The Flight of The Lemmings: Our Trip Down the Lower Yough – by Ben Gilbert
| River: | Yough |
| Skill: | Novice+/Intermediate |
| Trip Date: | 08/01/2004 |
For me, running the Yough was a major benchmark. My son Thomas and I started kayaking in Baltimore with the Greater Baltimore Canoe Club. We had gone on a club trip down the Yough in rafts. Already bitten by the whitewater bug, I was certainly not good enough to attempt to kayak the Yough at that time, but I had already set my goal to get to a level where I could run the Yough. The Yough was my ultimate goal and the height of my kayaking aspirations. With my skills improving over the summer, the ultimate benchmark seemed within reach for SIO-6.
I made reservations early and waited in great anticipation. With successful passage, I would be able to include the coveted letter (I) in consideration of river trips I could go on and I could include it, at least the lower degree (I-), in my kayaking resume. Rather than being a "Struggling Novice", I would be able to declare myself as a "Struggling Low Intermediate."
The big day arrived and just as we departed it started raining. Before we had gone a mile it was pouring. The pace going up 85 was at a crawl. Somewhere past Richmond I came to terms with the fact that it was going to be a long slow drive in the rain. And it rained and rained and rained…until about nine hours after departure we pulled off I-68 heading for Ohiopyle. That Benchmark thing hanging over my head.
The morning meeting started with accolades and organization, thank you Russ, and all the group leaders, and safety boaters, and all the folks in the club who help move this stuff along, those of us struggling Novices aspiring to Intermediate status greatly appreciate all your efforts. We joined up with a great flight, Russ Scheve, Chuck Hunley, James, Nick and Mark Woods. Chris and Bridget Nudi joined the group at the put-in. With the exception of Mark, we've paddled with all these folks before and the level of skill and capability in this group was reassuring.
Even in the old days, before our raft trip on the Yough, I was keenly aware of the history of the infamous Dimple Rock. The day of our raft trip, the pillow on Dimple was piled up almost up to top of the rock. Those in my raft were cautious and we dug our paddles in earnest and made safe passage above Dimple. Those in the other raft ran up on the pillow. I saw the raft vertical, the top half of the raft folding back. There was literally an explosion of bodies, paddles and gear spewing every which way. Some distance later we managed to collect everything except one paddle. I was greatly relieved that we had not flipped at Dimple. The implications were graphically reinforced and on this day still remain, weighing heavily as our group organizes to leave.
Put-on and awe at the falls, the river at 1.9'. The first rapids were easier than I remembered. A couple of times around in the little holes at the top of the entrance rapid, admiring the grand rock sculpture on this river, feeling the clear water. The Yough is a beautiful tiger in a Las Vegas show. Majestic, gentle, beautiful, disciplined, playful, precise, awesome, The tiger stretches out and invites you to play. But our beautiful tiger is by nature a wild thing. For the unwary, the undisciplined, and sometimes even the highly skilled, the claws come out. I'm all too aware of this, and amidst the incredible beauty, I am thinking of more serious business down stream.
Huddled up in the eddy. Cucumber – "that rock in the river down there that looks like a cucumber in the river". Ok? Kiss the rock, kiss the cucumber, OK? Left boat angle and kiss the rock, Ok? Kiss the rock? I practically bumped into the darn thing! Wow that's a big hole. I made it into the eddy with some bobble, most of the others slid gracefully into the eddy.
Camel and Walrus, yeah right. Just looks like a lot of rocks to me. I just follow someone down. Big jumble of rocks, is there danger here? I proceed cautiously, pick my way through as straight as possible. What if there are pinning hazards or big holes? I can't take any chances.
We passed the railroad, the last chance to take out. Some flat water and then we have to confront the monster. I paddled on, that disquieting metallic taste in my mouth. Huddled up in the eddy. Is that it? Pillow barely piled up on the rock. I was a little relieved. Maybe it wouldn't be too hard. "Just ride out into the current, not too much speed, aim for the rock at the top. Get into the eddy behind that rock." Ok? I watch as Chuck ferries cleanly across the current and snaps crisply into the top of the eddy. I watch as a few of the others make clean runs, then take a deep breath and peel out into the current. I aim for the corner of the rock, not too much speed, then I'm there and getting washed down. I struggle to get across the eddy line and finally break through. But I'm too close. The killer lurks over my shoulder. I flail my way back up into the eddy, escaping the monsters grip. I go down and catch an eddy to watch the others.
Chris made a clean turn halfway up into the eddy. No struggle here. Then Bridget hit the eddy line a little lower and washed down toward the pillow. With her stern in the pillow she looked around and, oh no! she flips – OMG! But she rolled up in a flash with no loss of momentum and turned with a great stroke and blasted across the eddy and out of the grasp of the pillow. I remembered to breath again and took a deep breath. "Way to go Bridget, awesome roll."
Swimmers! What a choice play spot. Chuck tore the place up then did that incredible spin out at the corner where he back surfs into a spin and comes shooting out of the hole. Cool move. Nick showed us some great stuff, front surfing, back surfing, and spinning from one end to the other. Thomas show us some of his newly acquired skills with some cools spins, looking sharp as he demonstrated "looking over your shoulder" back at the hole. He's trying to teach me, but I am a slow learner and he doesn't have much patience. Mark demonstrated smooth crisp controlled wheels all over that wave.
Rivers End is like Cucumber – kiss the rock. Those are really gnarley looking holes. I got by with a flip the bottom. Thomas went for a ride in the bottom hole and claimed there were rocks. Some seriously big scratches on his helmet supported that claim. Everybody else made it through clean.
Double Hydraulic. I got through clean and looked back up. "Those holes don't look too big. Maybe tomorrow I'll just blast them!"
