Whitewater Rafting Trip – June 2017 – Dragons Patrol
by Michael Katson
On Friday, June 2nd, we left St. Francis at 6:30 for the Cheat Canyon Campground, Albright, WV. The Scouts set up their tents when they arrived. We woke up earlier than expected but breakfast went well and our patrol cooked pancakes and sausage links. The NSP left early for white water rafting on the Lower Yough R. and we eventually left the campground for the Cheat Narrows. When we arrived there after a turnaround on a dirt road and a “shortcut” taken by Mr. Pan Jr., we geared up and got our shiny bright helmet, life jacket, and paddle.
We then left on a school bus to get our red rafts and carry them down to the river. The guide told us about all the rapids and gave us information on specific rocks such as Dimple, which has a deadly cave under it. When it came time for lunch, they provided us with shrimp, chips, burritos, pita bread and most importantly, chocolate chip cookies! We also were able to get out of our rafts to swim in the water when no rapids were around. The group also stopped at a beautiful waterfall we were lucky to see. At the beginning of the trip, our guide said that carrying the rafts down was the 2nd hardest part of the trip and carrying them back up is the 1st hardest. And oh was he right, by the time we went through all the rapids and came close to falling out, it came time to carry the rafts up the hill and leave. Even having 7 people on the raft, it was still pretty annoying to carry.
When we drove back to our campground, we made pasta with meat sauce for dinner which took us longer than expected. Cleaning was tedious as usually although once we finished, we were very relieved. The scouts had the campfire and the PLC meeting then went to bed. When we woke up at 6:15, we made breakfast which was grits and sausage links. They were easy to make and very tasty. Due to the fact that this was our last campout of the season before summer, we were instructed to clean everything in our chuck box thoroughly so the equipment would be perfect for when we came back after summer. At 10:00, a helicopter pilot talked to us about his career and the helicopter. After that, we packed up and left the Cheat Canyon Campground at around 11:00.
