... the "torrential rains" of the past few weeks won't seem to let up - the local 'Yough River' been runnin' pretty high, fluctuating between 5ft to 11ft on the 'Ohiopyle Gauge' since early June - solid Class 4+ whitewater with very swift flatwater and "chop" - no place for the inexperienced... the oppressive weather reminds us of a previous "gray summer" and a memorable trip through the 'Lower Yough' sometime late Fall back in the early 80's...
... had been pestered all winter long by a guy I worked with to take him on a whitewater rafting trip through the 'Lower Yough River' gorge - spring broke kind of early that year, so we decided to schedule a 'run' the first week that posed some mild temperatures - think that it was late April - gave 'Harry' a week advance notice that we planned to head out mid-week of the following - wanted to avoid the weekend 'commercial rafting' crowds - weekdays ya' usually had the river mostly to yourself...
... so early that morning we arrive at the put-in with a crew consisting of me, 'Harry' (no experience), the wife (some experience), brother-in-law 'Jimmy' (no experience but fearless) and Bill Fiesta (lots of experience and crazy ta' boot - wanted at least one other strong paddler along to "pick up the slack")... it had been raining every day on and off since planning this thing the previous week, with some heavy rains the weekend prior - the river was running just over 5ft on the 'Ohiopyle Gauge' - solid Class 4+... while making final preparations at the put-in - lashing gear, bailing buckets (no self-bailing rafts at the time - had the new 'Pioneer 13' with solid floor), a small cooler and other items, here comes a park ranger who begins hammering a sign into the lawn right next to us reading in big capital letters 'DANGER - HIGH WATER' - unbeknownst to us the 'Corp of Engineers' had been releasing water from the up river 'Yough Dam' all morning long to relieve some of the pressure from the lake, we were informed by the ranger, along with the fact that the river level was scheduled to rise an additional 4 feet in the next hour alone and was being shut down immediately to all boating - we all looked at each other - "Well, wad'ya think?" - man, we're all pumped up, tied down, life jacketed in and ready to roll - besides, Bill wanted to hear none of this "bailing out" talk unless it meant from the raft and was really protesting any talk of cancellation - also, a few other parties had already pulled out ahead of us along with a commercial trip as well as several groups of kayakers - figured that there were plenty of people on the water in case of any emergency - so we all grab a corner 'D-Ring' and make our way down the trail to the put-in - the ranger informing us that we "go at our own risk!"...
... man - the river was really swollen by now and had taken on a whole new character than what I was accustomed to from eight prior years of running at "normal levels" - most of the large boulders throughout 'Entrance Rapid' were under water and there was a whole series of new drops and holes to negotiate... we screwed up and failed to ferry river right in time to avoid dropping over the large boulder that sits near river center at 'Cucumber Rapid' - the bow of the raft hit so violently at the drop that I was flipped out backwards and was totally pummeled through the now very large tailwaves - all I remember is being underwater for what seemed too long while being flipped in every direction - when I finally made it back into the raft, Harry commented that "... your honey was worried about you"...
... the remaining 'Loop' was by now a series of more large holes and drops - stopping to scout any one was totally useless, so ya' had just had to go for it and hope for the best... Bill was now in his 'big water' environment and, typically, wanted to hit everything head on - if we would go over a big drop and Bill would look left or right to see something even bigger, his comment was always "... aww man! we missed that one!!"...
... everybody was by now having the time of their lives, but I knew better and was aware of what was yet to come considering the conditions - 'Railroad Rapid' was completely washed out and I made the comment that we could bail here and hike the 'Loop Trail' back to the vehicle - everyone looked at me like
I was crazy...
... by the time we reached 'Dimple Rock' it had been completely washed out with the run now going river right over large boulders - a few of the commercial boats had flipped here and I took another swim while reaching out too far to grab a totally terrified-looking girl by the hand to pull her into our boat - she yanked me out instead - another long pummel through what was once 'Swimmers Rapid' - I managed to catch a large boulder near river center and was standing waist deep while getting a breather before jumping back into the "torrrent" to catch our raft which was now several hundred feet ahead - a kayaker came paddling by and asked me if I needed help - I told him I was OK - draped backward over the front hull of his boat was the girl I tried to grab - I always thought that was just an expression, but she was literally "white as a ghost"...
... 'Double Hydraulic' rapid was completely washed out - 'Rivers End' rapid was by now probably the most violent looking rapid, especially if negotiating the boulder field to the right - which we didn't, to Bills disappointment....
... sailing past the 'Bruner Run Takeout' the rest of the river down to 'Camp Carmel' was mostly washed out with a few good drops and holes here and there which could easily have been missed if not for 'Rodeo Bill'...
... we pulled in to the small sandy beach at 'Camp Carmel' to retrieve a cooler of (mostly) beer and food we had stashed the night before - been doing it for years - the camp caretaker, an old guy, spots us and rides over on his three-wheeler to ask us what we are doing - he pulls up right between us and our cooler (hidden in the brush) and is pretty talkative - he's droning on and on about how drinking is forbidden on the camp grounds and how he enforces the rules and so on and so on - it's probably now around noon and Bill has been waiting on a cold beer all day - he can stand it no longer and walks directly around the caretaker, yanks the large red cooler from the brush, opens it, pulls out a 16 ounce budweiser, and downs it in probably two swigs, right in front of the caretaker, then crushes the can - the guy looks totally incredulous.... we all jumped back into the boat and continued downstream toward C'ville and take out at the Rod and Gun Club - with the high water we made in there in a little under 45 minutes - a trip that usually takes at least two hours - total time from Ohiopyle to South Connellsville around 5 hours - a trip that usually takes at least 8 hours by rubber raft at normal flow...
... learned the next day the the Yough had crested above twelve feet on the Connellsville river gauge that day - with twelve feet being the official flood stage...
... hadn't seen Harry for quite a few years after that, we had both gotten laid off from the job we shared, and he had subsequently taken a job down south - he was back in the area visiting one day and gave me a call - said that he had continued river running throughout the souther states and had occasionally paddled the Ocoee River and such - he said that none of them even compared to that day on the Yough...
... Bill and young crew at more sane water level...
... a few of the boys - bottom Yough and normal flow...
Update 07/11/15...
... paddler and river guide 'JJ Fiesta' (he's the young guy in the red life jacket in the old raft photo above) contributed a few 'helmet cam' images he captured on a recent 8+ foot day while paddling the 'Lower Yough' along with a few buddies...
(JJ Fiesta photo)
(JJ Fiesta photo)
(JJ Fiesta photo)
(JJ Fiesta photo)
... "the apple don't fall too far from the tree" it appears - thanks for the use of the photos, Jay...
