Tubing on the Shenandoah River

Friends at my church asked me to organize another tubing trip on the Shenandoah River like I did back in 2009.  We went with River Riders again in Harpers Ferry.  They were VERY busy, but they have a large staff that has been doing this for a while and somehow manage to get everybody through in a pretty well-orchestrated and efficient manner.  For anyone else trying to organize this as a group activity, River Riders has put together a very useful group-leader packet with all their gouge and recommendations how to make things go smoothly.

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It was a gorgeous, sunny day.  

75F air temp, 77F water temp.

I used my last blog post as a guide for what to expect.  This time we brought lunches with us to put in the cooler tubes.  River Riders advertises that they have tubes to rent that will carry a cooler to bring lunch and refreshments with you on the river.  I emailed them a couple of times asking for the size of the cooler, but they didn't respond.  At the River Riders compound, you have to pay for the cooler tube rental, but they didn't have one there to actually SEE how big it was or how many we would need for our small coolers.  So for anybody else heading out to River Riders, here's how big the cooler tubes are:

Note, they have a large and a small cooler tube, but both cost the same price to rent.  I recommend chipping in and getting the large tube and sharing.

River Riders upgraded their standard tubes.  The new tubes have a built-in cup-holder.  I liked that, although the cup holder wasn't big enough for a Camelbak bottle.

In addition to bringing a few footballs and tennis balls to toss back and forth on the water, we also brought along some water cannons.  I told the group if they brought water guns, they had to FLOAT because I didn't want someone dropping their toy plastic water gun in the river, then it sinks and becomes a piece of trash in the river. 

So we brought a few of the water cannons made out of those foam noodles.  They shoot pretty far, and they float if you drop them.

Our trip went a lot quicker this time than it did last time.  Last time, we had a 10:30 reservation, we got on the water at 12:10, got off the water at 1:30, waited for the bus back to River Riders, and got back to River Riders after 2 p.m.  This time, we had the same 10:30 reservation, but we got on the water at 11:30 and got off the water at 12:30.  So the operation at River Riders was a little more efficient and the river was moving a little faster - 1 hour instead of 1 hour 20 minutes. 

We could have gotten on the water even sooner if I had been on-the-ball about the liability forms.  When I handed them our liability forms, they audited the stack and found several where the second page hadn't been initialed, or a birthdate was missing, or the child hadn't signed (even though the adult had signed).  Next time, I will make more of an effort to get the liability waivers filled out in advance, and I will audit them to make sure EVERY blank is filled in before I try to turn them in. 

Also, I had two people who emailed me they were coming, but I didn't have a phone number for them, so we waited for them to show up.  Next time, I'm going to make sure I have a phone number for everybody who signed up, so if someone doesn't show, I can call and find out where they are or if they weren't going to make it.  

If I had done those two things above, then we would have gotten on the water another 30 minutes sooner (at 11 instead of 11:30).

Last time we didn't bring food with us, so we were forced to go back to River Riders because we were starving.  This time, we brought our lunches, so we could easily have gone back and gone down the river again.

Overall though, it was another fun and relaxing float trip down the Shenandoah River.  I hope we get to do this again next summer.

Paddle Log #16: Shenandoah River

This morning, I dragged the boys out of bed at 6:30 a.m., threw them in the car with some Dunkin Donuts, and we headed west to the Shenandoah River.  We went with Ben and some of the same guys who went with us on the Goose Creek trip we did last summer. 

Self-Portrait under the Route 7 bridge 

over the Shenandoah River

We met at the public boat ramp parking area under the Route 7 bridge over the Shenandoah River, about five miles east of Berryville, VA (see Ben's map of the Shenandoah River).  There was plenty of space here.  When we had our rendez-vous at 7:30, we were the only ones in the parking lot.  When we got out later though, there were at least a dozen cars in the lot and just as many kayaks and canoes laying around everywhere.

We left a couple of cars there under Route 7 for shuttling people back to the put-in point, then we drove down past the Watermelon Park to another public boat ramp about five miles upstream of Route 7.

It was a gorgeous day out.  I couldn't have asked for better weather.  Temperature started out around 70F and gradually climbed to about 82F by the time we got out.  The thermometer said the water was 76F, but it felt like bath water.

There were about ten kayaks in our group.  This was my eldest son's second time out in his solo Perception Acadia Scout kayak, and he did really well.  He especially liked flying through the light rapids, saying, "wheeeee!" 

Photo by Ben

Level-of-difficulty wise, this trip was similar to the Goose Creek trip we did last summer although considerably shorter.  There were about four short stretches of water where the current picked up and we brushed up a few rocks here and there.

The water level was very low, so a couple of times I had to get out and pull our boat across the rocks. 

The waterproof doodle pad continues to be a hit.

So does nap time.

ES self portrait.

At the end of our paddling trip today, ES told me, "Daddy, this was funner than most of our other kayaking trips."  Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!  Success!!!

Semi-traditional feet photo.

Some stats for the paddle log:

• Date: 3 July 2010
• Time In: 8:30 a.m. (approx)
  
• Time Out: 10:45 a.m. (approx)
  
• Elapsed: ~2 1/4 hours
• Moving Time (GPS):  1 hrs 58 minutes
  Stopped Time (GPS):  20 minutes 56 seconds
• Mileage: 5.21 miles by GPS
  
• Sea State: 0
• Winds: 0-5 knots - just an occasional light breeze
• Air Temp: 70F initially then climbing to 82F when we got out.
• Water Temp: 76F - felt like bath water
• Current:   (Discharge) 540 cf/s (very low - less than half the median daily value) (source)
• Gauge Height:  1.5 feet (source)
• Avg Speed (GPS):  2.6 mph
  
• Max Speed by (GPS):  6.8 mph
• Rapids?  There were about four spots with some light rapids.  The most significant was right by Watermelon Park. 
• Hazards?  None.
  
