels they are. Bobby’s buddy Chris stopped in for some pickin’ and grinnin’ as well. We played on the deck until about midnight. Last I heard, Bobby and Chris were headed to Bodies to keep on keepin’ on. Becker won the award for farthest travel as he and Shannon flew in from Colorado to join us!
Day two we saw the level climb to NINE FEET on the Fayette Station Gauge. It was like running two separate rivers in two days. You gotta love the New! We put in at Cunard to make for a quick trip so those visiting for the weekend could get back home in reasonable time on Sunday.
We met some new folks who are looking to train this year at Wildwater and we saw lots of faces from our professional river staff. We look forward to working with the new staff as they learn what it takes to be a Wildwater Guide. A lot of people think guiding is just getting a boat down the river. When Bodie works with new staff, he makes sure they know that there’s way much more to it than that. The skills our staff learn while training at Wildwater will serve our staff well as they take on other challenges outside of guiding. I don’t mind tooting our horn a bit when I say that Wildwater Guides are a cut above the rest. Our guests notice too!
Big Fat Hits on the Spring New River, WV
Today is the first day of spring. It looks like spring outside, but it sure doesn’t feel like spring. It doesn’t matter, though, because we are getting prepared for our first Lower New River trip next week. I remember my first Spring New River rafting trip. Not so much the details, but the feel, the cool April air, and my total lack of understanding of white water rafting. In reality it was a blur. I remember lots of water, lots of laughing and lots of anxiety about figuring out how the water works and whether I would make the cut. Only through repeated rafting of the New River Gorge did I get a feel for the nuance of the river, the hidden features (in water and on the rocky shores).
Now the New River in Spring is an old friend. There is a surprising level of comfort rafting the Lower New. Nothing makes me giggle so much as climbing the face of a wave in the Middle Keeneys or Fayette Station to plow through the foamy top. Sitting in the back of the boat provides an extra little sumpin’ for the ride. I’m smiling as I type this.
If you’ve got any Spring rafting stories, feel free to tell it here. If you want experience one of the best West Virginia white water rafting adventures, you have got to check out the Lower New River in Spring. The lagniappe in all this is that you get way more bang for your buck in April and May. Do it. You know you want to.
This past weekend I went for a couple of trail runs in the New River Gorge. Every time I find myself on the New River trails, I’m blown away that this amazing place is right in my backyard in Fayetteville, WV. I can leave my house, head two blocks to the Fayetteville Town Park and hit the Fayetteville trail head, which connects with the network of biking and hiking trails in the gorge.
The Fayetteville Trail as it heads out of the Wolf Creek drainage.
On those moments when I’m sucking wind and take the time to look around instead of watching for roots and rocks on the trail, I take in the smells, the sounds, and, of course, the sights. Sunday was particularly enjoyable. a skim of snow had fallen that morning. The snow was wet and sticky and clung to the hardwoods, the pines and the rhododendrons. The trails were wet, but not snow-covered. The moist ground dampened ambient sounds and provided a silent cushion on which to run. I felt like I was seeing these trails for the first time and did my best to be in the moment, even when my lungs were on fire, my hands tingling. It’s pretty cool that each run can be an whole new adventure.
My old boss and business partner, Chris Dragan, used to preach to the guides at Wildwater that we should treat every trip down the New River or the Gauley River as if it was the first time. The goal was to keep the excitement at a peak so that our guests would feed off that energy and enjoy the river as much us we our first time white water rafting.
I know of all the things I do here at Wildwater, raft guiding is still my favorite. By far. Nothing beats getting in the raft, interacting with excited rafters, paddling world class whitewater, seeing the smiles and hearing the squeals of delight. And that’s just from me. I still can’t believe I live here in New River country.
There is no greater sense of satisfaction than watching someone in my raft totally immersed in the moment, smiling and content. If you have any stories about your first time rafting — the time you thought, “yeah, this is for me” — send them my way. I’d love to hear them.
Sandstone Falls, New River West Virginia
No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.
Heraclitus
…or something like that. There is some scholarly debate regarding the translations of Heraclitus’s wise words, but that is not germane here. Wherever the above translation comes from, it makes a valid point. Sure it’s a bit philosophical, but that never hurt anyone. Well, maybe it did.
In a previous blog I threw out the idea of using the ever-present New River as a means of gaining perspective and maintaining some semblance of balance in my life. Imagine that the same, ubiquitous river that serves as my anchor in a hectic world can also be a useful metaphor for the continual flux of our lives.
