Rafting - May 2007
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May, 2007  Rita and I met up with our good friends Angie and Kurt for some white water rafting on the New River.  Before being designated as a national park, New River Gorge National River was a logging area.  Over the years it has reverted back to its original natural state and is one of the most beautiful areas in West Virginia.

Click on any picture to enlarge (best viewed in 1024 x 768):

               

Weather was perfect, the tents were pitched and it             Angie and Kurt                                                       Kurt has the right idea!
    was time to kick back and start enjoying this              at the top of the gorge
                                vacation!

               

  The next morning our           My beautiful wife is        Ed pretends to look like     Our first stop was a rock       Angie launches into a
    rafting adventure            excited to get started       he knows what he is doing      where everyone could        perfect flip. Some people
           began!                                                                                                        jump in and cool off.             are such show offs!
                                                                                                                             Rita takes the leap!

                   

 Kurt steps of the edge!        Bring on some rapids!              Left side: Angie, Ed       Now this is what it's all about!  Our raft guide was Andy
                                                                                      Rita, Kurt. That's not      who safely lead us down the river. We really took a liking
                                                                                      a peace sign ... Kurt is     to Andy ... a great guide who knows the river and its history.
                                                                                       predicting how many     He is a genuinely good person with an interesting perspective
                                                                                       times Angie will fall      on life. If you raft the gorge, book through ACE and ask for
                                                                                          out of the raft!                Andy. Your guide makes all the difference.

               

Things happen quickly on the river.  One moment Kurt was in the raft, the next moment he was gone.  I turned around and Angie was gone
too. The video managed to capture Angie's "departure". Here's a few frames of Angie taking the plunge and then bobbing back to the surface
where she was picked up by another raft. Angie earned to right to say, "I survived the New River" after this one!  Did she take more than
one spill that day? Well, you'll have to ask Kurt for that answer!

           

After the river, it was back to Ace Adventure Center.  ACE offers                                   My gorgeous wife and I hike to an overlook. That's
  a lot of activities beyond camping and rafting.  Kurt and Angie                                           the New River we rafted on at the bottom of the
demonstrate their trampoline skills on the lake. I think the four of                                        gorge. The scenery in this part of West Virginia
 us get along great because we never really grew up to be adults!                                                            is absolutely beautiful.

           

    Those rapids look           We passed this old house                          I'm guessing this old        New River George Bridge          Too many steps!
deceptively small from        on the road. I thought it                          truck hasn't moved in  
          up here.                    would make the perfect                              a very long time
                                                haunted house

                       

                   Angie and Kurt watch rafters approach the rapids                                  Rita!           We couldn't have picked     Back to camp to rest up
                                                                                                                                                 a more scenic river to         before the trip home
                                                                                                                                                             raft on
 
A great trip Kurt and Angie!  We look forward to another adventure with you both.

 

     Last Updated: Sunday, February 15, 2009 - 8:30 p.m. EST