Harpers Ferry Raft Guide Race!

  Last Thursday May 21st, 2009, 12 raft teams gathered along the banks of the Shenandoah River to race for The Coveted Doah Cup. The level was 3.8 on the Millville gauge. ASCI was coming down in an attempt to hijack the Cup, but had to decline @ the last moment, causing quite a stir among the local teams. 

  Our independent team from the US Coast Guard was in stealth mode, sneaking in a practice run with long time Shenenadoah guide, Doug Spindle Krutsinger, at the helm. They looked serious from the sign in to the finish line.

  At the finish line 1st through was Team Struggle from River & Trail at 37:04. This was River & Trails first ever Doah Cup victory, congratulations! 2nd was the Coast Guard in 37:55, followed closely by Team Analog from River & Trail at 37:57! 

  There was a new rule in place this year, the bib wearer in each raft had to exit the raft as it touched shore at Potomac Wayside and run to the bottom of the big hill with their hand over the bib and stop time! Thank you to CROCS for sponsoring the race!

 That being said, Team Struggle walks away with the new shoes! 

  Congratulations to all of the racers. You will be happy to know you all raised $600.00 towards river conservation! Awesome job.

  Thanks to our local outfitters Butts, River Riders, and River & Trail for supporting the Harpers Ferry Outdoor Festival and Tim Gavin Downriver Race, Butts for hosting the after race party!

Don't forget: 

JUNE 20TH THE SHENANDOAH RIVER WILL BE RELEASING FROM THE MILLVILLEHYDRO STATION, WE ARE EXPECTING TO HAVE 3-3.5' ON THE MILLVILLE GAUGE THAT DAY FROM 9A-3P, ALL DEPENDENT ON NATURAL FLOWS

Here is a list of the results of the 5th Annual Quest for the Coveted Doah Cup.

1]Team Struggle- River and Trail 37:04 Kyle Gagnon Austin Russell Andy Mollohan Jermiah Carroll & Jake Rakowski

2]Coast Guard- 37:55 Chuck Davis, Erich Krueck, Ben Durrant, Doug Spindle Krutsinger, & Bill Rogers

3] Team Analog- River and Trail 37:57 Dave Hubbard, Sam Hubbard, Mark Hill, Jason One, ilEZ Everett

 Ruppert, Chris Carman, Shane Labrush

4] Team Ram Rod- Butts Tubes 38:13 Brendan Lingg, Jeff Isakson, John Keeney, John Marstan, William "Fatman"Stubbs

5] Team Catfish- River Riders 38:23 Isaac Kerns, Alex Kerns, Buckwheat, Meghan Williams

6] Mauve Avengers- River Riders 38:49 Chris Goodell, Cliff Ryland, Joe Martin, Genelle Botje, Tanner Haid

7]Gitbox revenge, AKA Red Rockets- Butts 39:12 Eric Crash Vance, Eric Mojo Morrison, Mike Metro McCauley, Kevin Tsunami Tsuneishi, John Sickenburger 

8]Unguided Missle- Butts 40:15 Rhett Colwell, Ryan Colwell, Chris McMunn, Tom Harosky, Ben Kirkendall, Michael Clevencer

9]Haz Beens- River & Trail 40:39 Moose Terry Milligan, Robert Mcimteer, Margaret Schill

10] Team Vag- River& Trail 43:01 Alyson Whitacre, Emily Reese, Maddie Vidmar, Sarah Maxley Sarah Bidinger

11] Lanky Pants- River Riders53:47 Nikk Bonneau, Ben Case

12] Blue Ridge Representin' Mitch Grove, Richard, Artie, Ciera Boggs, Tanya Hapgood.
  They were slow but set new course record with 30 beers consumed supposedly! Prepare for next years race, more independents coming into town in an attempt to hijack the Cup, will River & Trail repeat? Will ASCI show, or the Coast Guard improve slightly to take the Cup???Awesome race folks, we will see you all again next May for the paddlin' of The 6th Annual Quest for the Coveted Doah Cup!