Some times I follow others down the river like a mindless lemming. There are other times, when I drop out of line and watch the other lemmings, sometimes to great amusement. Jump rock on the Yough is about 20 feet from the launch edge to the water. There is a very steep slide from the top of the rock to the launch edge. I took one look and decided it was not for me. But a number of lemmings lined up. James, head lemming, lined up with Nick as launch master. You see, you actually have to have somebody hold on to the kayak to keep it from sliding off the rock before you want to go. And hopefully, the launch master will provide the right amount of boost so you won't be going too slow and pencil in or have too much velocity and land flat. Neither is good from 20 feet. James got situated and after some instruction is more or less simply dropped off the edge. He penciled in at high velocity and resurfaced with extensive explanation the ensuing pain and some reiteration of the aforesaid instructions.
Lemming number 2 is Russ who patiently took time to review the instructions with the launch master. Apparently satisfied that the instructions have been conveyed and understood, he allowed himself to be slid to the launch edge and dropped, penciling straight in. He resurfaced, red faced from a direct face plant, complaining of a potential broken nose.
Thomas, (What's a?) lemming number 3 lineed up, got the same basic "lemming launch", rolled to the side and took the hit sideways. He also resurfaced complaining about the pain.
You'd think by now people who have reasonably good judgment, and most of these folks do, would catch on. I'm asked if I would like to go. No way, you gotta be kidding! Then I'll be darned. There is one other lemming lining up.
Lemming number 4 was Chris. Chris lined up, supplied concise instructions in his best command voice and, having observed the fate of the other lemming has thought this out. He tucks with paddle to the side and makes a reasonably graceful plunge and entrance. He resurfaces with a big smile.
The take out, the climb up to the shuttle bus, loading the boats, the bus ride out of the steep gorge is a classic Yough experience. Ah, a great Italian dinner and a good nights sleep.
The next morning's meeting was short and sweet. Hook up with the same group and head to the river.
Russ demonstrated incredible river running skills ferrying back and forth in the tightest spots. At Cucumber he caught an eddy on river right above, and on the other side of, the current going into the big hole. I followed thinking "wow, maybe I can do that too". About half way across the current I came to the conclusion I wasn't going to make the eddy, so I abandon the attempt and managed to turn straight into the hole. The hole looked like a giant's mouth, two giant lips breathing vapor. I stared into the abyss went vertical down into the hole. Some of the others watching commented about the maneuver. I dropped vertically straight down into the hole. In about 2.5 milliseconds I was turned 180 degrees and shot vertically straight up. "Wow, cool move. You went straight in then came straight back out. Were you trying to do that?"
There I was, hanging, bow pointed straight up thinking, "this is kind of like a stern squirt. Maybe I can get out of this." Gravity and other forces took over and my brief fantasy turned to a struggle with some very powerful forces which took hold of me, tumbled me every which way, beat me on various rocks and eventually tossed me out the bottom. The tiger was just playing.
In true lemming fashion, others followed me into the hole. Chris and Thomas followed one right after the other. Neither Chris nor Thomas put on as spectacular a show of acrobatics as I had.
At Dimple things went a little better. I went early to get it over with. I swear I clipped the rock above Dimple but I still slid too close to Dimple. I retired to an eddy below to watch the others. I watched intently. Russ clipped into the eddy neatly. Chuck carved a smooth elegant line into the eddy. Then Bridget made the approach exactly the same as Chuck. Then there it was. Bridget ended up on the same path I did, washing too close to Dimple, and I caught the reason why.
A brief moment of hesitation. I saw it and I know that is exactly what I did. Inexperience, lack of confidence, what ever. The difference between what Chuck did and what inexperienced struggling novice paddlers do, even with exactly the same approach, was a brief moment of hesitation. Chuck had a blade in and was almost through with the stroke where some of us had not yet even planted our paddle.
With all of the great play boating, good learning experiences and carnage, Russ demonstrated the most inspiring incident for this group. Above Double Hydraulic he caught an eddy on river right. Then he started to ferry across right above the hole to catch the eddy on the left side. This would take him right to the edge where the water curls over and falls into the hole. We held our breath and about half way across you could tell he wasn't going to make it. He slid sideways into the hole. The day before I had thought "those holes aren't so big…maybe I'll blast them." Seeing Russ and the Super EZ slide sideways into that hole gave me a whole different perspective. NO WAY. That is a BIG Hole.
Russ' boat looked like a toy up against a mountain. Russ was getting tossed about like a little toy and you could see he was really struggling. He struggled to get out the corner but couldn't even get close to climbing out, and then he flipped in the hole. The kayak tumbled and tossed in the hole for awhile. Finally he washed out into the eddy on the left. He rolled up and almost got washed out the bottom of the eddy but with what must be the last of his reserve strength, he managed to paddle back up into the eddy. Awesome carnage Russ, one heroic effort.
On day 3 people are scattering. We hooked up with Chuck and Nancy to run the loop before heading home. Where on Day 1, I saw a jumble of rocks and passed with trepidation, today, with Chuck and Nancy in the lead, today I saw a play ground. "How many eddy's can you catch." "If I stop, I can count it as an eddy", Chuck declared his intentions. Ok, and now I see it. Back and forth, across and even attain back up. A playground of eddies.
Initially the Yough was my ultimate goal. Perspectives change. That's one of the fascinating things in this sport. One day a rapid looks like it is a mile long and has waves 10 ft high. In time, with work, that rapid looks much smaller and turns into a playground. With running the Yough, I've passed a benchmark and raised the bar. I don't exactly know what is the ultimate goal. For now I would like to work toward being able to remove the minus delineation from my newly declared (I) skill rating. Although I will probably never get to remove the "struggling" pre-fix.