The first trip out of the box for the new paddle season is always the toughest.

Do I have all my stuff....? At least this particular Saturday was perfect, sunny and in the 60's and medium water on the Huntington. Met the gang in Richmond at

the park and ride 1:00 sharp. Half went to Mad River the Three Musketeers went

to the Huntington. It is always fun to paddle with these two because you never

know what to expect! (Always a good time, with safety and learning high on the

list). "Let's go up as high as we can, up the Camels Hump Creek!" I knew we were

in for a trip. Geared up a few niceties to all the cars passing by and away we

go! 30 seconds into it the little ditch with boulders and a little water in it

had me pinned, cleared that and pinned again not five minutes later. This time

I found myself so happy I survived again, dry and undamaged that I decided to

let the boat go, Eric will catch it! "Don't let go of your boat!!" came out of

Eric’s mouth as he proceeded to swim as he tried to corral my boat. Thanks Eric,

Lesson number one: self-rescue is okay, do not let go of the boat! This all happened

in the first 5 minutes of the trip! I am glad to say it got better!

Nice water level, friendly people and cows, lots of eddies, don’t forget to get

out at the house with the wagon wheels, river left. You can go to there, or further

as we did, carrying by the beautiful, but deadly Huntington Gorge. Carry around,

stay left on the trail and put in below. The next bit is pleasant 1/2 mile stretch

with interesting rapids (comparable in difficulty to those above the gorge). Take

out on river right and carry way up this hill and down to miss a lower gorge.

A couple hundred yards, very steep. Put in below in an absolute river wonderland,

paddling another mile till you come to the Cochran Road bridge take-out.

Great trip. Hope my mentors will have me along again!

(I-II, 8 miles, 4 hours)