Cacapon

on April 14th 2013 my boyfriend , his 11 year old son and I dropped our kayaks in at Capon Bridge. we were kayaking to route 127 bridge. The water gauge was at 5.25
peak at this time, because of the rain the day before. I was nervous since the 11 yr. old only kayaked in a small lake, yet he picked up the paddling technique real quick. The river was moving fast, and it was muddy. I enjoyed the whitewater rapids, churning and twisting every which way. when we came to the first ledge, the current pushed my kayak to the rightside in the middle. I tipped over headfirst, and boy was my body in for a cold shock. I tumbled around and then popped up, holding my kayak and paddle with my right hand. swimming sidestroke with my left arm. All i could think about was hypothermia and getting to land. the current was strong, as my friend was screaming for me to get to land. I finally grabbed some tree roots and held on in one place, until I had enough strength to pull my body on land. All the kayaks had water in them. the 11 year old tried to save me too. I had clothes in a dry sack and immediately changed. We rested for an hour eating our lunch. Two more ledges down river to go over. Once my breathing became normal, and I felt like kayaking again, it was back on the river. The rapids were high and fun to go through. We had another snag, when the 11 year old got his kayak caught sideways against a down tree. It must have taken his Dad 40 minutes to get his son and the kayak out of that pocket. The current was pushing the kayak under the tree. The Dad threw a rope to his son and pulled him out.
Once we were all together, we continued down river. going over the next two ledges were easy. The views of the caves, cliffs, caudy's castle, mushroom springs were just beautiful. More rapids to come and boy they were like a washing machine. The final stretch before the boat ramp, somehow I tipped over, and this time in two feet of water. I could feel the rock bottom and standup. I am five feet nine inches tall. I laughed at myself. Once at the boat ramp the slanesville volunteer fire company was getting water from the river. the hoses were blocking our exist. Those young boys saw us and they probably wondered what happened to me! I was a wet puppy! needless to say with everything that happened I had a great time, and was proud of the 11 year old making that whole river. it was a slap me five, ya we did it! I've had seven surgeries for breast cancer, and doing 12.6 miles of the river in high water was such a rush and challenge, I'd do it again!