Songer Whitewater Rafting

The Top 5 Off Season Activities in the New River Gorge

2009-11-06T16:40:10Z

We’re there- it’s officially the off season.

How do we know? Because there are hardly any people around. And the leaves have (almost completely) fallen off the trees. And, y’know, no rafting.

Songer On Snow

But, there are still plenty of cool things to do in the New River Gorge in the off season. Here’s a list of 5 of our favorites…

1. Whitewater Surprised? Don’t be. The rivers run all the time, even when the weather turns cold. We’re big fans of getting out the super-fuzzy-warm-gear and hitting up some of our favorite runs.

2. Mountain Biking The biking is always good in the gorge, no matter what time of year. The leaves on the trails can sometimes be a challenge, but, on the other hand, bare trees mean you can see what’s coming up.

3. Skiing Yup. You wouldn’t know it to look as us, but WV has produced some rock solid skiers and snowboarders. With Winterplace just down the road and Snowshoe and Timberline just up the other road, it’s well worth bringing a busload up this way to stay and ski in the gorge. Seriously.

4. Shopping Just because shopping isn’t an outdoor activity doesn’t mean it’s not an activity. And every savvy shopper knows that the off season is the time to get the best deals on stuff.

5. Sitting Around A Cabin Doing Nothing Not exactly nothing. It’s a big ol’ cabin, after all. We’ve got the dvd player going. Some popcorn. Roaring fire in the fireplace. Board games. Cards. It’s that whole “outside frozy, inside cozy” kind of feel. Nice.

C’mon, admit it. You thought there was nothing else going on up here in the off season. But actually, the gorge is just as cool in the winter as in the summer.

The Best Raft Crash Story Ever

2009-11-05T21:48:32Z

Well, a lot of people liked this other story about crashing a raft on the Gauley River. So I thought I’d post another one about doing something similar on the New River Gorge.

Kind of Like This...But with More People

So, there I was, many, many years ago, working at some other raft company that is not in any way related to SONGER (just wanted to get that out of the way, right off the bat), waiting at the river for the bus to come with our guests.

Now, there was a time on the river where the industry was seeing huge growth. Each year was bigger than the last, with more and more people coming rafting. One of the side effects of that explosion in popularity was the frequent appearence of some, shall-we-say, large-ish rafters.

And not just kind-of. I’m a large-ish person myself. Always have been. But this was different. Some raft companies were investing in XXXX-L life jackets (which actually looked kind of like the rafts). These were like floating tents that you could buckle onto someone. They were huge.

It was a different time.

So there I was waiting at the put in, and the other guide is this skinny guy that we nicknamed Twigs o’ Fury. And the bus pulls up and the guests get off and right away, I know one thing: I will be earning my money that day.

Standing apart from the others is group of eight people who are each wearing the XXXX-L life jackets. And they take one look at me, and one look at Twigs, and said, “Hey, y’all! Let’s go with big man over there. He kinda looks like he can pull us in!”

Now, this actually used to happen to me quite a bit because I’m pretty big. But you would expect to see maybe one or two of the XXXX-Ls on a whole trip. Not eight in one boat. And it wasn’t like the life jackets were comfortably buckled, either. The buckles were twitching under the tension- I expected at any moment to hear a PWAINNNG! and look over to see Twigs with a broken piece of life jacket lodged in his skull.

I took one look at my group and smiled. At the time, I was up for any kind of adventure, no matter how large. I swept my arm out to invite them into the boat, and exclaimed in the most confident voice I could muster, “Y’all, let’s go rafting!”

Were were in trouble before we pushed off the bank. Getting that much mass into a floating raft without immediately capsizing is a delicate task. Several times, I thought we were over before we started- the long, heavy-duty tubes of the boat dipping dangerously close to waterline at weights shifted and rubber squeaked. Imagine blowing a balloon right up to the popping point. Then keep blowing. A little more. More. There. That’s how it felt, all day long.

But we all eventually made it safely into our locked and upright positions. As soon as we hit the current, our problems were immediately apparent to everyone on the river that day. We had become prisoners of inertia, wildly out of control, bouncing from rock to rock like an overweight bumper car. We pinballed our way through the rapids, hitting pretty much everything there was to hit on our way down the river.

I don’t know if the people in my boat had ever enjoyed something that much that didn’t have BBQ involved, but we beat fun over the head that day. It was awesome, except my body ached from trying to guide a 17 ton raft and bellylaughing simultaneously. And I didn’t know it then, but I would be making customers for life with our run through the last rapid of the afternoon.