Written by Lisa

Thanks to all the HFOF volunteers for putting on another great race!

And a special shout out to all the River Riders guides who put in a hard paddle, especially the when we discovered Ben and Nik paddled so hard they broke the oar." 

The New River Adventure of the Year: A High Water Road Trip

Tuesday May 5th 7AM - 

  The Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers are pretty high right now and we knew that other tributaries to the Potomac Basin would be up, too. We decided to head West with plans to run the North Branch of the Potomac. The subject of Stony and Abram Creeks came up, and since I was the only person on the trip that had done the Stony before, and no one had ever run Abram, we decided to take the route less traveled. Besides, none of us wanted to set shuttle all the way out on the Kitzmiller which was another hour away.

  So with Matt in the captain’s seat and Ed as co-pilot, we proceeded to find where Abram Creek meets the North Branch. Amazingly, we were able to get there without any wrong turns. When the road became the equivalent of an ATV trail, Matt took a survey of everyone in the van to see if we should continue. We decided that we had enough pushing power to get us out of almost anything, so we shoved on. Along our way, we were able to road scout the majority of the creek, paying close attention to bends in the river and large trees that might be across our path. We were fairly confident that we would be able to navigate through the creek without any problem. After moving from the van to the truck and changing into our river clothes, we headed back out toward the put-in. 

  Rob was now behind the wheel with Ben C. riding shotgun. We finally made it back to paved road and soon realized that it was a poor decision to ride in the bed of a truck when we had an enclosed van that we could have taken, instead. Man, was it cold! We quickly warmed up by inflating boats with a hand pump, though, and off we went. Within the first quarter-mile, the creek was choked up with boulders and strainers making it impassable by raft, resulting in our first portage of the day. Luckily, it was a short one of only about 10 feet.

  Catfish and Ben manned the first boat, with Rob, Anthony, and me following behind in boat #2, leaving Matt and Ed to run sweep. The creek mellowed after the first mile and by mile 4 I started to think that we should have picked the Kitzmiller or Stoney for a more exciting ride. The scenery was beautiful, though, and it gave you the feeling that you were in a truly remote area of the state. 

  We came to a second portage of the day and we could tell by the huge amount of debris

that the recent rain had taken the water level to at least 100 feet wide in that spot. It was a cool spot to stop because we could see evidence of beavers and the trees they had chopped down.

After that, the creek’s pace picked up substantially and it was now comparable to the Savage, maybe even a little more intense. Matt and Ed took the lead at that point, followed by Fish and Ben, with my boat bringing up the rear. The river was rockin’ and rollin’ and steadily dropped. Everything was moving so fast that it was hard to keep track of the miles.

  After awhile, we hit a third portage where the width of the creek was blocked by a giant evergreen tree. Beyond that, the river was littered with passable pathways that we aggressively paddled through. The R3 boat was a little heavier than the R2, so we did get stuck on a few rocks along the way. But nothing that a trio of Shenandoah guides can’t handle. Who knows rocks better than us?!?
Finally, we started to notice a few landmarks that we’d seen while setting shuttle. We thought that we would paddle under two bridges, but actually passed under four before reaching the take-out. At this point, the gradient was higher than it had been earlier making for a very speedy ending to our trip.

  It was great to have an opportunity to try a new run and it was even better to have had a swim-free day. A swim on the Abrams would have probably been a pretty painful dip, so we were happy that everyone made it through safely. All in all, it was a great start to the season. And boy were we glad that we left the van at the take-out. Dry clothes and a heater were the icing on the cake of our day!
Written by Bill

The Road might be closed, but the River is wide open!

PB's Rock N Run

  Adam and I set up our River Riders' booth at PB's Rock and Run Festival Saturday April 25th. The weather was absolutely fabulous and everyone had a great time. There was live music, a petting farm, and lots of other offerings. Too bad we couldn't bring the river with us! WHEW!

All in all, it was a great day for a great cause!

~Kym and Adam~