It's gonna rain....

[M Driscoll]

Jeff, I may be able to meet you to run the Upper James on Saturday. Won't be till after noon though cause I have obligations in the am.

-Mike

[Shawn]

Tolyho, keep me posted on your plans! I might be able to pull off a sick day from work....i think i might be coming down with something!

If you get sick let me know. I could probably swing a morning or afternoon.

[Turbo_D]

Shawn, i will keep you posted but as of now its not looking good. Boss made.a comment about how much "WE" (he should just say me) have to get done this week. We will see, but i will keep you 'abreast' of the situation!

Mike & Single Speeder, i will be up for an Upper run if the levels come up as predicted!

Mike, you will love the Upper at these levels!! The Upper @ and around 10' is a blast! You've got this, no problem!!!

[slo2rol]

Wallace, what time are you picking me up for the Tellico trip that week?

Mmmm... Tellico, eh? You wanna go? I'll prolly get shot for asking, but I'm willing to dodge a few bullets...

[bambam]

I'm interested in boating something within two hours of Harrisonburg in the next couple of days. It's too soon to tell as the real rain mostly hasn't hit us yet. There is a stronger cell headed our way from the southwest but we may end up being on the edge of it.

Short random notes: I'd love to see the Tellico at it's current level -- from the road! Western Maryland (Yough-land) is already getting beefy. West Virginia has water already. If the Virginia rain proves to be a bust then I'd entertain a day trip to something like the Cranberry. North River Gorge fans should note there are two reservoirs between the gauge and the run plus the last report I heard listed around a dozen portages around strainers (thanks, in part, at least, to the woolly adelgids killing the hemlocks). Gooney has been on my list for a long time, never run it, and the gauge ran out of funding.

Nelson County has already received a couple of inches of rain in key areas so the Tye should be well primed. Surrounding counties, not so much.

High winds here, west of the Blue Ridge right now but not much rain.

Checking back in the a.m.

Ken Dubel

[bwalsh]

I'm headed up right now to check the level on Gooney. I'll post back with a reading in about 1/2 hour.

EDIT: just called a friend who checked the gauge at 9:00AM. It is slightly underwater. He said there was about 3" of airspace under the put in bridge. I would guess somewhere around 6'+ maybe.
A little high right now but it has stopped raining here. We are going to check the gauge around 12:00. I'll post back here with the level.

[single speeder]

TurboD, Mike. LJ around 10 on Saturday works for me. I am meeting the guy who found my paddle around 9 on the west side of Richmond. By the way Turbo when I talked to him he said it looked like it was in pretty good shape.

[bambam]

Note to bwalsh, I have a PM in to you with my phone number.

Short notice, sorry, but I'm going across the mountain to check out the upper Conway. The Conway is on the east side of the Blue Ridge a bit north of Stanardsville. (Note there is only one "d" in "Stanardsville" if you are mapping.) It's tough to gauge online but I have decent reason to expect it to be running. I view it as class III tiny creeking.

Plan B is the upper Moormans (below the dam) which is similar in difficulty but woody and a bit high. The Moormans is again east of the Blue Ridge but south of route 33.

Call me if interested. If you don't have my phone number then shoot me a message. I'll check back here before I leave home. Timing is somewhat flexible but note the temps are expected to drop throughout the day.

Ken Dubel

[VAnate]

So it realy did rain last night, hitting up something in the western part of the state today. Not site what yet.

[bwalsh]

OK, so I lied. It would have been around 4'+ at 9:30. Been awhile since I saw that bridge abutment.
As of 10:30 it had dropped to 2.9'.



Still kinda beefy and higher than what I want to tackle today. I suspect it will be at a good level sometime this afternoon.
Ken, I was thinking of checking out the Rapidan but it's a long ways to check out creek that may be too low by now and was full of strainers the last time I looked.[/img]

[VAnate]

After allot of back and fourth we ended up on the North. Did a short run down to the Stokesville bridge. The water was up. The tees were down. I had a good time. No swims or pins.

[bwalsh]

So after waiting to see if Gooney would come down to a reasonable level, which it did not, four friends and I paddled Happy creek at around 0 on the gauge. A little bony but fun.
Put in about 1/4 mile below the U.S. Customs center and took out at Bing Crosby Stadium on the downstream side of town.
Numerous strainers, numerous "limbo" moves under trees, a road bridge which the town has hung tarps off of on both sides so you couldn't see through, a pipe just above water level right after a 90° bend, a pedestrian bridge that has collapsed into the creek, some curious horses and a couple of fences, You know, just a typical day on the water.
Hope everyone had a good day!

Ken, one of these days we will paddle Gooney...

[Shawn]

Anyone getting out tomorrow, I can do something semi-local.

[chrispreperato]

hey bwalsh, Gooney actually did end up around 15" at 4pm, which is when I put on to run it. Still a little pushy, but a very doable level compared to say, 3' or more. Of course, we also paddled the last 1.5 miles in low light, and the last .5mile basically in the dark...so Happy Creek was definitely a better option that waiting around for Gooney to drop

[jtg2s]

if anyone is looking to make an afternoon goshen pass run, i'm prepared to leave Charlottesville anytime between now and 1:30. Short notice, but I figured it's worth a shot. please give me an excuse to leave the office.



John G