I talked with my brother as to his choice of the upper gorge for our newbie. I thought the last section (Jim Thorpe to Bowmantown more appropriate for him) but hey Moshin is his friend and bro thought the big wave trains of the lower section would be more of a problem than the rapids of this section. So the gorge it is!
The Lehigh is about an hour south of the Lackawaxen and we got a bit of a late start. Some think that is is sort of like the Ohiopyle, but a tad easier. Anyow we had some coffee and bagels at the cottage, loaded a lot of wet stuff into the cars and off we went. Dropped the boats off at the put in in White Haven. The town was really busy as is the case on release days. This is also a trail head for the 27 mile rails to trails popular with bicyclists too, so we shared a busy parking lot (with lots of school busses for the rafting companies). Our newbie stayed with the boats and gear as my bro and I set up our own shuttle. We were taking out at Rockport. If you are familiar with the Lehigh this is a tiny little town nestled in a creek washing down towards the Lehigh. The Lehigh used to be owned by the coal companies (Bro said it is the only river to have be privately owned - that sort of saved it as there is no real development along the river). Rockport used to be a terminal for coal to be shipped down to the canal system. Anyhow we can't even get close to the normal parking lots.
We have to park on a grass field a half mile away! How many people are on the river today? Turns out a jillion!Anyway drop off the Subie with racks for take out and head back 10 miles to put in in my bro's jeep. After a quick lug of stuff down from the parking lot we are finally at the put in. I am a bit concerned with our newbie. Again for those not familiar, you start off with two pretty good class IIIs (initiation and then tannery). Not only that there is a sea of rubber going down and hundreds of private boats. Our newbie does really well on them and I and my bro swap off on lead and sweep as we go through the many IIs and then the next III. We head left of the island towards triple drop (is it mandatory that every river has one called triple drop?
with me sweep and bro in lead..newbie in rocking chair. TD is set of ledges and holes and with the water over 800 cfs today, gets a little munchy. The torrent gets a bit sideways and goes in. Now we have told him to float and all but he gets a bit spooked and tries to stand..coached he gets back into the positon and floats down to us. One of the OCs surfing the hole bumps it down and our guy gets reunited with the craft. He is doing an awesome job as the river at this level is just perfect for us, I am sure a bit intimidating for him. We have a lot of fun sufring some of the holes but we can't doddle as our guy wants to paddle and we have to keep up. Besides the popular surfing places are swarmed and a lot of the paddlers don't want to get bumped so they sort of force you out of the best lines..oh well.Only one more mishap occurs below Mud Creek rapid when Torrent gets away from our guy but is quickly reunited with a good boat capture from my bro and I quickly walk the boat back to him. He really is very good for a novice. He pulls a few more hero lines than we would like, especially at Wilhoyt's Rock, but comes on like a champ.
The Lehigh is a fun river with little real chance of bodily harm. The accident reports from AW list hypothermia as a problem and there was a near loss of life on a commercial rafting trip due to entrapment on a new strainer. Only a few incidents and thousands and thousands using the river every year. We felt that even with his total lack of experience, with good sheparding, a stable boat with easy escape, and a host of people nearby the chances of injury were pretty slim.
On a side note there were several really memorable seal launches near lunch rock to see, a first - a really tiny shredder made just for kids - and a never ending source of entertainment from the shinanigans in the rafts - man those people love to throw water.
I think a trip from the coastal would be a lot of fun for a future offering.