This was announced at the July meeting. the trip is on for the weekend of the 9th and 10th of August, unless water levels drop to low. I'll keep the thread up to date. Anyone interested in stepping up their paddling to a solid class 3, 3+ and possible class 4-, this is an excellent river to work on your skills. The lower Yough can be as easy or difficult as you make it.

Gmead

Here's a link to the Lower Yough page on AW.

[www.americanwhitewater.org]

The river is currently running 2ft, a very fun, playful level.

Gmead



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/18/2008 10:12PM by ezgpaddler.

The Lower Yough is a nice run. Not as difficult as the Ocoee but a good notch above the Nanty or Pigeon. Those who are starting to get bored on the Nanty should definitely give the Lower Yough a go.

If it were not so far, I would spend several weekends there per year.

A side bonus, if you have the time and inclination, is [www.fallingwater.org] which is just a few miles from the put in. If your interested in this, it's best to have reservations.

When George says the Lower Yough can be as easy or difficult as you make it, he makes a very good point. The Lower Yough is relatively spread out (not too continuous) and has several options to modify it's difficulty. Most importantly for our crop of semi-novice boaters coming out of the clinic this year, the Lower Yough offers a predictable water level and good opportunities to surf (i.e. practice your combat roll) in places where the water's relatively deep and the consequences are mild. There are some significant hazards, like Dimple Rock (especially Dimple Rock). However, you do have the opportunity to sneak or portage. Dimple is actually a very easy sneak. As long as you are with someone who can show you where it is and warn you before heading into it, it's pretty easy to avoid.

So, if you feel okay on the Hiwassee or Nantahala and want to step it up a bit, I would strongly advise you to consider going on this trip to the Lower Yough.

Hanley

When you say L. Yough is a notch above the Pigeon, do you mean above the upper or the lower Pigeon? The upper Pigeon is a notch above the Nanty, in my limited experience (and going by the river descriptions on the AW site).
Chris S.

Chris Schardl

No, the Lower Yough is harder than the Pigeon below the Power Station. Longer and much more technical rapids. Higher danger factor on a couple of the rapids. When the level approaches 3', the difficulty level is damn close to the Lower Ocoee. It's not as pushy at lower water levels, but you need definite boat control and it's a hard river to just bomb down. A better comparison is the French Broad at about 3000 cfs, although the Yough would still be more technical.

Larry

This is a great river, but I agree a step up from the upper Pigeon. Some really fun rapids and a great surf spot at swimmers for people learning to surf. You do need to know the line going through cucumber or you will be in a pretty dangerous hole. Just line up with cucumber rock and hug it as close as you can with the rock to your left. I'll post the video of the correct line when I get it up. Dimples requires some good boat handling, not necessarily because its a tough rapid but because of the consequence of a rock that has claimed 12 lives. There is a easy dry route if you want. River's end is in my book one of the best rapids out there. nice little S move through some big boulders and waves. One of the great things about the river is the Ohiopyle region. Make sure you check out Meadows Run, a class IV/V creek right by the put in. Before you get to the put in parking lot, you'll see a sign for 'natural waterslides' on the right. follow the trail down and check it out. Also make sure you look into the pub at the end of the day... its after the outfitters and railroad tracks. Take the first right and you'll see it shortly on the left. great food, drinks, and people. I'd love to go again but RSVP'd to a wedding already (knew that would come back to bite me). I'll try to put some video up soon of cucumber as well as railroad (ride the frogs back)... just BE CAREFUL at KILLER FALLS. 9,786 people have died there this past year. the only safe way to run it is backwards

-Robby

My take on the Lower Yough is that although it may be a step up from the Upper Pigeon, it's a pretty user friendly step up as long as the water's at a reasonable level and you are informed about where the dangerous spots are. There are only a few of them and they are easily managed if you have someone along who will point them out and show you the sneaks or portages. The Lower Yough is kind of like the Nantahala of the Southern PA, Maryland panhandle region in that it's where boaters in that area learn to boat. It is definitely harder than the Nanny, but not as continuous or bony as the Lower Ocoee.

Basically what I'm saying is that I wouldn't recommend against it for most of our novice boaters, but I would recommend going with someone who is very familiar with the hazards. There are only a few, but knowing where they are is a huge difference.

I might also add that although Dimple has claimed a number of people, the majority of those have been in self-guided rafts and duckies. A couple hundred thousand people a year come to the Lower Yough and pay for a whitewater prostitute to service them with a rubber device of this sort. Hence, you should always keep an eye out for those moving undercuts.

Hanley

I see alot of discussion about the river and all is true within reason. Dimple has claimed a total of three lives, 2 rental rafters and 1 rental duckie. Not a single kayaker has been in danger of the undercut at dimple because the line is a bare minimum of 20 to 30 feet wide and near impossible to miss in a boat. The other real potential for injury or death is at Rivers end rapid (there is foot entrapment potential at center to center right just beyond the meat of the rapid), the line for the rapid is the left side of the river and is near impossible to miss if you simply enter the rapid along the left side. The hole at Cucumber is dead center and the line is left side just off Table rock. At worst you might get window shaded, recirculated and pushed out the back side (following a couple moments of real excitement for by standers). the first hole at double hydraulic is about the same a Cucumber and the entire rapid can be an elkhorn class two if you hang river right through the rocks. Other than those issues there is nothing to fear accept fear itself!

This trip is intended for people confident in their boat control and wanting to prepare for some bigger water like the BSF, Ocoee, New etc.

Camping is available at the PA state park (Kentuck Campground where we'll stay) or at the paddlers camp about 5 miles from the put in. I'll post directions to it later. Either way I intend to organize to putin at about 10-11 am to beat the rush. Saturday will be a full day on the river (putin and shuttle out is a $5 fee at the put in. On Sunday we can choose to run the loop ($3 put in), the whole river again, or possibly a section of the Cheat in WV ( water dependant).

Anyone wanting to go post on this thread and I strongly suggest car pooling, it's a 6 to 6.5hr drive, but well worth it for the quality of paddling available.

Any of you hard core paddlers could propbably arrange an Upper yough trip to coincide if you wanted.

Gmead

George, your summation pretty much reflects how I feel about this run. Boat control is necessary and knowledge is necessary, but most of the lines for a kayak are like driving a mini-cooper through an aircraft hanger door.

Your statement about Dimple prompted me to search the AW accident database, since I only have what I've heard others say to go on. There were three commercial guests killed there in 2000 and at least two others in other years. No indication of kayaks going under the rock. Like you said, it's a very wide channel going around it.

AW's accident database is incomplete, so I can't say definitively how many people have died under that rock, let's just say it's a handful and that the rock merits respect, and that it's easy to avoid for a kayaker who has basic boat control skills.

Hanley