Change comes in many forms: sometimes grandiose and abrupt while other times are incremental and subtle. We deal with change on a daily basis. Sometimes we don’t realize change has occurred until after the fact and sometimes we fret about change that we know is coming, but about which we can do nothing. We can embrace the change, leave the situation in which the change is occurring (work), or resist the change. Unfortunately, we often choose the last option – Resistance.
Say it ain't so, Locutus of Borg!
Resistance is not futile, but it sure isn’t a whole lot of party hats and chicken dancing either. So why are we more inclined to dig our heels in and make trouble?
We are creatures of habit. We like routines and we bow up when that change is threatened, regardless of whether or not the change is for the better. How many times can you look back at a change that you resisted and wonder what the fuss was about. Usually, once changes are made, we don’t look back.
Resistance to change occurs every day in all facets of life. This resistance is pervasive enough that hours upon hours of time are spent in the professional world to understand and combat it. I did a Google search on humans resist change and 9 of the top 10 results related to implementing change or combating resistance to change in the workplace.
This article in Scientific American touches on one reason change may be more difficult as we get older.
Yet even as people older than 30 yearn for what is new, many find themselves unable or unwilling to make fundamental changes in their lives. Researchers say this paradox can be largely explained by the demands of adult responsibilities and that unrealistic expectations may also play a part in thwarting our best intentions. Change is rarely as easy as we think it will be.
The Man with Two Brains
This article delves into the connection between our “two” brains, the regular one in our skull and the other one that resides in our gut and how fear may play a huge part in our resistance to change.
But what if fear was the key factor in resistance to change? And what if this fear was so deep inside of us it was almost invisible? Imagine a fear that runs under your radar, off your screen of awareness and is never, ever thought about consciously.
If this fear was the key factor in one’s resistance to change, then it would be the hidden driver behind so many behaviours that arise during change that we cannot easily logically explain. For the sake of simplicity and example, let’s say that it is a deep fear connected to our very survival – “If I change, I will die.”
Fear is most assuredly a huge component in our resistance to change. We can be afraid of everything from being left behind, failing or being exposed (on so many different levels). Egads! What can we do?
Probably the easiest and most effective way of coping with change is through meditation.
When you meditate, you clear away the information overload that builds up every day. When your mind is clear of distracting thoughts, you gain new perspectives and new ways of handling stress and other problems. You become more self-aware. You focus on the here and now — not on your ever-growing to-do list.
That sounds pretty good to me. I think I may just take a trip down to the river and clear my noggin.
New River Gorge West Virginia from the Rim
It is common for people who experience the awesome, thundering springtime whitewater rapids of the New River in West Virginia to assume that we get our flows from snow melt. While this may be partially true in the late winter and early spring, by the time the whitewater rafting season is in full effect (say, Memorial day and on), we are receiving our water strictly via rainfall.
The phenomenon of receiving water via snow melt throughout a rafting season is not uncommon in the western United States, where the Rocky Mountains, the Cascades and the Sierras majestically tower with snow covered peaks year round. If there is exceptional snowfall, the rafting outfitters in those areas usually enjoy higher water and extended seasons. Here in New River and Gauley River country, our season could be year round except for cold temperatures that start rolling in around the beginning of November.
During periods of the year, it is not unusual to experience heavy rainfall. We usually see a heap of precipitation in the Spring and heavy thunderstorms in the summer. In late summer and fall, when the tropical storm/hurricane season begins, it is not unusual for one or more of those storms to come inland, either from the Eastern Seaboard or the Gulf Coast and dump in the New River watershed. When this happens, we keep our eye on gauges to see how quickly the water is rising and what we can expect for whitewater rafting trips.
If the rain is localized, it is not uncommon for the rivers on which we raft to rise quickly in a few hours due to the steep topography. While most people refer to the area near the New River Gorge as mountains, the formation is considered a dissected plateau (Check out the photo in this Wiki to see the formation). Also, if you look closely at the image at the beginning of this post, you’ll see the tops of the land form are a relatively uniform height.
The water that turns into churning whitewater as it tumbles through the New River Gorge comes from the south. The New River travels through a variety of physiological settings on its way to the New River Gorge, with the entire basin encompassing almost 7,000 square miles.
“The New River has its origins in northwestern North Carolina, near the towns of Boone and Blowing Rock. By the time it merges with the Gauley River in West Virginia near Charleston to form the Kanawha, it has flowed north through parts of North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia.”
Friends of the New River website.
If you were to look at the New River on a map, the first peculiarity you will notice is that it flows northward as well as westward into the interior of the US. In addition, the New River starts on the eastern side of the Appalachian Mountains, cuts through the range in Virginia and West Virginia, and empties into the Mississippi River drainage via the Kanawha and the Ohio rivers.