That last rapid happened to be called Flea Flicker. Now, at lower water levels, Flea Flicker is pretty tame. But when there’s been a little rain and the river comes up just a touch, Flea Flicker starts to fold up on top of itself, with a wave in the middle that just gets bigger, and bigger, and bigger.

There’s also an easy way to go around that wave. Which is what I had planned on doing since we had first pushed off, hours before.

But as we got closer, I began to think: These people are here for the experience! Let’s go for it. This’ll be like a physics experiment. I would create West Virginia’s first and only super collider.

So I asked. “Hey, y’all feel like going big up here on this next one?”

“Hell yes,” they answered. “We are big. We need to go big!”

“You sure?”

“Do it! Do it!”

We were committed. I lined up the supertanker and called for full speed a head. The momentum started to builld. We were bouncing along, a head full of steam, straight toward a wave that was crashing back like a brick house falling in. We were unstoppable.

Or so I thought.

When our raft hit that enormous wall of water, here’s what happened: We made a taco. The front of the raft stopped, and the back of the raft kept going, and in a split second, the boat folded up like a hide-away bed with the entire Beluga Family stuffed inside it.

Then, we made a reverse taco. In the next split second, the boat sprang open, and all of the contents, except for me, flew straight up into the air.

It looked like the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

I tried to scream. But everything was happening too fast. People were flying around like smashed atoms. Newton’s laws were being broken right and left. The sheer immensity of my raft crew took over all available airspace.

I ducked, but there was no way to avoid the newly-winged tonnage. It was all happening too fast. I looked around wildly, trying to find some safety in between the chaos.

And that’s when I saw her. Miss Teen Beluga was launched and locked on my trajectory, sailing toward me at the speed of huge. She was coming rear-end-first, like she was riding an invisible Harley Davidson right at my head, full speed and backwards. All I saw was the spandex getting bigger, and then black.

She took me out like a linebacker- WHAM! We went underwater, and it seemed like time slowed way down. I could see the bubbles, and the sky, and the waves and it was beautiful. And, y’know… I had this large woman sitting on me.

And I thought to myself: I should have gone to law school.

When I came up, I had the ridiculous task of pulling everyone back into the boat. It was one of those things that so hard, you just start cracking up. And I was. I was standing in the boat, laughing out loud, herniating myself trying to wrestle the Beluga Family back into the boat. I’m sure I looked like an absolute maniac.

And that’s when Big Daddy Beluga, spitting up water, and laughing right along with me despite himself, asked, “So now, what’d you say the name of that rapid was?”

My sides hurt. I was crying I was laughing so hard. I could hardly breathe. I fell onto the floor of the raft, and almost shouted, “It’s called ‘Flea Flicker’!”

“Well,” said Big Daddy, “I guess we’re gonna hafta start callin’ it ‘Hog Toss!’”

It was one of the best trips of my life

Good Gauley- Thanks To Y’All

2009-11-05T21:46:39Z

Pillow Rock

Gauley season in West Virginia is just about done. There’s still one more weekend -Bridge Day- which you can book right here.

And after that? We’ll we usually do one or two or three trips before the whole thing winds down.

The Gauley River this year was a blessing. We had great fun and lots of laughs with our guests, guides, and staff.

In short, it was awesome. Here are some of our favorite memories…

-Headlamps in the morning for those first trips at daybreak.

-The sound of the horn at the Summersville Dam, telling us (warning us?) that the water is rising!

-That first wave hitting the boat. It feels like a prize fight when you suddenly realize, “Hey, I’m in the ring!”

-Gauley Fog. n othing better than comming around a bend and not seeing the rapid you hear.

-Pillow Rock. Pillow Rock. Pillow Rock.

-Lunch out on the river. Blue skies, good friends, eats.

-The smell of woodsmoke in the mountains.

-Leaves turning. Nothing looks better this time of year.

-The scene at Sweet’s Falls. And can I just say that Songer OWNS the box canyon?

-Great, great parties in the highwater lounge. All the music and dancing we could handle for a season.

-Hearing Gauley stories from young and old, virgin and veteran, friends from the past and faces fresh this season.

We just want to take a moment to say thanks. Y’all are the best.

A List For Bridge Day in the New River Gorge

2009-10-03T00:51:30Z

Bridge Day in West Virginia

OK, let’s start by saying this: Watching people freefall off of a 876 foot bridge never -never- gets old.

