Yesterday, me and a buddy headed out to do the lower (class II-III) section of Seneca Creek. Man did i have a blast!! The level was about 5.7 on the "S BR POTOMAC R NR PETERSBURG" gauge. That creek isnt really hard (on that section) just a long 6.2(seemed like 12 miles) mile Ripsnorter with almost NO eddies!!

We only had one car, so we got there, unloaded the boats and gear, changed, and my buddy, John, headed down to the takeout to park and hitch-hike back up to the putin at 33/3. We ended up getting on at around 11:30 and without any sun.

From the time when we put on to the time when we took off, it was just like someone pressed the GO button on this creek. I think we must have found and stopped in only about 6 eddies the whole day.

So we're on the river, rolling down with the current and here we see this slide into hole type thing. My buddy saw it first and waved to me. I pulled into this micro eddy with him and he motioned that this looked big. So, i turned around, picked a line and stuck to it. The slide was fun, and poped me down right at the corner of the hole. I had a good line and waved the OK for my buddy, John, to run it. He did OK, slipping a little towards the middle and hitting part of the hole at the bottom. There was an eddy right here, so we pulled in, and i got out to dump the water from my boat and looked at the hole.

Part of the hole was playable, so, being in a Dom 44, i decided that it was time to start huckin' (ooohh yea!). So, i slid into the water, tested the hole once, then got in and started to spin, got about 4 lefty ends, and then washed. It was great.

So, after this we decieded to head down. The whole day i could not stop saying how awesome this run was. I simply said about every 5 mili-seconds, "This is AWESOME!" It just never really stopped.

Imagine this: Sloping rocks with holes at the bottom of every one, good and sticky. They were like Swimmers on the lower yough, exept more violent, and a little deeper. What seemed like 12 miles, one after another! There must have been 30+ of these holes, i shit you not.

So, in every one of these we played, then we floated in the class II riffles just below them (after we washed from the hole) and just thought that this was play heaven. Then you turned around, And it happend all over again!! One right after a nother for 6.2 miles, absolutley Awesome!

So, after this ledge/drop/slide thing, we headed down to the other rapids. We came to one spot where, as far as the eye could see, playholes like this. Dropping into one after another, about halfway through this, your arms started to drop from the strain that you were putting them through, and realized that you have about another fifth of a mile more of these. What an awesome feeling.

After these, whenever we saw a horizon line, we got out and scouted it, realized that it wasnt too bad, ran it, possibly played in it, and headed down.

There were a couple of good, glassy waves. Some where wave holes, some were breaking, whatever your heart desired, it had. These wave-holes were great, although your arms were too tired to spin...

As we neared the end of the run, we thought that we had missed the takeout, here comes that "Oh shit" feeling. We stopped, thought about it (I SWORE that we had gone more than 6 miles), then realized a marker that we hadnt reached yet; It was a weird looking walking bridge at the takeout. We rememebered that it was new (In WV, what?), so that is what triggered it.

As we neared Elkins and the Takeout bridge at 28 and 33, there was a series of holes, a wave-hole thing that was positivly dreamy, surf stuff, exactly what was happening for the previous 5 1/2 miles above. Then there was that damn Riverwide hole...

This hole looked interesting, like a playhole from the road. I had remembered it going up to the putin earlyer in the day. So, i come up, see it, give John a look that said, "Oh-shit, this is a drop that is Riverwide without any corners, and there is a tree on one side!" I thought that it was a big tree that had fallen across the river and water was pouring over it. Fortunatly for us, it was just your average riverwide hole with a nasty backwash. (I know what your thinking, "DAMN! he didnt get trashed.")

We ran that without any problems and hit a couple more just upstream of the takeout. By this time, i was BUSHED. I couldnt lift my arms to paddle. What a great feeling...

We tookout, fumbling are way through briar bushes, to the car.

This was an absolutley awesome day, i had a smile on my face throughout it. If your ever in the area and want to find something to run, if this is up, i strongly urge you to do it. It has the upper section that it IV-V+ for the hardcore creekers, and the lower section for playboaters.

One thing about the lower section: A planning hull is very much needed, multiple spins are possible (i think i did 100+). I recomend somthing like a Inazone just because ends arn't being thrown here and there.

If there was anything that i didnt like, it had to be that the holes werent deep. This is a very picky accusation, because most of them had the potental for low angle ends.

Tell me if you like the report, SYOR

RiotAJ
riotaj@hotmail.com

ps-Yesterday was the day of my boating carrer. No new moves were done, nothing mastered, just plain fun. I dont think i have had a better day on the river ever in my life.