New River in Viginia as it cuts through the Appalachian Mountains.
When looking at this area on a grand, macroscopic level, it is fascinating the forces and variables that lined up to create this unique river. Sometimes, when I am driving over the New River Gorge Bridge, I peek over the side and marvel at the view. I also think how lucky I am to see this site everyday and live in the vicinity of such a spiritual place.
“Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world’s great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters.”
Norman Maclean from A River Runs Through It.
The New River as it Runs Through Virginia
Exploding Haystack at Fayette Station Rapid, New River West Virginia
Throughout the course of any day we are deluged with all kinds of situations requiring decision making and causing stress. In my opinion, it’s not necessarily the situation that directly causes the stress, but our ability (or inability) to deal with that situation. I know that when things seem bleak or overwhelming, it is usually because I am having difficulty taking a step back and looking at the situation objectively.
When I was in high school I remember being introduced to the concept of cosmic irony in English class as it referred to the “disparity between human desires and the harsh realities of the outside world (or the whims of the gods)”. The image at the beginning of this post shows the New River near Fayetteville, West Virginia at a very high flow. Looking at the rushing water, feeling and hearing the power of the water (45,000 cubic feet per second!) is a nice reminder that when all is said and done, the river will still be cutting its course through the Appalachian Mountains, making its way to the Gulf of Mexico. The significance of my problems is minimal at best. Unless I just give up (not possible), time will pass and I will make it through okay. This quote kind of sums it all up:
“The significance of man is that he is
that part of the universe that asks the
question, What is the significance of
Man? He alone can stand apart imaginatively
and, regarding himself and the universe
in their eternal aspects, pronounce a
judgement: The significance of man is
that he is insignificant and is aware
of it.”-Carl Lotus Becker,
Progress and Power, 1935
So if you’ve managed to keep reading this far you may be asking, “what’s your point?” And well you should be. The point is this, if you can maintain some semblance of perspective in your daily life, it can help you keep a more even keel (or paddle, if you want to keep it rafting-oriented) as you negotiate the pools and rapids of your life. If you occasionally feel like you are getting sucked down into the vortex, take some deep breaths and a step back.
Fayette Station New River West Virginia take out @ 15'
Let me leave you with this exquisite photo from National Geographic.
New River West Virginia at Dawn from National Geographic
Wildwater - A West Virginia Whitewater Rafting Company
With 2009 already underway and steaming toward West Virginia’s whitewater rafting season, I am working on developing and implementing our marketing plan. This includes everything from web content, web design and printed materials such as catalog and rack cards. The main challenge here is to make sure all the pieces reflect one voice and offer consistent information such as adventure availability and pricing. The goal is to keep our customers’ interest in our product and make it easy for them to get the information they need.
The challenge for a small company like Wildwater Expeditions is that this is pretty well a linear process because it’s me and 515 Creative, who develops the look of our printed pieces and the look and guts of our website. However, at the end of the day I am still the one who has to provide content, edits, pictures. I write the newsletters and emails. I have the pleasure of developing content for our catalog, website and other ancillary pieces. In many ways it’s a load of fun, but the struggles begin when I try to come up with fresh ways of delivering our message. Usually the first try winds up sounding pretty much like marketing speak: “The Upper Gauley, it’s fast, it’s big, it’s…” boring.
I want to create something that is conversational and conveys my excitement about being on the Gauley River or hiking on the rim of the New River Gorge. Somehow, I can picture it in my head, but can’t always get the words down on the laptop. Video and pictures certainly help, as do testimonials from people who’ve enjoyed the experience and are still pumped up. Video testimonials are probably even better. In my mind, the challenge is to integrate all these marketing media (print, web, daily interaction via phone and in person) to tell the story.
As I try my best to keep up with the explosion of tools at my disposal, I always get the feeling that I’m missing the boat somewhere. This is much like the times I’ve missed (or more correctly, fell out of) the boat while rafting a rapid like Insignificant on the Upper Gauley. First, when you fall out, the waters are churning and very confusing and with the underlying thread of, “I need to get back in the boat!” running through your head. Second, the raft heads down the river with or without you. I can’t say I enjoy the feeling.
At this point you have a couple of choices. You can float passively and hope good things happen or you can take actions that incrementally improve your situation. After all is said and done, I choose the latter and do the best I can to be more effective. That is my goal for Wildwater’s marketing efforts. I can only do so much so I need to choose wisely and focus my energies. It gets tough to focus when I’m all jacked up on coffee, but I’ll be doing the best I can in 2009 to work towards this goal. Hopefully that means a focused, easy to use piece for our guests to use when they are making decisions about their whitewater rafting vacation.