That’s what Bridge Day (Saturday, October 17th) is all about, if you’ve never been. It’s West Virginia’s biggest festival, and definitely one of the world’s great spectacles. And it just happens to be in our backyard.

So here’s a quick list of reasons why you should come. Check them off and book your trip. We try not to out and out sell stuff here on the blog, but this one is a “don’t miss” situation.

1. Rafting- Well, what’d you think we were going to say? The best way to check out bridge day is from the river, after paddling down the rapids of the New River Gorge. You can (and should) book here.

2. People Jumping Off A Bridge- Yup, that’s what all the fuss is about. And unless you’ve seen it, you have no idea what you’re in for. Coolness at the speed of physics.

3. Food, And Lots Of It- The whole thing kicks off with “A Taste Of Bridge Day” on Friday night, a party that brings together all of the best food from around the gorge and you.

4. Rappel- Some people leave the bridge on a 750 foot rope and just dangle there for a while, out in space. Want to be one? There’s a zipline that’s open to the public. Really.

5. Chili- After the bridge jumping ceases, everyone will gather in town for the 1st annual Bridge Day Chili Cookoff. There will be beer.

One last thing: Do you get on Facebook? Watch YouTube? Post photos on Flickr? Um, tweet on Twitter? If so, please share your Bridge Day stuff. Just tag everything you post with #bridgeday, and we’ll have it available on our social media newsroom feed, too.

That’s it. Are there better reasons to come? Post them here. Hope to see you

3 Days: Best Things To Do During Gauley Season (When The Gauley River Isn’t Running)

2009-09-29T19:17:16Z

West Virginia’s Gauley River (or as we like to call it, our backyard) is a fickle beast. All year, we wait, salivating, for Autumn, when the Gauley Starts to roar.

And it does. For four days (Friday through Monday) every week until late October. Rockin’, right?

Well, that leaves three days each week when the river is- yep- dry. Not bone dry; there’s enough water for the fish. But you can pretty much forget about Gauley rafting every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday during Gauley season.

How does it work? The Army Corps of Engineers uses a little device called the Summersville Dam to cut the water on and off like a faucet. It’s actually kind of a good thing. If it weren’t for the dam, we wouldn’t be rafting at all in the fall.

But still. That leaves us with three whole days to fill. So what do we do?

Go Rafting We’re lucky. We have this whole other river called the New River where we are. You may have heard of it. Class V rapids? Big Ol’ Bridge? Yes, THAT one. It’s still running. So we get out on it whenever people want to go. A good way to do it is to bookend your Gauley trip with a trip on the New.

Hit Up Some Other Activities We’ve got a lot of what I like to call, “Activities”. Horseback riding? Activity. ATVs? Activity. Mountain Biking? Climbing? Activity. Sitting around in the hot tub and watching movies in the cabin? Around here, that’s an activity.

Chill Say you go down the Gauley on a Monday, and you want to stick around on Tuesday. Here’s what you do: Nuthin’. Go for a walk. Shop. Eat at four or five or six different restaurants. Lots and lots and lots of disc golf (our personal fav). Do it up, but, you know, relax.

Travel Did you know that West Virginia is one of the coolest places in the world? A good way to find out is to grab a map and go. After all, you’ve got three days. There are literally as many places to go as there are places to be, so don’t hesitate. Just get rolling.

What would you do with three days off?

How To Tell You’re Rafting On The Gauley River

2009-09-23T13:28:11Z

We’re right smack dab in the middle of Gauley Season, y’all. All the out-of-towners have descended on West Virginia and the New River Gorge, the water is flowing, and we’ve been going big.

So, how, exactly, do you know that you’re on the Gauley? Well, as someone who’s had an ongoing love affair with the river for twenty years (y’all know what I’m talkin’ ’bout), I’ve got a couple of ideas.

First, and maybe foremost, is the smell. No, not neoprene. The Gauley has a pleasant, earthy smell all around it. It’s sublte, but it’s there. And it’s said that smell is the strongest sense. When it’s Gauley season, that sweet river-y smell fills your nose (hopefully not w direct contact with the water). The air is crisp and fall-like. Take a whiff, and you know what time it is.

Then there are the sights. The leaves change during Gauley Season. So there you are in the middle of the Appalachians in this truly majestic river gorge, and it’s all yellow and red and gold and everything. Awesome.

