Thinking about rafting the chutes on Sat 6/12 with a really lite crew, has anyone rafted this section. It's only 10 miles from my house if it's raftable I need to take advantage. Any info would be great or if anyone wants to join us give me a call (970)401-2152
Taylor
I can't see getting a raft down the regular part of the river let alone the "chutes". Too many rocks, too narrow through the chutes and too shallow overall. Let me know if it works, I will try my raft next.
If it did broach and did not flush you would just walk up to the outcropping that creates the chute and jump down onto the boat to pop it out, just like the vid's of Sweets falls on the Gauley - there's a HUGE recovery pool so it's not like you're going to flush with your raft into a class IV or V rapid.
It IS raftable if you are bored enough to paddle it.
If it did broach and did not flush you would just walk up to the outcropping that creates the chute and jump down onto the boat to pop it out, just like the vid's of Sweets falls on the Gauley - there's a HUGE recovery pool so it's not like you're going to flush with your raft into a class IV or V rapid.
It IS raftable if you are bored enough to paddle it.
I have seen it done in a variety of rafts including a 14' . You could probably go through the chutes right now but the water might be a little low to have much fun on the rest of the river. At around 500cfs a lot of the rocks are underwater and the odds of getting stuck on a sandbar are greatly reduced.
If you go I would like to participate just to say I have done it.
I have been down it a couple times in my 13' saturn. Get 2-3 good strokes into the chutes and lean in shouldmake it through smooth. Ran it at 120cfs gets tight at that leavel
Thanks guys the weather has been pretty nasty up here, so probably not going today, but if I do make it down I will let everyone know how it goes. It would be either anR2 or R3 crew real lite and a run to do strictly out of boredom and its so close.
Did you ever get on there? I'm thinking that might be an interesting place to try out my new oar set-up (yeah, I know I'll need to ship my oars through the chute). Interested in giving it a go this evening?
That run is definitely not advised for a 14' raft. We floated last week in kayaks and it has alot of exposed rocks that a raft can't make it through. You'll definitely be needing some major repairs after that run on a raft.
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