With most of the South Eastern USA in a drought the Gauley River in West Virginia has been one of the best spots on the east coast for playboating and training for next seasons competitions.

Looping the Diesel at Ender Waves on the Gauley (Photo Bryan Kirk)

A few weeks ago nothing had been running and the out look was starting to look pretty grim for this years fall padding season. Luckily for people in WV the Gauley was still releasing at lower levels, around 1700. At these levels the river is still really fun to run but the play definitely goes down a notch.

Cartwheeling the Fuse 56 (Photo Bryan Kirk)

Lately West Virginia has actually got some rain and we’ve been lucky enough to get on some of the classic creeks such as Manns and the Lower Meadow at great flows. On top of that the Gauley released at 10 000 cfs for close to a week offering some world class play and super fun river running. After the high water releases on the Gauley tamed down a bit the dam started consistently releasing regular fall flows or higher! (around 2800 cfs) In between 2500 and 3500 cfs the Gauley has two of the best training holes that I can think of; the Sweet Spot hole below Sweets Falls and the hole above Iron Ring…which is above Iron Ring J (not a very original name I know). These holes allow any of the new hole moves in a really controlled environment that’s ideal for learning. The moves to work on have been Phonix Monkeys and McNastys with a little bit of effort put on Tricky Whu’s as well.

Back looping at Canyon Doors (Photo Karl Moser)

Anyway I’ll stop blabbing on and let you enjoy the video of myself and Bryan Kirk having a blast on the Gauley.

Kelsey Thompson