• Kit: Second time for ES in his Perception Acadia Scout.  ES had previously complained about water dripping on his legs tickling/itching, so I sent him with a soft sponge this time and he seemed happy.  YB and I rode in our Ocean Kayak Malibu Two XL. Flop hat, sunglasses, NRS paddling gloves. Short sleeve shirt, swim trunks, Keen sandals.
• Configuration: I started out sitting in the back with YB in the front.  I put my soft lead weight belt for scuba diving in the forward storage hold as ballast to keep the bow down and to make up for ES not riding in the kayak with us anymore.  Even so, I felt like our bow was pretty high up, and I figured that was why we were scraping bottom on so many rocks back at my end of the boat.  So mid-way through the trip, I shifted to the middle seat.  It was a lot more comfortable and kept us more on an even-keel.
• Route:  Put-in at a public boat ramp a few miles upstream of the Route 7 bridge and took out at the public boat ramp under the Route 7 bridge five miles east of Berryville, VA.    
• 
  
• Other comments (such as wildlife spotted): Great Blue Herons, dragonflies, tadpoles, fish jumping out of the water, water bugs.  Somebody else in our group saw a snake in the water.

After we finished loading up the car, we headed into Berryville in search of lunch.  Berryville is a very pretty little town with lots of red brick and old architecture.

The boys wanted pizza, so we went to Mario's.  It was extraordinarly good pizza.  I highly recommend it if you're ever passing through town.  The boys both ate like horses.  Well, maybe not like horses, but they ate significantly more than they usually eat. 

Then, our 6 year old YB who NEVER sleeps in the car (cue Gilbert and Sullivan, "What never?  No never!  What never?  Hardly EVERRRRR!")...

Long Day

Tubing on the Shenandoah River

On Saturday, I organized a flat-water tubing trip on the Shenandoah River for my church. Overall: We had a great time floating down the river and the staff at River Riders were very friendly and easy-going.

We met up at 10 for our 10:30 reservation.

By the time we got done with the orientation and safety brief, got our life preservers, and got on the bus, it was 11:41.

They bring the tubes along in a trailer behind the bus.

Note: It's not advertised on their website, but they DO have double-tubes if you have a small child that you want to ride with you instead of letting them go off on independent ops.

The entry point was hard-pack dirt/mud and rocks. They recommend wearing some sort of water shoes or old sneakers, and I can see why.

As for me, I got to try out my new Keen Newport water-sandals. They were very nice, comfortable, and worked like a champ on the slippery rocks in the water.

YB and me in our double-tube.

It turns out that mesh-bottom in one of the holes of the double-tube was a pretty nice feature. It prevented us from losing a few things like YB's crocs.

Unfortunately, my wife's sunglasses slid off the back of her head and into the water. Plunk! Gone. We spent a while feeling around in the brown water, but weren't able to find them.

PLUNK!
Last known photo of my wife's sunglasses.

The boys kept putting on their goggles and looking around underwater trying to find the sunglasses for Mommy.

YB had fun blowing bubbles while he was searching, too.

A couple of people in our group brought footballs along. That was actually a pretty-good idea. We had fun tossing the football back and forth. (See the green football airborne in the image above.)

YB got out of the tube and had fun swimming back and forth to retrieve the football and give it to people. He also took a break to just kick back and float down the river a while.

There were a couple of spots of very light rapids. This short video shows you about as fast as it got.

This orange tube nailed to the tree was the marker telling us where to get out. River Riders runs a bus here every 30 minutes to pick people up. You can either ride the bus back to the beginning and ride the river again, or you can ride the bus back to the River Riders HQ.

The boys looking back the way we came.

Here are a smattering of other notes about our trip:

Timing. River Riders advertises on their website that it takes on average 1.5 hours but anywhere from 1 to 2 hours depending on the current. According to my GPS, we got in the water at 12:10 and got out of the water at 1:30 p.m.

We were a little frustrated with the efficiency of the River Riders operation and our 10:30 reservation got us in the water at 12:10. By the time we got back to River Riders to eat "lunch" it was 2:55 p.m. Lesson learned: They rent tubes you can put a cooler in to float with you down the river. Next time, bring a cooler with snacks and drinks so you aren't starving for lunch.

Weather. Definitely wear sun screen. When we started it was mostly cloudy, but the clouds burned off and the sun came out during our trek down the river.

Water Temp. The water was very nice - I would guess about 75 degrees based on how it felt compared to Lake Winnipesaukee last week. It seemed like the water was never more than about waist deep. The few times I got out of my tube, I was able to stand up.

Bugs. I was pleasantly surprised that we didn't really have any problem with bugs. We saw a lot of dragon flies while we were on the river, but that was it.

Shop. If you forget anything River Riders probably has it for sale in their shop. They seemed to have just about everything in there, including some cool t-shirts with things like, "Paddle Faster!" and "Dude, Where's My Paddle?"

Food. The Front Porch Cafe offered friendly service and pretty decent food, but had a little trouble keeping up with the demand. There wasn't a wait to place your order, but there was a bit of a wait for your food to come out of the kitchen from being cooked.

Today at church, I got a lot of positive feedback on the trip. Everyone seemed to have a good time and said they want to go again. I look forward to organizing a trip like this again.