on the Water Gap
(10/29/06)
By: The Dogg
(Photo Gallery by Bryon Dorr and Bobby Miller)
Few areas in the country boast the high quality creeks that the Delaware Water Gap does. So, as you could well imagine, this area is a favorite of the Dogg. Oh Yesh! The Delaware Water Gap is the greatest thing to come down the pike since Nintendo Wii! It had been awhile since I had gone up to that waterfall haven and I was very anxious to go. You’ve got to strike while the iron’s hot! Besides, I needed some excuse to provide you with another work of literary greatness. I may be a part time writer, but I am a full time hero! It’s true! It’s true! The Water Gap had run many times but I always had an excuse like being too busy or it being too long of a drive. When it comes to making excuses, where does it end? I’ll tell you where it ends! RIGHT HERE!
(The Dogg firing up his namesake rapid, Bobby's Falls.)
No excuses and a crew of 4 of my best creeking buds brought me to the Delaware Water Gap on October 29 for some good old fashioned whitewater paddling. The crew consisted of Joe Stumpfel, Seth Chapelle, Bryon Dorr, and Steve Grayballs. This train was bound for glory and nothing was going to stop us! I was a little overanxious to get there and I couldn’t wait to get to the creeks. I don’t think you understand what I’m saying, I literally couldn’t wait. So, I had the guys cryogenically freeze me for the drive up and then unfreeze me so it would seem like no passage of time between when I left my house and when I arrived at the creek. 5 minutes later (by my clock) we pulled up at Hornbecks Creek. We were stoked to find it running at a nice level. This creek can be run quite low but it was nice to see it with a slightly higher than low flow. Before putting on the run, I made everyone do the mandatory gear test by jumping in the creek to make sure that our drysuit/drytop gaskets and seams didn’t leak (I personally put new gaskets on and restitch the seams by hand each year so I didn’t have to worry). When we were good and hypothermic, we puton and got out for a quick scout at the first drop, Bobby’s Falls. Local lore has it that the greatest kayaker in the universe once got flipped and knocked out in this drop. However, like any true world class athlete, I have returned many time to layeth the smacketh down on this drop many times. Today would be no different. I slid in below a nice Louisiana Thrasher habitat (a strainer) and cruised down the drop cleanly. Everyone in the group followed with nice lines. We found the next gorge to be clean of strainers so we bombed on down through Left Turn and Let the Good Times Roll. Immediately after these drops is Twist and Shout, a steep slide into a wall. You line up at the top and careen down the slide at a high speed into the pillow and then continue dropping through the runout. We all had nice runs except for Joe who hit the pillow and did a sweet offside helpless flip. There is nothing more amusing to a carnage junkie than seeing a C-1er catch his edge and flip to the side without a blade. It is always brutal looking and always a crowd pleaser! I hadn’t smiled that big since I whooped up on that blind man at Parcheesi!
(The Dogg stylin Twist and Shout.)
Next, we were out scouting Goliath, which is a drop of about 50 feet over a wide, shallow cascade. I would have preferred to see more water and I think that was everyone else’s conclusion except for Joe. Joe scouted the drop for awhile and got in his boat, ready to go for it. However, a thigh strap malfunction in the pool above prevented him from firing this drop up.
(The Dogg droppin' into the Slot Machine.)
Continuing downstream, we scouted Slot Machine, which is a cascady 12-15 foot drop into a very narrow slot. I had never run it before due to low water or trees but this time the level was good and it was wood free. Steve went first and had a nice run. I followed and aced the drop but forgot to turn my paddle as I fell through the slot. My blades each caught on rocks and the paddle went flying out of my hands and up into the air. There is no doubt in my mind that those H2O paddles are the strongest on the market! Joe got a little screwed up in the approach and ended up a little further right than desired coming off the bottom drop. However, he dropped through the slot cleanly.
(The Dogg taking flight off David's Falls.)
The run picks up again for its final gorge shortly afterwards. Once you enter this gorge, there are no laws! It’s the Thunderdome! In this gorge are some of the finest drops anywhere. There were some hikers that had gathered at this point and they were quite concerned for our welfare. However, I assured them that the Revolution’s here and we’re in command! It all starts with a few ledgy drops leading to Sliding Board Falls. There was a tree pinned on the left so we had to boof off the right side of this 15 footer. After a steep cascady drop, we entered the last drop on the run, David’s Falls. The drop begins with a 12-15 foot cascade landing you on a slide that takes you off a 5 footer onto a nearly vertical rock face that drops another 40 feet. I flew down the approach cascade and launched a sweet boof off the 5 foot ledge onto the big rock face before sailing deep and clean into the pool below, emerging victorious. I have rarely seen such a one sided victory in my life. The only other time I have seen such an overmatched win was back in Grenada when my platoon mowed down a group of surrendering soldiers. Let me tell you, their white flags were no match for our rifles! Back to the creek, everyone else followed with nice runs of David’s. Bryon caught major air off the flake part way down the big drop and landed smoothly into the pool at the bottom for an awesome run. Oh YESH! It is one of the SCHWEEEETEST drops ever!
