“Fall is chasing us down the east coast,’ said Ian Buckley (New River Academy Math and Science teacher) after noticing a change in color across the hills of West Virginia. As we conclude our first our first quarter of school, New River Academy has reached our final destination. West Virginia (Wild and Wonderful) is home to many of the best whitewater rivers in North America. On Monday of our last full week of school before break, NRA students took an epic full day whitewater kayaking trip down the Gauley river near our base in Fayetteville, West Virginia.
The Gauley river is a common favorite amongst kayakers in the sense that it has just about every whitewater kayaking feature one could ask for. Multiple lines down the rapids range from big water lines to steep and technical moves. Playboating features range from eddylines, to holes, to waves, to downriver moves. On our day on this river, we were fortunate enough to have Stephen Wright (professional kayaker for Jackson Kayaks) as our guide. Beginning with a pogo flip off a pour over rock at the put in, Steven showed us all the coolest moves, lines, playspots, and hazards from start to finish.
After a lot of good playboating at the lead 
in rapid, we came to a big water challenge at Pillow Rock. Pillow Rock, one of the biggest rapids on the Gauley, consists of a series of powerful wavetrains, and a rock wall angling in from the left. A giant crack in this rock wall creates “The Room of Doom” an eddy that challenges some of the best boaters’ eddyhopping skills. At the bottom of this rapid Stephen showed us to an eddyline where we could do stern squirts and rock splats.
As we continued on down the river Steven showed us some unique lines such as the “elbow move,” a narrow slot between two rocks in the middle of a rapid. We also encountered plenty of more big water in rapids with unique names such as Lost Paddle and Iron Ring. In between rapids we kept ourselves well entertained by playing in some of the many holes and waves that are present all across the entire length of this river. For many of us, including myself, this was our first experience on the Gauley. Now that I have this behind me I can say that the Gauley is a classic river that every kayaker should experience.
To conclude our quarter we will be running the Gauley again this weekend as well as some other creeks and rivers in the area. The group is gradually approaching our new horizons with indescribable excitement. In just a few weeks we will be in New Zealand throwing cartwheels and running waterfalls on legendary rivers such as the Kaituna.
The last few days of the quarter are finally approaching us bringing on anxious and excited vibe about the group. But before we leave West Virginia there are a few significant events to overcome which we are now in the midst of. On Monday us students found ourselves studying for midterms one moment and paddling off the edge of waterfalls the next. In the afternoon we drove to a place called Valley Falls on the Tiger river to run a series of clean 15 foot waterfalls. For many students, this was an introduction to the vertical realm of kayaking. While our advanced paddlers practiced freewheels (cartwheeling off the lip of a vertical drop), the rest of our group overcame their fears and plunged themselves onto a world of gravity and water that only kayakers are fortunate enough to experience. The 15 foot rock ledges offer many different lines ranging from clean, straightforward drops, to stair steps to slides. This was the ideal place for all the students to work on creek boating skills and simply have a good time.
Most students have a bittersweet attitude toward leaving for home, but more importantly we are excited for our trip to the far corner of the world. In New Zealand we will be running many clean and beautiful waterfalls on pristine rivers. Due to our hard work at school this quarter we have 10 extra hours out of the way. The spirits of the group remain high as we approach our new destination.