Merry Christmas! I’m writing to you on Christmas Eve 2008, pondering those things that would make 2009 a great year. Here goes:
- Great Water – The last three seasons have been below average in terms of flow on the New River. In 2009 we also had reduced flows for Gauley River on every day but Saturday. That said, we still had a great time out there all season long. What I’d like to see is consistent flows throughout the summer without the bottom dropping out in early July.
- Sun – Lots and lots of Sun. In fact, let it rain like crazy at night and be sunny during our time on the water. We have more framed lodging options at our new basecamp, so the rain shouldn’t present too much of a problem.
Rustic Bunk Cabin at Wildwater's New Outdoor Center
- More West Virginia Rafters – With all of this outdoor recreation at their fingertips and with a struggling economy, many West Virginians can look right in their backyard for vacation ideas. Many West Virginia natives have not sampled the outdoor adventures that are only an hour or two drive away. This is probably similar to the phenomenon of New York natives who’ve never visited the Statue of Liberty, been to the top of the Empire State Building or seen a Broadway show. If ever there was a time to explore in your backyard, it is now.
- Continued Lower Gas Prices – Although the lower fuel prices are reflective of the current economic situation, they would make it easier for people to travel if prices at the pump stay below $2/gallon. It looks like there won’t be a rise real soon. From an whitewater rafting standpoint, it is important that our guests feel like they can afford to drive to our destination.
- More Family Time – As a father of a 3-year-old daughter, I know that my number one goal in life is to spend time with my family. I want to see my daughter grow up. I want her to know me. I want to share the duties of parenting with my wife (tantrums aside!). I must balance this priority with my duties as GM of Wildwater. This article in USAToday tells me that I’m not alone in this endeavor. One way to achieve this goal is to vacation in such a way that we actually spend time together, as opposed to vacationing where we are distracted and don’t really connect. Needless to say, my ideal vacation consists of heading to the woods, setting up a tent and wandering around with my family, looking at fungus, leaves and water. I think that’s one of the reasons I enjoy what I do. Rafting, whether it be whitewater or floating, allows us to focus on the basics: interacting with people, experience the outdoors, and being in the moment. In fact, I wish I was on the water now. It’s almost 60 degrees F outside!!
- A Smooth Transition to Wildwater Expeditions’ New Outdoor Center – I’m excited to be in our new digs, but I know making the move will be a little nerve wracking. My hope is that it goes smoothly enough that Wildwater guests get to enjoy all the benefits without enduring some of our headaches.
Wildwater Expeditions New Outdoor Center
- More of this!
Hope you and yours have a great holiday! I look forward to seeing you in 2009!
For the unitiated, there are a slew of boats from which to choose when outfitting your whitewater rafting fleet. Inflatable technology has been a model of punctuated equilibrium, i.e, innovations that truly change how we look at inflatables happen every so often, but for the most part the models we see every year represent tweaks to standard models.
Probably the last great inflatable innovation was the self-bailing floor. Basically, you have an inflatable floor that sits up a little higher than the surface of the water and there are holes (or grommets in laced-in floor construction) along the gunwales where the water drains. Before the advent of the self bailing rafts, if you were running a lengthy, beefy stretch, your boat would fill up with water making it harder to control. You would often have to catch an eddy in between drops, unhook your buckets and bail to lighten the load. Self-bailing rafts obviated the need for buckets, opening up more technical whitewater to inflatable navigation.
But I digress. We are looking at buying some new boats from NRS. We’ve gone with the standard 16-foot Expedition series from NRS for the past five years, but we are looking at a diminishing tube model with four thwarts. We’re trying to work out the dimensions as I write this. We should be seeing these boats sometime in late June or early July, which would be great so we can test drive them on the New River before running the Gauley River in the fall. As we find out more about the performance of these, I’ll keep you posted.
All of the rivers in New River country are on their way up in a big way due to a nice, soaking rain. Both the New (currently at 22,000+ cfs and rising) and Gauley (14,000+ below the Meadow River) are booming. Unfortunately, it is 32 degrees out and there is a Christmas-like covering of snow on the trees. It’s beautiful, but not an ideal climate for getting out on the water. I should note that there are plenty of hardcore boaters who probably would consider going out today. There’s talk about maybe getting on the New River on Sunday. I’m not sure if I’m in yet.
Despite the temptations of skiing and big water, we are working hard to get ready for the 2009 whitewater rafting season. We are preparing to move our headquarters to its new home on Fayette Station Road, minutes from Fayetteville, West Virginia. We’re still doing a little figuring on where to locate the office and how our logistics will work, but we’ll be good and ready by the time the season starts.
