Lower Yough Kayaking ...

Your author at Ohiopyle Falls on the Youghiogheny River in Pennsylvania.

 

I've struggled for weeks to try and write this trip report from the Lower Yough, when I hit it at release level (about 1.82 feet) with some friends on a beautiful June weekend.

We spent two incredible days on the river that included a full-length trip from put-in to takeout and two loop runs the next day.

My first run on Cucumber Rapid.

This trip was the culmination of two years of paddling preparation. Every eddy turn, peel out, ferry and boof I practiced over and over on familiar rivers prepared me for the paddling time of my life--so far. I had never experienced a river so wide with such velocity and so many options for lines. It was an unbelievable playground for someone just coming into their paddling skills.

The trip had everything. Thunder, lighting and torrential down pours. Blinding mist. Warm sunshine, bright blue skies and cool, clear water.

It was an unbelievable trip, and I can't wait to go back.

I think I've struggled to write about it because it was so full of fun and joy that, for me, there are few words to describe the experience. Rather, I'll leave it to you to experience for yourself--when you're ready to tackle the challenges that the Yough poses.

The Importance of Scouting

Scouting in kayaking does not involve merit badges and soap carving. 

The act of looking at and examining a rapid from every possible angle is an important learning tool. If you'r ever paddling with someone who is running a rapid for the first time and they say "Let's just bomb through it," you might want to reconsider who your paddling partners are.

Even if you've run a rapid numerous times, there's great value in getting our of your boat, walking the shore to the drop and analyzing the water as it pours over and around the rocks of the river bed. Choose the line you'll aim for once you get back in. Listen to other paddlers talk about their lines. Watch them try to stick it. See how closely they come to running their lines and watch which parts of the river make them either blow it or run it flawlessly.

The river can be like an open book. But you have to be willing to accept the knowledge it gives you.

Scouting a rapid helps you learn to read water. It can teach you to decipher the difference between a hole and a wave.

What's causing the feature? Is it a ledge or a boulder?

How strong is the hydraulic created by the feature? Is the hole a strong recirculator, or will it flush you if you fall into it?

Will I need to boof over it, or can I punch straight through it?

These are all important questions, and if you can learn to answer them, then the language of the river will start to look a lot more like English than Mandarin or French.

The more important question is, will you do your home work and learn to speak the language?

The Awesome Responsibility of Teaching the Roll

I post a hefty amount of paddling tips and information, but I still like to remind folks (myself included) that I'm still hold novice status for a kayaker--unlike motocross.

Recently I found myself on a lake, with a group of inexperienced paddlers, doing something I thought I wouldn't do until my children grew older. And that was teaching someone to kayak roll.

A local kayaker's brace fails him and he rolls just after going over all 8 feet of Rookie Drop on the Cuyahoga River in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.

It wasn't exactly the first time I was "teaching" a roll. When I first started kayaking I took my slick new Freeride 57 to a pool session to try and teach myself to roll. I met a new friend, someone I still paddle with frequently, who was in the same boat, so to speak. He thought he could teach himself to roll.

While I've come a long way, I quickly developed a roll and helped my friend with guidance and encouragement, as his roll was slower to come. But I never thought of myself as instructing him because we started at the same place and were more colleagues than a mentor and a teacher.

Back on the lake, after two years of whitewater experience it was clear I had a thing or two I could share to help this rag-tag group. There were four new paddlers, all in expedition boats. Most didn't have helmets. None had nose plugs. Their paddles were too-long and clearly recreation boat paddles. One was wearing a flimsy touring skirt designed for splash resistance and not submersion. 

They joked about my PFD. "What's all that stuff on it?"  

As a more experienced kayaker, it was clear there is some serious responsibility associated with teaching someone to roll. The implications being that newer kayakers, who might not be equipped with the ability to catch an eddy, ferry or read water, might learn to roll and suddenly think they're ready to master the biggest, fastest rapids.

There's more to teaching someone to roll. It's important to instill in them the awesome power of the river. They have to learn to respect it along with all the other techniques that come with becoming a successful paddler. Learning to roll is one thing. Learning to become a strong paddler who can grow into an asset for any paddling group is another.

There's more to being a good paddler than just being able to combat roll.