Familiar Territory, New Adventure
by: Bobby Miller
I get asked frequently how becoming a father has changed my outlook on paddling. I honestly have not changed much with regard to what I run, I still seek out adventures and steep runs (although with a little more calculation now so I don’t end up pushing daylight). One exciting development has been the progression of my stepson Bailey into the world of Class 5 boating. In the summer of 2013, he made his first runs down such classic Class 4 runs as the Big Sandy, Top Yough, and Upper Yough. He was willing to take on the more challenging lines on these runs, which worked out well most of the time. In the fall of that year, he ran the Racquette and Beaver Rivers, including the super steep Eagle section that features a series of large slides. In the spring of this year, we hit upper Red Creek, one of the classic 300 feet/mile runs in West Virginia, where he aced all the drops. He continued his progression as he ran the New River Gorge and Upper Gauley this fall, taking on the challenge of paddling these runs in a tiny play boat. The next logical progression was the most reliable Class 5+ section of river in the Mid-Atlantic, Great Falls of the Potomac.
Despite a very dry year in the Mid-Atlantic, the levels somehow hovered right around the high end for the Maryland and Virginia sides of Great Falls all summer. The magic number I was looking for on the Little Falls gauge was 2.8, a very user friendly level for both sides with still enough flow so the falls would not be scrapy. Finally, the gauge fell into the perfect level, which happened to coincide perfectly with the fact that Bryon Dorr was in town and looking to drop some gnar. The stage was set and we headed out on Thursday, September 25 for some adventure and hopefully good lines on Great Falls. After work I met up with my wife Melissa, our daughter Sahalie, and Bailey, and headed over to the Great Fall Park.
Running Class 5 with a family member brings a mix of emotions that are hard to describe unless you experience it for yourself. I have enjoyed watching Bailey progress as a paddler and have been very excited for him with each accomplishment. I feel a sense of fatherly pride when he does well and the skills he has shown have made me supremely confident that he would ace Great Falls. However, going out on this particularly challenging and dangerous stretch of river also made me very nervous. As a paddler, you always want your friends to do well and run with a crew that you are comfortable with in the heat of battle. However, the father-son relationship transcends the feelings of normal friendship and creates a bond that is infinitely greater. I told Bailey that Melissa and I had discussed our approach to him running Class 5. He would scout every drop and I would give him directions and an example on each one but that every decision on whether to run or not would be entirely his. I wanted to allow him this freedom, having been in a similar position 20 years ago as an up and coming paddler and knowing the disappointment of how it feels to have your mind made up for you. Bailey is a smart kid and has a very good sense of his own comfort level and capabilities so I knew he would make good choices. Still, as nervous as I felt, I could only imagine the nervousness that Melissa felt watching from the observation deck. I had set up this run to be as safe as possible with a good crew, intensive scouting, and detailed directions. However, once you peel out of that eddy and enter the drop, it is a one on one scenario, you versus the river.
So, there we were above Pummel, the first drop on the Maryland side, discussing the line and what needed to be done to make it successfully. I had already run it once to give him an example of where to be but I could tell that he was nervous. The water filters down a slope out to a point where a nice boof ramp off a 15 foot drop awaits. However, being too far left or right can result in falling into a powerful hole that, even at low levels, is capable of recirculating a boat. Finally, Bailey decided that he was going to go for it. Bryon was already below and I peeled out ahead of him so I could see his run. He followed about 10 seconds behind me, confidently stroking his way toward the launch pad. He hit the pad, timed his right hand boof stroke well and launched out for a great run. He was beaming as he entered the eddy, celebrating what was probably the biggest moment in his paddling career!
We scouted the next drop, Pencil Sharpener, to get an idea of where to be. Bryon gave us a good example run, which showed Bailey exactly what he needed to do to avoid the nasty pin slot on the left. Bailey got in his boat and entered the narrow slot at the top of the rapid. He took a good left stroke off the first drop to counteract the curler pushing left and stayed center over the second drop, punching the hole cleanly. The Maryland side ends with a drop called Horseshoe Falls, which contains an aggressive ferry and a precise boof to avoid a monstrous concave shaped hole. He decided he didn’t like the looks of this one and opted to walk around, joining us in the pool below. I was proud of his decision to walk around what is definitely a challenging drop with obvious consequences for a mistake. Besides, there was more paddling to do so we walked up the mid-river island for a run down the Virginia side.
The Virginia side is a friendlier section than the Maryland side and, at this level, the drops were very forgiving. The first series of drops has a couple holes to negotiate but Bailey made his way through these without any trouble. The second rapid is a twisty S turn with a couple drops that, again, Bailey aced. Finally, we were in the pool above the Spout. This 25 foot waterfall is certainly intimidating, especially since it was on the low side for the easier left line. The new school line down the right was still very much in play but it looks horrible as the falls crashes onto rocks on the right. Still, this drop is one whose bark is definitely bigger than its bite. Landings on the rocks are generally soft and it has a nice pool below to recover if you flip. I encouraged Bailey to do this one, citing the aforementioned reasons. However, he did not like the looks of things and wasn’t as keen as me about landing on rocks. He opted not to run this one and met us in the pool below. Again, I was proud of him for exhibiting good judgement in the face of a scary drop.
We floated downstream to our takeout, elated at Bailey’s successful descent. It was great to see my stepson challenge himself on a difficult stretch of whitewater. I could not be prouder of him and look forward to seeing him continue to progress and get comfortable on more difficult whitewater. We met up with Melissa and Sahalie on the hike back to the car and went out for pizza to celebrate the occasion. So, what is next for Bailey? Well, I hope to get him out of the falls again before it gets cold and he will also be making his first run of the Green Narrows the weekend of the race in early November. It’s going to be an exciting fall!
(A few words from Bryon Dorr: It was exciting to see young Bailey get after it on the Falls and make very adult decisions as we dissected the rapids one by one. Big thanks to Bobby for inviting me on this adventure and writing this great piece to share on Exploring Elements. I look froward to having many more adventures and creating more stories with these two.)
