Swimming Showers Rapid on the Stonycreek River

I managed to drag my Karma large to an eddy but had to rely on the kindness of strangers to recover my paddle.

This blog lately has trended in pairs. I would write a post about a topic, and then the issue naturally expanded into a second post with time.

So when I wrote a post titled "The Swim" I should have known better what I was setting myself up for. Shortly after publishing that little gem I took a trip with some friends to make the last whitewater release from the Quemahoning Reservoir near Johnstown, Pennsylvania, for some Class III+ action on the Stonycreek River Canyon.

We piled in the van, hooked up the trailer and set out at zero-dark-thirty, or maybe it was 6:30 am. Whatever, it was dark when we started our three-hour journey east into the Appalachian foothills. Most of us hadn't been in our boats for a few months because we haven't had enough water for local paddling here in Northeast Ohio.

Feeling more than rusty, I squeezed into my Kokatat Hydrus 3L and hiked up from the "easy" put-in to the drop in just above Showers Rapid--the only Class III+ rapid we would experience that day.

The rest of our compatriots were running shuttle, and so about a dozen of us had ample time to run Showers a few times if we were feeling up to it. The rapid offers almost a half dozen points to scout it from, including a few rocks right on the river's edge mid-rapid. I remember thinking "piece of cake." Stale, moldy one-year-old freezer burnt wedding cake.

I put in with another long-boating friend, and we ferried across the river using some eddies to try and break free of two months worth of rust. I watched a few people line up, drop and disappear into the first tongue of the rapid. It looked easy enough. All I had to do was try and stay to the left and miss the muching hole topped by a curling cross wave at river right.

Just as I lined up to drop in I felt my 4 a.m. wake-up that morning and about two months worth of paddling rust seize my hips, shoulders and eyelids. I made the first drop easy enough but was pointing too far river left while moving way too much toward river right. I dropped into the second hole nearly sideways. It was too easy for that wave to spin me like a window shade. Instead of bracing, I thought "flip and roll." Splash! Upside down and my face freezing, I remember thinking "set up for your roll, dumbass." The frigid water, bulky dry suit and aforementioned oxidation laughed off my meager roll attempt, and I pulled the rip cord. I hadn't had to swim out of my boat in months.

Fortunately, my long-boating friend and his LiquidLogic road cone were parked in an eddy where I managed to swim, dragging my 103-gallon volume kayak behind me.

The rest of the paddle, for me at least, was seamless. More than a few paddlers told me that had Showers been in the middle of Stonycreek Canyon I would have cruised through it. Next time!