Youghiogheny

From Boygenius on Boatertalk:

Bridge Hole on the Lower Yough: (6.5-higher on the Ohiopyle gauge???)

After that awesomely fun spot, I drove up through Friendsville up to Ohiopyle. I arrived at 5:00 or so and some friendly, but seemingly burn-out local raft guides turned me on to a hole on the Lower Yough just under the bridge above the falls. After checking it out, I hopped in for a great time. The hole is very wide, fairly shallow, kind of scary in a way, but great for hole-moves. It's a pour-over hole with a very uniform ledge, which might even be man-made. the surfer's right side is very shallow, but it's not too hard to surf over to the left side where it's deeper and has a small wave for a shoulder. This spot is REALLY renentive--in fact the only real eddy is in the backwash of the hole, which you just paddle up in to from directly behind! It's easy to surf your way out either corner, though. When the hole's good (it was a hair higher on Saturday), you can link endless (and I mean endless 20+ points) ends to the left, clean and super clean to the right, split both way, hit small loops, and I even was hitting lefty tricky-wu's in it--which I've never done before! You can blunt and backstab right off the surfer's left shoulder wave, and rides can last just about as long as you want them to. Moves are smooth and in-control here. What a great time!!! I appreciated finally having a few other boaters around here...playboating is just more fun with others!

How to get there:

In Ohiopyle, either park at the take-out for the loop or simply walk there with your boat. You can see the hole from the road's bridge across the river upstream of the falls. It's the largest of the holes in the area and is more or less in the middle of the river almost directly under the bridge. Put-in on the river right side in a BIG eddy and surf your way across to the big, turbulent eddy/backwash of the hole. This backwash/eddy is large enough for 3 or 4 boaters to wait in while a paddler plays. Because of it's proximity to Ohiopyle falls, this is not a safe place to play for any playboater who might potentially swim. Also the hole can be very grabby in the middle and if you're not comfortable moving your boat around side-to-side in a large hole, this might not be a good place to play.

Entrance Wave on the Lower Yough (6.9 and under...best at 6.3ish on the Ohiopyle gauge)

After playing the hole under the bridge for about an hour, I walked across the bridge down the the put-in for the lower Yough to surf entrance. The river was totally empty of other boaters, giving me the wave all to myself! It's on the river-right at the top of entrance rapid. This wave is AWESOME!!! It breaks consistantly on the surfer's left and hole moves are possible here, then turns into this STEEP, BIG, GLASSY wave on the surfer's right side. When it winds up to it's highest, it's probably every bit of 4 or 5 feet high! It was rising and starting to green out on me friday night, but that didn't keep me from hitting my first ever Helix to the right there! This spot seriously rules. On Saturday, I threw ends both ways, split at least once, clean spun, big air-looped, blunted left, flip-turned, and helixed all in one ride!!! The eddy on river right is smaller and more turbulent, but right next to the wave. There is a HUGE eddy river left, but it's farther accross the river. I had more fun at this spot than any of the others on Friday: it just gave up huge bounces and awesome air-moves. Who would have known that something like this was on the lower Yough!!?? There was no one else around...I LOVE WV...er, PA!

How to get there:

Put in at Ohiopyle at the standard put-in below the falls, paddle downstream about 200 yards, in the first wave-train on the river right, you will see the breaking, happy wave with an eddy to it's river right side. You can easily carry back up to your car at the put-in by heading up the river left eddy and walking back up the short gravel access road to the put-in. It's only a 4-minute walk!

Saturday was so much fun paddling the lower yough with my good friends Brian and Kristin. What a great weekend. Back in time for church on Sunday. Enjoy these spots!!!

Stephen Wright

Team Prijon