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Published: December 22nd 2015
Today was the centerpiece of the entire trip; the day I risk myself on the
Upper Yough. Raft trips on dam-controlled rivers usually start early in the day; my Gauly trip started at dawn. The release from Deep Creek Lake is timed based on maximum power need, so it happens in the early afternoon. I got to sleep in!
After waking up, I walked downstairs to one of the largest breakfasts I've ever seen. It had omelets, ham, rolls, fruit, and much else besides. The owners have rafted this river and knew I was going; they prepared the meal accordingly. The Upper Yough is exhausting, so I needed all the fuel I could get. The food was delicious.
After breakfast, I drove to Friendsville MD. Reaching the place is straight forward as long as one can find the poorly marked turn soon after Deep Creek Lake. The road is narrow, winding, and passes through pretty farming country. Eventually, it reaches a very small town on the river. The directions at this point led to a parking lot sandwiched between a Little League field and an obvious river takeout. There were no rafting companies in sight.
I did the trip with
Upper Youghiogheny Expeditions, a small outfitter that specializes in trips on steep and difficult mountain rivers in small rafts. Their guides are highly skilled and experienced, and they attract equally experienced rafters. They are the first outfitter I signed up with where they specifically asked about my previous trips (even on the Gauley, the guides only cared that I had previous class IV or higher experience).
This outfitter is small enough that they have no specific base. The parking lot is the takeout. Eventually a short black bus crammed with rafting gear appeared in the lot. This was our guides.
Once everyone had gathered, the head guide gave a little presentation. Normally these “trip talks” discuss
safety procedures. This one had none at all; at this level they need to be automatic already. Instead, his important points were the following: 1. The Upper Yough features five miles of continuous class IV and V whitewater. 2. Participants must paddle, precisely, at all times. 3. Exhaustion, cold, fear, or a bad swim do not exempt us from that. 4. Any swim on this river will be long, dangerous, and require significant self-rescue skill. 5. The only exit is at the end of the gorge, so anyone who is rescued must get back in the boat and start paddling again. He then asked if we wished to continue.
How to raft the Upper Yough (from another trip):
How NOT to raft the Upper Yough. These are the risks that all paddlers must take....
After everyone had said yes, we signed the paperwork (the waiver specifically mentions that hard physical effort is required!) and changed into gear. At this point I discovered that that I had left my watershoes on the picnic table in Ohiopyle where I had left them to dry two days ago. Panic time! Thankfully, Friendsville is enough of a whitewater hub that it has a kayak shop. Fifteen frantic minutes and a large credit charge later, I had new footwear.
We piled into the bus and drove into the hills. Many bumpy miles of rural road later, we reached a bridge over the river. In the old days, the only semi-legal way to reach the river was to throw the rafts off the bridge and climb down the bank. These days, a landowner has granted a public easement; as long as people keep the site clean (no peeing in the bushes when nobody is looking!) A few minutes later, we were floating.
The Upper Yough forms a prime example of what white water enthusiasts call a “steep creek”. Most rivers are “pool drop”, intense rapids separated by calm sections.
Steep creeks, by contrast, feature narrow continuous rapids with very little room for error. They are some of the toughest whitewater challenges available. Although it ranks in the top 10 most difficult commercial trips in the country, the Upper Yough is one of the EASIEST creek trips and the ideal introduction.
The river is a great start to creek rafting thanks to its layout. The first few miles are completely calm. The guide uses this stretch to teach rafters how to handle the boat. Creek rafts are very different to what I've used in the past. For one thing, they are tiny. So tiny that they only hold four people (and this includes the guide). The small size makes them incredibly maneuverable, which is the key to survival.
We spent a good deal of time in the calm section going over paddle strokes and practicing them. The two most important are long forward strokes to build momentum and quick backwards ones to turn the boat. Good guides see how people perform in the calm stretch and adjust their lines accordingly. Our boat was very good at the short precise strokes and much less good at the long power strokes. This had important consequences later on.
