I have a love and respect for rivers. The Delaware River has been a source of recreation and joy for me since I was a kid. I have canoed a lot of it over the years, once paddling from Hancock, New York down to Port Jervis, Pennsylvania in 5 days. It was natural that I have ended up living in this little river town of Lambertville, New Jersey. I have an Old Town Discovery that I bought as surplus at one of the boat rental joints up river from my town. When asked if I needed help carrying it to my car I said, 'no, help me carry it down to the river.' I paddled the 10 miles by myself.
Though it is a placid river, I have a very healthy respect for the river. Treachery lurks beneath the surface. Rocks and ledges and suddenly swift currents can tweak a bone or even lead to death. I know of two people who have died on the placid Delaware. I can't speak for their particular cases that led to their deaths, but I would hazard to guess they were lulled by the serenity into tomfoolery. There is room for chicanery while on the river, but one must always be aware of the dangers..
Now, take the "treachery" of the Delaware and ratchet it up 100 fold and you've got an idea of Team VFH's excursion down the lower Youghiogheny. Take the "white water" of Skinners Falls on the upper region of the Delaware and you're kind of close to the verocity of the Entrance Rapids on the lower Yough. Close.... Better yet, consider traveling down the class III rapids of this whitewater destination in Western Pennsylvania while wearing a fat suit, a cumbersome detail, and all you can do is bounce around like a nincompoop hoping you'll survive and you have a close approximation of my day on the lower Yough.
Gone was the nimble agility of my canoe. Gone was the ability to make quick judgments and the ability to feint left or right in order to avoid the rocks that awaited my sluggish fat suit ass of a raft patiently. How often were we pinioned on rocks caught hopelessly until one of the guides came to our rescue and pulled us free? It was embarrassing. I had a great time!!!!
After my initial misgivings I became resigned to bouncing rather than maneuvering. Truthfully though as the attentive crew of Wilderness Voyageurs went over the particulars of our trip down the lower Yough I was dreadfully afraid. I don't take these things lightly, but my healthy respect for the dangers of the river did not keep me from looking like a dimwit as we paddled down the rapids. There were times I did not know what to do, what commands to ladle out to my "crew". Janet and I were paired with a trio of teenage girls from Lancaster, PA. They were nice, though they chatted incessantly, and, would stop paddling when we hit rapids. We went through many of the rapids like a spinning top. Still, I had a great time! And, I would probably do it again. Janet has this elan for such adventures and prods me in the right direction.... She wanted to stay an extra day at Ohiopyle so we, er, she, could hit the class IV rapids of the Upper Yough, but there wasn't enough rain lately to allow for the required release of waters from the Youghiogheny River Dam, a reservoir formed by a dam erected in 1944 for flood control. I was prepared to wile away the day getting my land legs back.
Did I say that I had a great time? Thankfully we were never far from any one of the W.V. guides, either in another raft or kayaks. Before entering any of the rapids they laid out the plan of attack while we drifted in eddys. On some of the more difficult rapids one of them would position themselves on a rock and give hand signals as to what we were supposed to do, i.e. "stop paddling", "back paddle left or right", or, "paddle!" Before one especially hazardous rapids, called Dimple Falls we were given the option to portage around it as this series of rapids featured "entrapments" and underwater caves beneath the massive rocks that waited patiently for 605, our raft's number.
I have fallen out of a boat twice in my life by accident. The first time I was in a canoe with my ex-wife on the docile Wading River in NJ. She was two weeks shy of giving birth to my first child and the river zigged while we zagged and we toppled over. Don't worry, all survived and have thrived. The second time was at Dimple Falls. The W.V. crew cautioned us against "Pinball Rock". Well, we pinballed off this rock and caromed into this huge rock that pitched the raft so violently everyone but Janet fell overboard. I panicked momentarily, thinking I had been sucked into one of the caves, but it was only the raft above me. I grabbed the raft and then one of the girls and while the waters had us trapped dragged ourselves back onto the raft. The W.V. crew then threw us a rope to pull us into an eddy.
Did I say I had a good time? I did.
We were required to wear life jackets and helmets. I looked like a turtle, but I survived.
