The New River has always held a revered position in my mind. When I was a beginning boater in the mid 90’s, the New was considered a class III+/IV test piece, at least amongst the crowd I ran with, one of those rivers used to gauge your progress like the Ocoee and the Gauley. I […]
Category: Rivers
All things to do with rivers


As a kayaker, jokes about swimming are relentless. Swimming is a last resort when it all goes wrong, to pop your spray deck and bail out of the boat, like a downed fighter pilot. To swim means that the river got the better of you, that you weren’t good enough and had to admit defeat. […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: If you’ve been pushing rubber for years like some of us Dirtbags, you’ve probably Wallaced more times than you can count… But thankfully the raft guide lifestyle is alive and well, and each season countless rookies join the ranks to tackle The River, escort their blissfully unaware customers downstream, and copewith their inevitable […]