Shavers Fork

From left, Mike and Judy Shremshrock,
Rodney Kickel, Sally and Woody Naas,
Bruce Fleckenstein, Carl Bolyard, Tim Lewis,
and Morgan Jones enjoy the Shaver’s Fork of
the Cheat. Photo by Steve Bumgardner

Boaters: OC-1 Carl Bolyard, Bruce Fleckenstein; OC–
2 Sally and Woody Naas; K-1 Mike and Judy Shremshock,
Steve Bumgardner, Morgan Jones, Tim Lewis, Rodney Kickel

              10 boaters and 9 boats gathered in Elkins Saturday
morning to try out a section of the Shavers Fork of the Cheat.
Turner, Susan and Brendan stopped by for a visit before heading
east for water – we tried to get them to stay but they were
eyeing the Cacapon. The parking lot congregating was casual
and there was conversation & debate as to whether we would
still have enough water to run the upper section that some folks
had not seen – from U.S. 250 at Cheat Bridge to McGee Run –
vs. the lower section which some had not seen and which was
holding water better. We opted for the lower section for shuttle
as well as water level and headed off to the old 33 bridge near
the Cheat River Inn to run the Shavers down to Rattlesnake
Run, about 8 miles of really pretty river. The USGS Bowden
gage read 5.02 at 6 am.
              We got weather that day ranging from “trying to be
sunny” to “will rain soon” and temps in the high 60’s.
Shuttle went with out a hitch or anyone wandering off the
pockmarked road into the river below. We put on about
11:30a and floated into the first rapid and around the bend
getting warmed up and comfortable. There was no swimming
at all on Saturday. Two spots offered good opportunities
to surf and play in the class 2 drops and most took advantage
of the fun time despite cool temps. We stopped for
lunch twice, on two different islands, as everyone gets hungry
on their own schedule and those shorter boats require
stops for your circulation to return.
              Excitement: Woody and Sally surfing in the tandem
canoe – and no apparent damage to the relationship
from canoeing, gunfire from river left and all of us ducking
and yelling as someone’s target practice got a bit too close
for comfort. Finding new trees down from the storm on the
weekend of May 10 - none of which were a danger but
many were a surprise. Best was meeting a new potential
member of WVWA – Bruce, with his second day in a new
OC-1 and taking a few pictures for this article and his web
site.
              We had fun playing and cruising downstream with
plenty of time to talk and get to know each other between
rapids - this was a social float for sure. We took off the
river around 3:30 and folks went all sorts of ways from
there. Bruce and Morgan share the award for longest drive.
Morgan coming from Columbus and Bruce form Pittsburgh
area. By Sunday the gage had come back up and the upper
section was in good form! No predicting the rain…
Thanks for a fun day!

Boaters enjoy the Shaver’s Fork of
the Cheat during the club trip.
Photo by Bruce Fleckenstein