The Valley Falls section of West Virginia’s Tygart River is famous for a succession of runnable waterfalls. John Mullen, 37, was a strong kayaker and serious slalom racer who worked as copy editor for the Washington Post. He trained seriously for paddling, and planned to use Valley Falls to prepare for a run on Great Falls of the Potomac later in the year. He and a friend arrived at the Tygart on July 24th. Angus Phillips, in an excellent piece for the Washington Post, said that the river was running 6.75 feet that day. This is well above the suggested level of 4.7 feet and this extra water made the drops significantly more difficult. Mr. Mullen’s friend ran first, then set safety. Mullen landed the drop cleanly, but was pulled back into the waterfall after flipping on the boil. His roll attempt failed, then the falling water hit him, pushing his kayak down deep. After a very long wait Mr. Mullen appeared 30 yards downstream. His friend followed him over the next falls and into the pool below, but by then it was too late.