Finally, the sounds of Gauley, like this one: “Forward, paddle forward, I SAID PADDLE FORWARD! PADDLE, YOU MAGGOTS!” There’s always the rumble of rapids, because there are so many of them. And also there’s, y’know, lots of roller-coaster-type screaming going on.

But the best sound of Gauley Season is the blast of the horn each morning. That’s the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers telling us that the water is coming out of the dam… get ready.

Gauley. It’s finally here. You can just tell.

How To Choose The Right Gauley River Rafting Trip

2009-09-09T00:35:04Z

Thinking about rafting the Gauley River? In this post, I’m going to tell about 4 different river trips for Gauley Season, and explain which trips are right for you.

It looks like this, but in a raft

Because I know what you want better than you do. It ain’t my first rodeo.

The Lower Gauley
This one is what you could consider “tame” if it didn’t rock so hard. Just because the lower isn’t littered with Class V rapids doesn’t mean it’s not loaded with awesomeness. The rapids aren’t small- they’re just not as big as the upper. If you want to step up your game, but aren’t ready for giant steps, choose the lower.

The lower is right for you if…
-You want to take it one rapid at a time before the river tries any funny stuff.

The Upper Gauley
It’s a big as big gets. It’s not the most dangerous or the most difficult in the world, but it’s probably the most fun. It’s a single day adventure on one of the greatest stretches of whitewater in the universe. This trip is what Gauley Season is all about.

The upper is right for you if…
-You look at a big ol’ honkin’ rapid, and you’re like, “Hey bud- let’s party!”.

The Gauley Marathon
The Gauley has two sections, as mentioned above- the upper and the lower. Usually, folks choose either/or. But a few adrenaline nuts do it all in one day. It’s called the marathon for a reason: the trip is 26 miles long, with more than 100 rapids. It’s the goods.

The Gauley Marathon is right for you if…
-You think Navy SEAL training looks like a great time.

The Gauley Double Upper
The Upper Gauley has 5 class V rapids on it (known as the Big Five). On the double, we get out right below the last one, then head to the top to do it again. This one is a no holds barred, white knuckle assault. Best hang on, y’all.

The Gauley Double Upper is right for you if…
-You watch MMA matches and think, “Man, I’d be great at that.”

Choosing the right trip is an exercise in being honest with yourself. Remember, the most important thing about choosing a Gauley trip is to pick the one that you’ll have the most fun on. It’s all about having a good time.

The 10 Best Things About Gauley Season

2009-09-04T16:17:32Z

Alright, the countdown has started, y’all. In one week, we’ll be rafting the sweet, sweet white water of West Virginia’s one and only Gauley River. Woot!

In honor of the countdown, I thought we’d go ahead and post the 10 best things about Gauley Season. Now, lots of people have lots of ideas about “the best” things about the Gauley. But I just want everyone to know that these are the real 10 best, so please make sure that your list matches mine. O.K.? Great.

Here we go…

10. Fog First off, not everyone gets to experience the fog on the Gauley. It’s a treat reserved for early risers only, because the fog usually burns off when the sun comes over the gorge. But for those masochists… um, I mean, fluffy morning bunnies who get out on the water early, rafting in the the thick fog is a special treat. There’s not much that’s more exciting than paddling blindly over the lip of a ledge into white nothingness, when it sounds like there’s a train wreck going on right below you. Cool.

9. All of the rapids that aren’t the big 5 The big five rapids on the Gauley (in order- Insignificant, Pillow Rock, Lost Paddle, Iron Ring, and Sweet’s Falls) are all very, very fun. But what about all those rapids in between? There are crushing hits and killer surfs all along the way, so don’t neglect the in-between-o stuff.

8. The first big wave of the day When that first wave smacks you upside the head (that’d be Entrance rapid for the Upper section, Ender Waves rapid for the Lower section)you’re going to wake right up, guaranteed. It’s better than coffee.

7. Autumn Some people call it Fall. Whatever. You know what I’m sayin’. There’s just something about this time of year that will always mean a combination of crisp blue days, raging whitewater, and plenty of awesome. It may be “football season” to you now, but once you run the river, you’ll never feel the same way about it.

6. The Animal Race/Gauley Fest Say what you want about Gauley Fest- it definitely ups the entertainment factor on the river. There are so many first timers on the river that weekend (it’s always the third weekend of Gauley Season), you’re bound to see someone do something… shall we say, interesting? Plus the festival is a huge fundraiser for protecting whitewater rivers. Plus plus the Monday Animal race is a Nascar start. Wicked, as our friends from down east might say.

