Day 1, Thursday 9/20 after mowing the yard and doing some chores, I drove up to West virginia and got a campsite at Tailwaters. Woody Calloway had offered up the new Liquid Logic ReMix for demo on BoaterTalk earlier in the day so I called and made plans for Friday.Day 2, Friday 9/21 I met up with Woody, Boyce, Justin, and Mike and got the ReMix. The plan: paddle the marathon, 26 miles of incredible river: Upper, Middle, and Lower Gauley.
The ReMix 69 was the perfect boat for this operation.
The run went very smoothly. It was a good day of great lines with a lot of river miles logged. I owe Woody for letting me borrow a boat so well suited for the run. It was in fact a pleasure paddling the ReMix on the marathon. The ReMix was fast, predictable, stable, and fun. That new Liquid Logic outfitting is exceptional.At the Lower G takeout parking lot after a full day of paddling:
I got back to the put-in / campsite / Tailwaters and proceeded to fix a sandwich and cook up some chicken at my neighbors camp. I hung out with Tiskmanikis and friends Friday evening and made plans to play boat the Upper Gauley together Saturday.
Day 3, 9/22 was another excellent day on the Upper Gauley. Scary point was getting hammered by a raft while I was surfing Insignificant Wave. I pulled up the edge of my kayak right before impact and got launched away from the raft. I saved getting stuck underneath the raft for Monday. We hung out at Pillow Rock for some time watching runs. Here are a few photos I took.
I dont think this eddy is really big enough for 2 but they tried.
I call the next 3 the Green Boat sequence.
More upside down Pillow time.
Nice crowd for the Pillow action.
I dont think this eddy is really big enough for 2 but they tried.I call the next 3 the Green Boat sequence.More upside down Pillow time.Nice crowd for the Pillow action.
Shane in a ReMix.
Chris Roberts aka Cranky and John Fuller were out in the squirt boats while Mack was right in there with them in the Scorpion.. 
There were some jumpers:
River Boarders rule!
Were these guys racing?
Day 4, 9/23 Paddled with Chris Roberts, John Fuller, Johnny Calhoun, and Gaston and Layla Gagne. I think a good time was had by all.
Chris was really ripping it up in the last hole.
I took a walk out onto the Dam and got some shots: 
Kayak on the right and two swimmers on the left: 
Day 5, Monday 9/24. I woke up not sure who I would be boating with. Of the people left at Tailwaters, the only ones I had talked to were some guys from Colorado who were paddling the Lower and a couple of guys racing.Anyway, as I was finishing up my breakfast, who drives through Tailwaters but Mike Huggins and RB Bineger, of The Wilson Creek/Watagua Crew. You can see more pictures of RB in the book Carolina White Water by Bob & David Benner. Look at the photo of Cathedral on the Linville River and Watagua Falls, RB firing them up in an Overflow. I really lucked out to get to paddle with these guys. A day on the river with them is sure to be a fun day and since Wilsons and Watagua hasnt been running too often, I had not seen them much.
Taking a lunch break and watching some action at Pillow:
Sliding back in:
We stopped at Sweets to watch some of the Upper Gauley racers finish, hoping to see Dennis Huntley at the finish line. Unfortunately we were asked to leave the rock overlook by a raft company bouncer before we got to see Dennis. Congrats to Dennis for winning the OC-1 category. Some race pics. The guy in the first picture won the Wildwater class. I had talked to him for a while at Tailwaters Sunday night. He was a nice guy and hails from the Potomac area. 
This next one was Chris Hipgrave.
Tupo Duo racing:
This guy wasnt racing but had a great boof. 
It was another good day on the river in spite of being run over by a raft in the pool below Sweets Falls. As I ferried away from our observation point, I got plowed over by a raft. It was partly my own fault for not paying better attention. I swam out of my boat because all I could see or feel was rubber above me. RB and Mike had to head on back to Hickory so I headed over to Mountain Lakes campground to do some mountain biking.
I rode for about an hour and a half. There are some very nice trails around the campground. The maps from the Mountain Lake Campground office were a huge help navigating around / through the campsites.
