realskiers

I originally posted this in Ron's summer training blog, but then decided that was too much of a Hijack.

Modified trip report, not related to skiing, from a trip a couple of weeks back.?

We took a circle trip from Washington, DC to West Virginia down to the tidewater of Virginia and back.? Went white water rafting in the New River Gorge in WV, mostly Class IV and V rapids with a couple of 3's.? I've been a few times before when the water lever was 2-4' above "mean low water".? This day it was at 9' and was far better than any of my other trips.? In fact, above 11' the state stops them from rafting the Gorge.? Fun video to watch as a 16' raft (8 people, 1 guide, large ice chest) drops completely out of site and then comes up out of the hole and over the wave at a 30 degree angle and blasts through 2-3 feet of breaking white water at the top of the wave.? FUN-FUN-FUN - and a little bit wet and cold, huh Lynn.

PS - of the 4 rafts total in our group, not a single person wound up in the water unintentionally.? People in the front row of the rafts did frequently wind up in the laps of the second row people, and Lynn whacked herself in the face on one maneuver when the rapid required (or the guide desired) to drive the nose of the raft up onto a rock and then spin the back of the boat to the right and back into the current and around the "danger zone". This manuever, I believe, is used because of the likelihood of having the current drive you up on the rock sideways if you just try to ride through the rapid as the current takes a sharp right turn.? I think this was the rock where I've seen other boats flipped as they get washed against the rock.?

Also visited Monticello and Colonial Williamsburg and did an 18 mile (RT) bike ride from Williamsburg down to Jamestown and back, and then another shorter ride the next day just sightseeing.