Buckhannon Trip

We headed out "west" on April 4th to Buckhannon, WV for Bill Ward's Annual Spring Time trip. Bill's family owns a "holler" just and they always graciously allow us to stay in his Grandparent's old place. We had a great weekend. It was sunny and warm during the day and rained every night. The last couple years there had been a shortage in the rainfall category making many of these smaller volume streams hard to catch running. This year was quite the change. We got a different run in every day. Friday we caught the Middle Fork of the Tygart at bare minimum. It was a good time none the less. Everyone's run was uneventful.
Saturday we headed to Webster Springs to "Shred" the Elk. We cruised up the road to Bergoo and took several hours to get back. We happened to be there the same day as the Webster Wildwater Weekend. We hadn't planned for it, were running a little late, and missed most of the festivities. The Elk is a beautiful class II-III (IV) run. It had plenty of water on Saturday the 5th, and we all had a great time shredding. Shayne was the only swimmer, during a moment of inattention.
Sunday was the day we had all been waiting for though. The 4 mile run on the Buckhannon River down to Sago was perfect. The level was 8 feet and the weather was beautiful. The class III-IV run was a great time, and we had a few minor mishaps. This is a very unique and beautiful run in total seclusion in the heart of West Virginia. We stopped and saw the Sago Church featured so often on the news and went to the memorial for the miners that lost their lives in the collapse January 2, 2006. It was very touching.
There were about 15 of us on the trip, and everyone has been talking about it since we got back. 3 days of good paddling and a great time by all.

Lost River Trip 3/9/08

It was originally planned as a trip to the Kitzmiller Section of the North Branch of the Potomac, but when we got to River Riders Sunday morning, the level was 4.2 and dropping, and we weren't really wanting to scrape down the river when it was about 25 degrees and 25 mph winds. We checked out the gauge and saw that the Lost and the South Fork of the South Branch (the Moorefield) were running so we decided to head that way. Amanda, Lauren, Melissa, Bill, Ed and I loaded up the gear and hit the road.

When we got to the put-in for the Lost, it was running although low, about 3 inches on the bridge gauge, and we decided to check it out. Bill and I had done it before and it was the first time down for everyone else.

It was cold when we started blowing up the rafts - new 12 ft self bailers that we purchased from NRS last season and wanted to try out. The weather warmed up quickly and with all the gear everyone had on, I don't think anyone got cold on the river.

The trip was a blast. Although it was a bit boney and we had alot of rocks to go around, everything went smoothly except when I fell out it the only class IV on the trip and we broached on the two rocks in the main drop. Ed and Bill and I hooked some webbing and a throwbag to it and were able to pull it off pretty easily. Ed and I then dragged the raft back up and ran it again for redemption and had a clean run. The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. We all enjoyed getting back on the water and are looking for spring to be here soon.

Matt, Ed, Melissa, Amanda, Rob, Lauren, and Bill

All of the staff River Riders have been working extra hard in the past few months on summer preparations. The boys in the shop, as you can see, have been working on finishing the upstairs area which we are planning on utilizing as an extra check in area for the summer. Ben, Ed, Bill, and Adam under the pressure of deadlines, finished the upstairs in time for inspection, which went very well. Ed has been working on finishing the counter (which looks amazing) while Ben, Bill, and Adam moved on to repairing rafts and duckies for next summer.

The girls in the office have been working hard as well. Angie, our administrative assistant, has been doing a great job working with vendors, paying bills, sending out tax information, setting up employee incentives, and working as Matt's right hand woMan!

The office girls Meredith and Rebecca, have been pounding away at their keyboards entering in important information to our database. When they aren't in front of their computers they are doing a wonderful job cleaning the retail area and getting it ready to display our new merchandise.

Lauren and Amanda are working on setting up summer programs and booking reservations for larger groups with special requests. Lauren has been doing a great job updating our website and processing summer camp applications. Amanda is working with applications for employment, promoting the company at trade shows, ordering merchandise, and developing relationships with different parks and recs in the area. Amanda is also working on getting musicians to play for us on Saturdays during the summer time.

We are all working very hard on getting everything just right for you, our guests and employee's! Here is to thoughts of warmth and the longer lasting sunshine of spring!

River Riders Christmas

The holiday season is coming to an end & things around here are getting back to normal. I hope everyone had a nice, relaxing vacation this year. Winter is still here - I can tell this because it's still cold, but where's the snow? I had to travel all the way to Utah 2 weeks ago just to see some. It was great though, snowboarding for a few days! Here in Harpers Ferry it seems that we've been having some great river levels for those extreme white water enthusiasts. The Potomac was up close to 7.5 feet & the Shenandoah was around 3.3 feet this month.

River Riders had it's annual Christmas Dinner on Thursday, Dec 19th. That was a night of fun times & heartfelt sharing of memories over the past years. This past season was my first season at River Riders, but it's great to be part of such an awesome family. And that's what River Riders is - a family. Everyone is always there for each other & work just doesn't feel like work. A lot of people, once they start working at River Riders, stay here for many years - who would want to leave?

Well other than that, we're doing a lot of planning for next season at River Riders. There's going to be a lot of great things coming soon! I can't wait for the season to start up... I miss the busy summer days here as well as getting to go kayking. Well, that's it for now!

Choosing the right river trip

Choosing the right river trip for you and your companions is important in making sure you have a good time on your outing. You need to plan your trip around the most timid person in your group. Trying to convince group members to take part in a trip they don't feel comfortable with can lead to a bad day for them and you.

Things to keep in mind when choosing a trip include:

1. Desire of group members

2. Age, Experience, Ability and Medical Conditions of Participants

3. Difficulty of rapids

4. Weather on the day of your trip (remember it can be different than the day you are planning or booking a trip)

5. River level (can vary depending on rainfall and time of year)

Activities can include whitewater rafting, tubing, kayaking, canoeing, and biking. Beginner level rafting trips are suitable for most people during normal weather and water levels. Intermediate and advanced level rapids are great for some people especially those desiring a challenge and thrill during their adventure.

Tubing trips can involve beginner to intermediate level rapids and/ or flat water. Tubing can sometimes be more challenging than a guided rafting trip because each participant is in their own tube versus having someone steer for them. Flat water tubing is often suitable even for young guests. Our minimum age is 4 and 30 pounds. Whitewater tubing is generally 10 to 12 years of age.

Flatwater canoe and kayak outings are also suitable for most guests who are comfortable around the water. Although participants need to keep in mind when renting equipment that they will be on their own during the outing and they will need to be able to manuver their craft on the own and may need to rescue themselves or other group member in the event of a capsize.

Biking in the C and O Canal National Park is an ever popular activity. Those who are able to competently ride a bike will find this to be a beautiful and relatively easy ride along the Potomac River. Trips range from a half day to 5 days along this 185 mile long course.

Many river users will enjoy an easier level trip and remember that wet suits are a good idea in colder air and water temperatures.

Guide Olympics Winter special

Just a note, The 2007 Winter Guide Olympics went off without a hitch! Meghan the Floating Turtle and Justin the Aerial Kayaker put on quite a show indeed! After many runs they wound up finishing with the same score......pains!

OK it's 5 deg f wind chill, here is what we saw!

Outch!!!!

Compact What???

Until our next no Brain' er, see ya out there. -Simon

Snow photos

Well it looks like the blizzard of '07 turned into 2 inches of snow and a bunch of ice in Harpers Ferry. We decided to take advantage of it, so we did a little ATV ridin' in the snow and rode to the river to check it out.

The Shenandoah River had a thin sheet of ice all the way accross. It was beautiful. Reminded me that summer's a ways off.