5. Talented/Funny/Ridiculous Raft Guides Whitewater season is pretty much shut down everywhere else in the country, so the entire guiding community descends on West Virginia. The population (and the tye-die ratio) tends to double around the river this time of year. I’ve met some of the coolest people I know because they were Gauley Season guides (heck, I was a Gauley Season guide that first year- then I had to move here). And they provide for some great stories.

4. Pillow Rock ‘Nuff said.

3. Gauley Parties Gauley Season is nothing if not a party, y’all. We party out on the river, back at base, and all over the gorge during Gauley. It’s the last fling of the year, not to mention a huge reunion. Long loved guests, guides, and pretty much everyone in between comes in to town for the waves, the barbecues, the music, and the scene in general. It’s an easy place to make new friends- we’ve got longtime guests who come for the same trip each year because they met each other on the trip. When we say that a good time will be had by all, we mean everybody.

2. Going Big Okay, going big is not exclusive to Gauley Season, but it is what Gauley Season is all about. The way the rapids are, you’re best option is ALWAYS to point the raft at the largest wave you see and go big. And the people that come to raft the Gauley are all for going big. And, of course, we’re all for going big. It’s just that time of year. Nothing can stop it. Go Big, Or Go Somewhere That’s Not Here! (just kidding- we really want all of you to come here, but you will at least have to go medium).

1. The Sweet’s Falls Coliseum I don’t think I’m the first person to call it a coliseum, but let’s just put it this way: If you’re above the falls, paddling toward the lip, and everyone starts cheering… you’re about to do something very special. It’s an audience, a picnic, and kind of a mob all at the same time. And the best part is, once you’re finished being the show, you get to sit back and watch as boat after boat lines up for their fate. I’ve been rafting in a whole lot of places, and I’m here to tell you- there’s nothing else like it. Anywhere. Ever.

Can I Get An “Aw Yeah”? Gauley Season’s Coming

2009-08-24T12:58:16Z

Today, I felt the wind blow. It wasn’t the summer wind, either, like the one that brings a storm in, or blows us back upstream on while we’re out rafting on the New River.

If you get bounced out of the raft, it feels like you're way above the river

It means one thing only into this part of the country: Gauley Season.

Aw yeah!

Sometimes it feels like it’s never going to get here. Other times, like this year, we’ve been loving the high water all season long. But still, it’s like watching a wave that’s going to break on you. Here it comes- better get ready.

How to know when Gauley season is coming:

The calendar. It starts the first Friday after labor day.
Lots of Colorado license plates in Fayetteville.
Old friends are out on the New River.
Kayaks everywhere.
The southern accent becomes audible as all our buddies from down south arrive.
The humidity disappears, and the clear blue football weather rolls in.
The air smells like neoprene as all the local guides get out last year’s Gauley gear.
You start to think about Pillow Rock. All the time.

Got more?

How To Paddle The Gauley River (Like You Mean It)

2009-08-18T05:54:53Z

If you come to run the Gauley River this season (and it’s coming up- starts the Friday after Labor Day), you better paddle hard.

And, honestly, that doesn’t mean go through the motions, or just paddle when you feel like it. We call that weenie paddling. If you’re caught weenie paddling on the Gauley, you’ll kindly be asked to de-board at that time.

And don’t try to fake it. We can tell.

OK, I know that sounds a little harsh. But there’s a reason for coming off that way. A couple, actually. First, it’s kind of a joke. Kind of. We like to mess with our guests just a little, because we’re rowdy, and, hey, take a joke, will ya?

Second (and this is the better reason), the better you paddle the more fun stuff you will be able to do in a raft on the Gauley. Honest.

Here’s why: when you paddle, what you’re doing, in essence, is pushing back off the water and pushing yourself into the boat. So it actually makes you much, much more stable to be paddling in big rapids when your guide tells you to.

Also, if everyone in the boat is doing that, the boat goes right where it’s supposed to go. And on the Gauley, we like to go big. If you want to go big too, you’ve got to paddle hard to get there. So there’s that.

It makes a big difference from your guide’s perspective, too. Your guide is there to show you a good time, to share something special with you, and, yes, to get crazy with you out on the river. Paddling hard is like telling your guide that you are prepared for anything that might happen, and thank-you-sir-may-I-have-another.

Paddling hard means you get to surf. It means you get to hit huge waves. Run the biggest lines. Go for that one slot where it looks like you’re not going to fit. The Gauley is a demanding river. Make sure you’re ready to do what it asks of you.