In a creek boat, rafters handle hits from the rapids differently too. In a big boat rafters jam their feet under a thwart and paddle like mad. In a little boat, this position would send the shock from a hit straight into their butt and throw them out. Instead we braced our feet in specially designed foot straps and leaned our upper bodies outside the boat so our heads are near the surface of the river. My initial reaction is that this is a very good way to fall out, not stay in. What happens in reality is that the body acts as a lever, with upper body weight providing enough extra pressure on the feet to stay in. The position also means most of the shock is absorbed by our abdominal muscles. It took time to get used to.
Eventually, rocks started appearing in the river. We used these for paddling practice. Many many times we paddled straight at a rock full speed only to turn at the last minute. We then did this backwards. We spun the boat in circles after that. Practice lasted until we turned a corner, and faced our first real rapid.
Truth be told, it wasn’t much of a rapid; a one inch drop between two huge rocks. I only mention it because it marks the start of white water on the Upper Yough. We went at that drop full speed and then braced for the hits. We got through it too, badly. This was expected. Afterward, our guide described what we did and how to improve. We had to improve quickly too, because the rapids to come are far more difficult.
Two minutes later, we faced our second rapid. The river runs close to shore around some boulders with a small bunch of waves. We blasted through it, a little less badly than before. We were getting better. A minute later we faced our third rapid, then our fourth, and more and more. Before we knew it we were threading boulder piles like Gap Falls, big mazes where the raft can barely fit. These are class III only because the actual drops are still small. We were getting quite proficient by this point; good thing because soon our lives would depend on these skills.
The warmup section ended with a class IV nasty called Fat Man's Squeeze. This rapid contains two big boulders with a slot between them narrower than the raft. We paddled like mad, and got enough momentum to push through. On the far side, we popped into a short pool with what appeared to be a wall of boulders on the far side. The easy stuff was over.
As we floated across the pool, our guide welcomed us to the Miracle Mile. It’s the first of five continuous miles of mostly Class V white water, the heart of the Upper Yough. He reminded us to follow directions at all times regardless of what the river looks like, to relax only when offered, and to breathe deep to manage the adrenaline. Close to the boulders he tipped the boat to the left, revealing a two foot drop directly in front of another huge rock. The drop has a name that can’t be repeated in polite company. Ten seconds later we went over it.
I experienced the Miracle Mile as one giant blur. Big drop after big drop between huge rocks that never seemed to end. We paddled and turned constantly, with nearly unbelievable speed. Quick turn followed by brace followed by hard paddle followed by more quick turns. In most places, I couldn’t even figure out where we were going; we would head straight toward a big boulder and then turn at the last second to get past it.
The maze lasted until we reached a short straight section lined with rocks. Our guide shouted to paddle forward. We quickly realized that at the far end, the river just disappeared. In rafter parlance, this is a
horizon line, and it marks a waterfall. Our guide shouted to paddle harder. We soon saw a dry ledge in the distance covered in pine trees. Our guide shouted to brace. We tipped over that horizon line and slid down six foot National Falls. A huge boiling whirlpool waited at the bottom, which will catch and flip any raft with insufficient momentum. We slammed hard into the left side and popped out. That was close.
Immediately after the waterfall, the river provides one of the few places to catch our breath. Our guide turned the boat around so we could see what we had just accomplished. Above the waterfall rocks rose in tier after tier, looking more like a stone staircase than a traditional rafting river.
By this point of the trip, a good part of my brain was wondering what I had gotten myself into. The rest was feeling the adrenaline and really starting to enjoy it. Good thing, because there’s still four miles to go.