After running David’s, we hurried back to the cars and rushed over to Raymondskill Creek to try to get another run in before dark. It would have been a real shame to have missed this run due to daylight constraints. I would have been madder than a janitor after someone took a dook in the urinal! Luckily, we had just enough light to squeeze in the good section. At the start, a ranger dropped by and chatted with us before we puton. He asked us if anyone knew anything about people cutting trees out of Hornbecks. Apparently, a rare breed of bird called the Louisiana Thrasher makes its home in these strainers. This supports the much joked about theory that strainer removal causes years of environmental damage. Obviously, unless Scotty can beam me up to the Water Gap instead of driving 4 hours, I’m not going to come up there with no water to cut out trees. However, you won’t find me tieing myself to a strainer with a “Save the Louisiana Thrasher” sign across my chest either! The ranger asked us to turn the people in if we find out. Right! But apparently, it is a fine of “tens of thousands of dollars” for this crime so you tree cutting scofflaws out there beware!
Raymondskill had a good flow in it so the character of the run was quite different than the steep shallow drops of Hornbecks. The run starts out with several steep slide/ledge drops. The first one is a slide into a 6-8 foot boof. Right after, you have to punch a big pourover hole. The next steep slide carries you to a pool above Iron Staircase. This drop requires you to punch a curler up top and fall off a 10 foot drop with a boof slab halfway down. Bryon went far right where the boof shelf sticks out a little more. His boat made a loud bang sound when he hit the slab. Luckily, he was using a Fluid Solo which is made of nearly indestructible plastic and the hit didn’t phase the boat. After a short pool, we were out scouting Flirting With Disaster.
Flirting With Disaster is a nearly 30 foot falls onto a rock shelf with a fast slide run out into a 6-8 foot drop. A piton off this drop would certainly clean the sand out of your wicket! It has recently been run several times by a few young punks so I was interested in giving this drop another look. I had walked it for years and was planning on running it on this trip. However, the daylight was fading fast and the water level was higher than optimal. My buddy, Jared, had run it at a medium high level and told me that it is not recommended. The water hits the wall on the left pretty hard after the falls, whereas at low water, it pillows around more. Heeding this advice, I decided to wait for another day. The lighting wasn’t good anyway so the likelihood of me getting a “front page of the magazine” kind of picture was low. Let’s face it, if you can’t catch it on video or film and then use it to promote yourself throughout the kayaking world, then it is not worth doing. I’m not sacrificing my body for nothing!
(The Dogg running the second drop of Raymondskill Falls at sundown.)
We bombed the rest of the creek down to Raymondskill Falls, a series of 3 waterfalls dropping close to 150 feet. The top falls is a burly 50 foot clapper that cascades into a wall. There is only one man on Earth other than me capable of pulling off a successful run of this falls, and we all know that Chuck Norris will never run it. I would like to see it at low water for consideration of a run. We portaged this falls and walked down the steep gully to the turbulent pool between the first falls and the second falls. The second falls is a sweet 35-40 foot near vertical cascade. It is pretty straightforward down the right into a deep pool once you get to the lip. However, the water coming off the top falls creates erratic oscillation of the neighboring particles which makes it difficult to ferry out and get to the right place. Once you get over the edge, it is one of the sweetest drops in the Water Gap and is a great way to finish off a sweet day of creeking. I hopped in my boat first and faced tremendous chaos. Many would have been scared, perhaps even panic stricken. But not the Dogg! I’ve seen things more terrifying in your mom’s bread pudding! I entered the maw and dropped cleanly down into the pool below. Oh yesh! I was happier than a dogg chasing a rabbit through a patch of Timothy grass! Joe and Steve followed, firing it up with schweet lines while Bryon took photos. Seth took his good old time scouting and left us in suspense. I knew he was going to run it all along, he couldn’t fool me. Sheeeeeeet! He couldn’t even fool his own mother on the foolingest day of his life with an electrified fooling machine! He got in his boat and fired up a righteous line the rivaled the Dogg’s for smoothness. As we were leaving, we scouted the final 50 footer, which actually looked almost doable. It has a huge boof ramp that you could launch and fall 50 feet into the rock infested pool below. I think I might consider it with a little more water, it looks sweet!
Oh yeah! It was another sweet day in the Water Gap. Big drops, good water, and great friends made this a spectacular day. Best day EVERRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!
