Things that fall in the river get wet
Figure 1: Bryan paddling on the Shenandoah
1 Intro
This weekend my son Bryan, friends (former scouts from Philmont days) Sam and Preston and friend Jack went on an canoe trip down the Shenandoah river. We were only dumped in the river by two of the two rapids we encountered. More on that below.
Figure 2: Things that fall in the river get wet
2 Other people having fun
Along the way we saw many people out enjoying the Memorial Day weekend along the river. The photo below shows a water slide set up to let kids slide into the river, with a twist: the last 10 (3m) feet or so of the slide were down a mud bank. For safety there was a kayak in the water to help the fun-havers out if needed
Figure 3: Water and Mud Slide Into The River
3 Getting Dumped the first time
The river was up. Running about 6 feet (1.8m) at Luray. The outfitters along the river recommend only going at 5 feet (1.5m) or less. Our second day out we were making 5 miles per hour (8 km/h).
We hit the Compton Rapids. The swells were 3 feet (0.9m) or so. We made it about half way through, taking on water, and then got dumped. Life jackets are a good thing. It was a little dicey floating though the end of the rapids. We kept our paddles and stayed with the upside-down canoe. The only losses were a couple water bottles, cup holders and a fishing rod (other canoe). Most everything was tied down.
We floated 10 or 20 minutes in still-ish water and wound up swimming our swamped canoe to the banks where there was a large group camp-out. Some of the people (speaking pretty-much only Spanish) helped get our sorry selves and swamped canoe out of the water and drained out. They gave us 6 water bottles which replaced the water we had lost. Gracias !
4 Getting Dumped the second time
Figure 4: Pulling out after the second spill
The second time we got dumped was a about a mile from the end of the trip. Our planning had failed to disclose the presence of these rapids, just had it had failed to disclose the possibility of portage around the first set (Preston :-))
The other canoe went first. We hung back in the smooth (but fast) water so as not to run into them if they had trouble. They did. They dumped about half way through. These canoes were a little heavy with gear and people and not horribly stable. Extra water in the boat does not help.
I decided to go to the shore and work thorough options. We reached shore 10 or 20 yards (9 or 18) upstream from the rapids. I grabbed a tree root to hold us in place, but the current flipped us. At that point I made the call to “abandon ship”. We let the canoe go and swam to the bank rather than float the rapids in life jackets.
We climbed up the bank, staggered downstream and found that our friends were a) OK and b) had snagged our canoe.
5 The end
In the end, we had minimal losses, no significant injuries, no harm, no foul? Live and learn? Life jackets, tying down your gear and quick thinking are your friend. And fun was had in the face of self-selected risks.
Figure 5: At the takeout point (BEFORE we were drowned rats)
Days 15 and 16 of #100DaysToOffload https://100daystooffload.com/