My Students Love Me (Gauley Whitewater Festival)

This past weekend, we went to Gauley Fest, which is a huge whitewater festival near the Gauley River in West Virginia. That and the New River are a huge whitewater sports area. I also gave my students a take home exam this weekend. When they heard I was going kayaking, one asked, "If you die, do we all get A's?" Then another asked, "What if you're in the hospital?" I said, "If I'm in the hospital, and you come visit me, I'll give you extra credit." Unfortunately for them, I did not end up in the hospital. I even had a good time.

I went on a trip of the upper part of the New River organized by some guys from Coastal Canoeists. The river is gorgeous, and we had awesome weather.
I made it known that I was a very nervous newbie, and they took good care of me. After the first rapid, which was bigger than anything I had ever done before, I asked how it compared to the rest. They told me, "This is a small one!" Ulp.

On about the third rapid I hit a big weird wave and went over. I've been used to having instructors in classes right there to rescue me, but in this case my companions were too far away to get there fast enough for my lungs, in my estimation. (I may be wrong; one's perspective is, um, altered when one is upside down under water.) So I bailed. Apparently I picked the middle of the longest rapid to swim. Or that may be a perspective thing again. In any case, I had fun floating through the rest of the big waves and over rocks til the water calmed down again.

After that, something seems to have finally clicked. First of all, having flipped and swam but not dead or maimed, it suddenly seemed not so bad. Secondly, I figured out that I had to relax and let the boat just go through the rapids instead of trying to keep it level. That prevented more flipping. Just go with the flow. Of course. The group gave me a lot of encouragement and praise, also. That somehow helps a lot.

I didn't flip on any other rapids, of which there were plenty. I went through waves up to my eyeballs and was shocked every time I made it through still upright. The rapids were rated class II-III, although I think they all qualify as class II since the water was low. I was glad for that, even though the other paddlers were bummed. I don't have any pictures of me, but you can see some of this section of the river here.

Richard, meanwhile, did the lower New River section, where all the class IV-V rapids are. I managed to capture Richard running the last rapid (Fayetville Station). This is rated class IV, although everyone seemed to think that it was really a class III, again, because the water was so low.

Sunday I went hiking and got some great alone time in God's creation. The New River Gorge bridge (largest arch bridge in the western hemisphere, they claim):

I finally got a picture of a butterfly! ...and a snake. Anyone know what kind he is? Besides camouflaged! His head is in the middle on the right hand side, tail bottom left.