Gauley

Scheduled releases occur on weekends beginning the Friday following Labor Day. See the Army Corps' web site for the scheduled dates, times, and flows.

The Lower Gauley is big water. It can also be tons of fun. After a short warm-up with a few small play waves you will see a huge rock on River right and the river will drop out of sight. That's Koontz Flume, the first of several class IV/IV+ rapids on the Lower G. There is a sneak on far river left. The biggest hazard with the sneak is the possibility of meeting up with boaters in the eddy at the bottom waiting their turn to play in 5 Boat Hole. The more conventional line is to run on river right but well left of the huge undercut rock. One obstacle that catches some paddlers is a sticky hole just above the main drop. There is a tongue to the right of the hole and left of a smaller rock that forms an eddy on river right. You can catch the eddy behind the smaller rock and above the huge rock or you can paddle back to the left after clipping the upper hole and catch the green water that takes you on a roller coaster ride down to the bottom of the rapid. If you go for the river right eddy just above the rock make sure that you make it. There has been at least one fatality when a boater swam on the eddy line and was flushed into the undercut.

The next major rapid after Koontz Flume is Canyon Doors. It is in a slight bend on the river with beautiful rock cliffs on the right. There are a couple of big rocks in the middle of the river with most of the flow going to the right. The eddy behind the rocks is a nice resting spot before deciding how to run the rest of the rapid. At levels around 1000-1500 cfs there are some great surfing waves between the rocks and the river right shoreline. After Canyon Doors comes Junkyard. Then things quiet down for a while before you get to Psuedo Mash and Twisted Sister. You will recognize Twisted Sister as a squirrely

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