On the Upper Yough, names represent parts of the continuous whitewater rather than individual rapids in their own right. They are still a useful way to describe the experience. For example, at one point we faced Meat Cleaver. In this nasty stretch we had to turn the raft around a boulder the size of a car, revealing at the last second a foot high drop into a pool containing a pair of rocks shaped like snake fangs. Rafters must thread their boat directly between the fangs; hit either one and flip. Thanks to our skill with precision strokes, we handled it easily. The rocks, incidentally, are named ‘Ward’ and ‘Beaver’ (I hope the
terrible pun is obvious).
At another point we entered Heinzerling, the most bizarre section of the entire trip. Our guide warned that things we had to do would seem like nonsense; trust that the maneuvers would work. First, he turned the boat sideways and slammed us into a section of shallow rocks. We pried our way over them with our paddles. That set us up perfectly for a straight chute ending at a triangle shaped rock, the Gun Barrel. Our goal was to hit this rock as hard as possible so our momentum carries us up and over. Done right, rafters find themselves at the top of a two foot drop in front of a huge slanted rock. The water has enough momentum that it rides up the side of the rock and falls off, producing a huge rolling wave. Skilled rafters can follow this wave with the raft for a huge ride.
Remember our relative lack of forward power strokes from the early warmup? This is where it bit us, hard. We hit that triangle rock as fast as we could, and got stuck. With blinding speed, we climbed to the front of the raft on the rock. This maneuver, called a “high side”, balances the force of the water pouring in the back and keeps the raft upright. We were now out of the river, but still had to get off the rock. The raft behind us solved that issue by slamming into us. Frantically, we had to scramble back to our regular positions for the drop to follow. We couldn’t ride the wave, but the raft behind us made it and it was fun to watch.
I found out later that I had stubbed my big toe during the scramble to high-side the raft, my only injury of the trip. Honestly, I had so much adrenaline flowing I barely recognized how dangerous that crash could have been. At this level of rafting participants must focus on what they can control, otherwise we’d panic at the start.
The continuous rapids end in a section called Double Pencil Sharpener. It contains a series of narrow chutes leading to drops and whirlpools (hence the name). In the last pool, the raft came out at a 45 degree angle and half the boat went completely underwater. Thankfully, we were experts by this point and easily braced to stay in.
Past that point, the rafting becomes considerably easier. Calm spots separate the remaining rapids, which are much less steep. Ironically, more people fall in here than anywhere else. Many people relax after the intensity earlier in the trip, at which point a rapid catches them by surprise. Our guides, on the other hand, kept us on our toes and we handled the rapids easily.
Eventually, the river becomes completely calm again and passes through downtown Friendsville. Since its downtown, there is a convenience store located near the river. Raft guides will stop here and buy snacks for their now exhausted crews. Depending on the guide and the crew, these snacks can be standard junk food or something of a more adult persuasion. The rest of the trip was a calm float until we reached the takeout, the same place we parked.
The Upper Yough is definitely the most difficult rafting I’ve ever done. The river demands constant vigilance and work, with high precision throughout. The cost of error will be quite high. On this trip an expert guide makes all the difference. Nobody swam, a feat for which I handed my guide a large tip afterward. Given the intensity and exhaustion, I’m not sure I’ll try something like it again.
After the trip, I needed time to relax, so I drove back to the farm. The owners and other guests were sharing a bottle of wine on the porch, and they invited me to join them. We spent over an hour discussing my trip, the area, and plans people had. After this, I took a long soak in a jacuzzi and passed out.
I woke after dark and hunted for dinner. I found it at
Smiley's Fun Time Café, a pizza joint located within a small amusement park on the shore of Deep Creek Lake. As readers have probably guessed, this was a tourist spot all the way and had food quality to match. I was so hungry from the trip I ate an entire pie. After the pizza, I went to one of the area's most famous food stands,
Lakeside Creamery. It serves locally made ice cream that is the best near the lake. I was still so hungry I ordered a three scoop sundae, which was worth every cent. After this, I went to bed. I had a very long drive the next day.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
U.S. Rafting
Ive done the Gauley and the New Rivers in West Virginia. Looks like you found some great rapids to increase your heart rate. Good times.