Oh dear friends - your general chit chat can really make my day. Although when I start laughing during class after logging on to PP my classmates start to wonder what I'm up to. Heck, let them wonder - maybe more of them will turn into paddlers.

I have good news! I got a summer internship with Amazon.com! Woot! I thought that would get me back to Seattle, but instead it is sending me to West Virginia to do Operations in the Customer Service office there. I'm totally excited.

So here is where I need your help - I hear there is great boating in West Virginia, but I don't know a soul in the state. Does anyone know some boaters out there they would be willing to put me in contact with? Or, know someone who might know some boaters in WV? I'll be in Huntington, and right now I paddle III to IV-.

A thousand thanks. I hope this note finds you all well, and excited for the spring!

-Liz

Hi Liz, I have a ton of friends in DC and Maryland who boat in WV all the time I can put you in touch with. Don't know much about Huntington, but it looks like its well within striking distance of the new. The Fruitbasket rivers are mostly II/III/IV and really close to the Gauley area and run sometimes on thunderstorms in the summer. The Tygart area isn't too far away and sometimes goes in the summer from thunderstorms as well. The Yough is a sure thing all summer long but that might be a little bit of a haul from Huntington. Anyway, WV is cool, you'll like it   

You're gonna be 2 hours from the New, 2.5 from the Gauley, and more like 3.5 from the Yough/Cheat area. The New will be your best bet, as it runs pretty much all summer and is right in the difficulty range you're looking for. Everything else will take rain and probably a weekend trip. The largest concentration of paddlers in the state is up north near the Yough/Cheat/Morgantown area, but there are plenty of river guides who paddle that spend the summer around the New and Gauley. Odds are pretty high that you will find boaters if you go to Fayetteville on a weekend.

Leland

yeah- definitely hit up the New, and since you're close enough, make sure you hit up the Lower Yough while you are in the area before it gets too low later in the summer.

Really, the Lower Yough is a pretty awesome class III run, with two class IV rapids also, depending on flows.

Perhaps I will learn how to open boat this summer. When in Rome...

The SE is the place to learn that skill if that's what interests you.  There is a C boat site that is similar to PP called cboats.net. That site has been an integral part of the development of my C-boating knowledge and growing skill.  Single blade boating will greatly change the way you run whitewater, and give you a new appreciation for pain.

good luck