Finding Nirvana in the Cuyahoga Upper Gorge

Me going for the boof line at Welcome to the Jumble/Staircase rapid on the Cuyahoga River Upper Gorge (Sheraton) section. I nailed it, despite some low-water scraping at the lip and plugging hard. Photo credit: Shawn Yingling

I embarked on my meager whitewater kayaking journey five years ago. That’s when I first set my sights on the Sheraton section, or UpperGorge, of the Cuyahoga River. My kayaking quest started in 2010, in a rented kayak, using a rec paddle to struggle to stay straight on a 5-mile flat water trip down the Cuyahoga River between Kent and Munroe Falls. I was hooked instantly.

I quickly bought a crossover rec boat of my own and was running entry-level sections in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park every chance I got. I soon progressed to a true whitewater boat, met some “real” paddlers and learned about our area’s hidden gem – a Class V stretch with two small waterfalls hidden in plain sight between a highway and a huge hotel in Cuyahoga Falls.

As I learned to paddle, the Cuyahoga Upper Gorge remained the carrot-stick dangling in front of me, driving me on. Although it took a few years for me to stop thinking of it as a never-going-to-happen paddle experience and start imagining myself running between the gorge’s steep, rocky cliffs.

Almost six years after I started paddling the season had finally come. In 2016 I truly started to believe I would paddle the Upper Gorge. I had a near bomb-proof roll. I’d been running Class III-IV for two years. I felt ready. But I wanted my personal first descent to be in optimal conditions. That meant I was waiting for warmer weather, longer (and brighter) days, a level that wasn’t above recommended flow or below bare-bones flow, and a solid group.

Finally, in late July, a summer rainstorm delivered just enough water to bring the Upper Gorge back to life. It was 80 degrees. The level was low-runnable. And a few of the local shaolin masters who could run the Upper Gorge blindfolded, regardless of level, including Tommy Piros, Shawn Yingling and Don Howdyshell, thanklessly agreed to set safety and guide me down.

I won’t detail how I navigated every nuance of the run. There’s a great video that does that. Instead, I wanted to express the larger-than-life feeling that comes from floating in a place where only an exclusive group of people have ever been. As the Upper Gorge bent from south to west, and the run started to level out in the Gorge Dam pool, the setting sun set the gorge walls ablaze just as we were paddling out. The roar of the adjacent highway and bustle of downtown Cuyahoga Falls faded away. The mind-altering peace of this special place settled in, and it felt like home.

Truly there is no better feeling than a first descent. Four years of anticipation, the unmatched positivity of the group and a gigantic feeling of accomplishment left me truly and spectacularly amazed by the power of this short, urban whitewater trip. I hope someday, when the time is right, you too will know the best whitewater the Cuyahoga River has to offer.

*Disclaimer: the Sheraton section of the Cuyahoga is for experienced paddlers only. If you don't know what the word "boof" means and don't have a bomb-proof roll, do not attempt this run.

Kayaking the Year Away in 2016

Hapy days.

“What are the hashmarks?” Aside from a great conversation starter, the hashmarks on the backside of my paddle are how I loosely tracked my days on the water for 2016. I started the year off on the water on New Year’s Day and on Jan. 2. Back-to-back days on the water to start the year was more than I could ask for. And it helped me set my hopes high.

So to informally track how many times I got in my boat I started scrawling marks on my paddle blade. Each slash represented a day on the river, somewhere, paddling Class II or better. I had hoped for 50. I came close and notched 39 days on the water. Family obligations slowed my pace. Trips involving two days or more on the water helped. In the end, it represented 39 gloriously happy days with friends, two epic first-descents and a tremendous amount of personal paddling development.

Really it amounts to less than one day a week. It doesn’t sound like much. Especially knowing one of our area paddlers notched 300 days on the water in 2016 (#amazing). But I got a great mix of park-and-play time, big water runs and lots of down-river play sessions. Even one day would be enough. So far, so good for 2017. Where will 2018 find me?

New Wave Sport Fuse 64

At last, a new Wave Sport Fuse 64 sits in the garage after months of borrowing a friend's to paddle.

Now we just need some water locally to christen the new boat on her maiden voyage.

I had been paddling a 2013 model, and this brand-new 2012 boat came as a close-out deal from Appomattox River Company. They are almost identical, but the outfitting is different in the 2013, which has a moveable seat (it can slide to the bow or stern by twisting a knob) and a ratchet adjustment to raise your inner thighs. The 2012 model does not have these features and instead has the more basic outfitting.

What I think when I roll

A smattering of thoughts ran through my head on my first combat roll of the year. 

I was surfing a wave in 35-degree water when I dropped my upstream edge and window-shaded. Unfortunately, my nose plugs snapped about 20 minutes earlier and were gone, making it worse. 

Here's my stream of consciousness:

1. Shit, I've got a mouth full of water.

2. Don't spit it out, your mouth will fill with more water.

3. Swim!

4. Don't swim. 

5. Swallow the water.

6. Hold your breath.

7. Get comfortable upside down under water. You're fine.

8. Set up.

9. Damn that current's strong. It's slowing my set up.

10. (Muscle memory takes over and I stop thinking).

11. Roll!

12. Whew.

All this transpired in about 5 seconds or so. Remember, stay calm and you will roll.

Surfing the Cuyahoga Brown Claw

The 271 wave on the Cuyahoga River.

We all have a home river. Maybe it's the whitewater in your backyard. Maybe it's the river that kindled your passion for paddling, or it could be the water you learned how to kayak on.

For me, that home stretch is the Cuyahoga River. I've paddled almost every stretch of it that's worth paddling (except the Class V Sheraton Run). The Cuyahoga starts in Northeast Ohio, heads south and then turns north, carving a wide "V" across the northeast part of the state. I'm fortunate to live just above the crux of the "V" where the best whitewater can be reached from my house with a simple 15 minute driver either east or west.

Last season, I borrowed a friend's Wavesport Fuse 64, which is a great river play and river-runner mix. And it's improved my game immensely, including surfing. I am by no means a play-hog. I am mastering the front surf and learning the side surf and flat spin. So it was great watching some much better paddlers hit the 271 wave on the Cuyahoga River in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. The 271 wave is named for the highway overpass bridge that spans the valley high above the spot on the river where the wave forms.

There are great whitewater run and play spots in northeast Ohio. And I'm fortunate to live within 15 minutes of many of them!

Why do we rejoice when it rains?

The 271 wave on the Cuyahoga River in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Northeast Ohio. 

The obvious answer is it means the rivers are running and there is whitewater to explore.

But I think the joy we find in drops of water falling from the sky is because paddlers love nature more deeply than most. And that appreciation, that connection, establishes within us an understanding of the nature of water.

In past eons, we would be farmers. We would be fishermen. We would know the simple beauty that water means life, a lesson we learn today as fierce drought gets a temporary reprieve from El Niño rain and snow storms.

Few others whose livelihood does not rely on rain clouds and swollen rivers grasp this simple truth.

As paddlers we are happy that fun and comradeship is found in healthy flows. But we also learn the bigger picture of the watershed, and rejoice for its recharge each time the skies open.

Starting the Year Right

Day one, and we were on the water. I can't imagine a better start to the 2016 paddling season than to spend two days on the river. And that's how it started.

The run was just the mild, rain-fed Cuyahoga River in Cuyahoga Valley National Park. And we were only paddling to get to the 271 Wave, a shelf drop that makes some interesting waves depending on the level. 

Watch video of our surf session here: http://youtu.be/HnXQrJ7iEfU 

And yet, any time or level on the water is a good one.