A nice traditional right side run of Lava Falls on the Colorado River in a solo Silverbirch Rebel in 2019:
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Videos of open canoes running very hard or big rapids
- Thread starter Glenn MacGrady
- Start date
A solo right side run of Lava Falls in 2012:
Two solo canoes, an Esquif Extasy (red) and a Covert 10.5 (blue), run the extreme left side "sneak route" of Lava Falls in 2023:
Two right side runs of Lava Falls in tandem canoes in 2016.
First, in a tandem with full splash cover:
Next, a tandem fully bagged but with no canoe cover:
First, in a tandem with full splash cover:
Next, a tandem fully bagged but with no canoe cover:
The Upper Gauley River in 2019 with disaster at the undercut and retentive Room of Doom at Pillow Rock Rapid. Also a very dangerous rock crack run (intentional or unintentionally desperational?) above Sweet's Falls, through which only a very narrow canoe could fit without getting permanently stuck.
****, that instantly brought back a memory. Crazy. Love these vids though, great thread!
Wow, that's some gnarly stuff. I should plan a whitewater trip, I've never done anything like that. Bucket list and all, ya' know.
Barb B., the woman that Lost Paddle Rapid is named for, still paddles. I paddled with her last Thursday (albeit on a much tamer run on the Potomac).
wvtourism.com
Do you know how the Gauley River's 'Lost Paddle' received its name?
Traversing the legendary Gauley River is no easy task. Rafters have been flocking to its world-renowned rapids for years, and West Virginia has even
wvtourism.com
I've hiked part of the Gauley at low water. There are gnarly undercuts throughout Lost Paddle.
In my view, if you aren't comfortable and sure you'll stay in your boat you should stay away from the Gauley.
In my view, if you aren't comfortable and sure you'll stay in your boat you should stay away from the Gauley.
Interesting. Do you have any idea how old she is now?
This video has its own thread here but I'll put it in this thread, too, because Nolan Whitesell's 1987 run of the Niagara Gorge, a few months after @TomP and I ran Section IV of the Chattooga and the Ocoee with him, is still the biggest water open canoe run in world history.
The nonpareil Nolan Whitesell runs Bull Sluice at high water in 2004.
Freefall carnage and lots of rolls as five open canoeists take on class V+ Chile in 1993.
I paddled with Bob Foote in northern California in the early 1980s and Mike Yee (et ux.) in the Hudson Gorge, NY, in the late 80s.
I paddled with Bob Foote in northern California in the early 1980s and Mike Yee (et ux.) in the Hudson Gorge, NY, in the late 80s.
Wow! Lots of disappearing boats, followed by impressive recoveries!
And they are paddling real canoes, not the 8-foot, almost-cockpitted, electric-pumped, scarab-beetle-shaped things that pose as open canoes these days.
Yeah, but I didn't see any Grummans or OCAs!
Mark Miller was one of those crazy canoers down in Chile and he put on the whitewater clinics I attended back in 1993 or so on the Methow River. He was paddling a Dagger Genesis that he used down in Chili and let me borrow it for the clinic rather than the tandem Blue Hole OCA I was paddling. I also borrowed a well-used Whitesell Piranha that Nolan had owned. Mark offered to sell the Piranha to me for a good price but I decided to buy a Genesis of my own from Clipper Canoes. (Bob Foote designed the Genesis.) I learned a lot from Mark and put it to good use on the Methow, Twisp, Chewuch, Wenatchee, and Skagit Rivers. Never paddled anything above Class 3+/4- though. Yikes!
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also very interesting and impressive 
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