Janet did the research and picked Wilderness Voyageurs because of their website. Everyone of the crew were diligent and helpful. Later, when we were rehydrating at the Ohiopyle cafe a couple of the crew sauntered in and we bought them beers, thankful they were as respectful of the river.
http://wilderness-voyageurs.com/
Though it is a placid river, I have a very healthy respect for the river. Treachery lurks beneath the surface. Rocks and ledges and suddenly swift currents can tweak a bone or even lead to death. I know of two people who have died on the placid Delaware. I can't speak for their particular cases that led to their deaths, but I would hazard to guess they were lulled by the serenity into tomfoolery. There is room for chicanery while on the river, but one must always be aware of the dangers..
Now, take the "treachery" of the Delaware and ratchet it up 100 fold and you've got an idea of Team VFH's excursion down the lower Youghiogheny. Take the "white water" of Skinners Falls on the upper region of the Delaware and you're kind of close to the verocity of the Entrance Rapids on the lower Yough. Close.... Better yet, consider traveling down the class III rapids of this whitewater destination in Western Pennsylvania while wearing a fat suit, a cumbersome detail, and all you can do is bounce around like a nincompoop hoping you'll survive and you have a close approximation of my day on the lower Yough.
Gone was the nimble agility of my canoe. Gone was the ability to make quick judgments and the ability to feint left or right in order to avoid the rocks that awaited my sluggish fat suit ass of a raft patiently. How often were we pinioned on rocks caught hopelessly until one of the guides came to our rescue and pulled us free? It was embarrassing. I had a great time!!!!
After my initial misgivings I became resigned to bouncing rather than maneuvering. Truthfully though as the attentive crew of Wilderness Voyageurs went over the particulars of our trip down the lower Yough I was dreadfully afraid. I don't take these things lightly, but my healthy respect for the dangers of the river did not keep me from looking like a dimwit as we paddled down the rapids. There were times I did not know what to do, what commands to ladle out to my "crew". Janet and I were paired with a trio of teenage girls from Lancaster, PA. They were nice, though they chatted incessantly, and, would stop paddling when we hit rapids. We went through many of the rapids like a spinning top. Still, I had a great time! And, I would probably do it again. Janet has this elan for such adventures and prods me in the right direction.... She wanted to stay an extra day at Ohiopyle so we, er, she, could hit the class IV rapids of the Upper Yough, but there wasn't enough rain lately to allow for the required release of waters from the Youghiogheny River Dam, a reservoir formed by a dam erected in 1944 for flood control. I was prepared to wile away the day getting my land legs back.
Did I say that I had a great time? Thankfully we were never far from any one of the W.V. guides, either in another raft or kayaks. Before entering any of the rapids they laid out the plan of attack while we drifted in eddys. On some of the more difficult rapids one of them would position themselves on a rock and give hand signals as to what we were supposed to do, i.e. "stop paddling", "back paddle left or right", or, "paddle!" Before one especially hazardous rapids, called Dimple Falls we were given the option to portage around it as this series of rapids featured "entrapments" and underwater caves beneath the massive rocks that waited patiently for 605, our raft's number.
I have fallen out of a boat twice in my life by accident. The first time I was in a canoe with my ex-wife on the docile Wading River in NJ. She was two weeks shy of giving birth to my first child and the river zigged while we zagged and we toppled over. Don't worry, all survived and have thrived. The second time was at Dimple Falls. The W.V. crew cautioned us against "Pinball Rock". Well, we pinballed off this rock and caromed into this huge rock that pitched the raft so violently everyone but Janet fell overboard. I panicked momentarily, thinking I had been sucked into one of the caves, but it was only the raft above me. I grabbed the raft and then one of the girls and while the waters had us trapped dragged ourselves back onto the raft. The W.V. crew then threw us a rope to pull us into an eddy.
Did I say I had a good time? I did.
We were required to wear life jackets and helmets. I looked like a turtle, but I survived.
Janet did the research and picked Wilderness Voyageurs because of their website. Everyone of the crew were diligent and helpful. Later, when we were rehydrating at the Ohiopyle cafe a couple of the crew sauntered in and we bought them beers, thankful they were as respectful of the river.
http://wilderness-voyageurs.com/
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