Gauley

Saturday of Gauley Fest weekend can get very busy so plan an early start if you want to avoid the crowds. We set a car at the Woods Ferry take-out first and passing by Mason Branch we learned from NPS personnel that the parking there was filled by 6am. We got to the put-in around 9:30am. NPS had traffic control in place and was only letting 10 cars in at a time with approximately 10 minutes between waves. It took us about an hour to get down to the dam, geared up, and on the water for a 10:30am launch. We mostly cruised down to Woods Ferry and with a couple swims we were there just before 2:00pm.