Skip to main content

Trip Reports

Thursday 5 May Needles Paddle
Author Last Post

The force was in balance today on the Needles section of the Potomac under sunny skies, low humidity and perfect temperatures.  The level was 2.38’ at Shepherdstown or 1,960 cfs. This is well above Gertler's (1.8 ft/910 cfs) minimum but about as low as many of us would want to run it. Inflow at Harpers Ferry from the Shenandoah was an anemic 800 cfs, so the final Whitehorse Rapid was mild. We had eleven paddlers in five K1s: Alf C; David C aka Cotton, Glenn D, Wayne M, and Ed T. Likewise, there were five canoes: four OC1s with Kim B; Gary Q, Ginny Q and Tim T and a Kevlar OC2 paddled very elegantly by Hugh and Annette Hilliard. Nothing untoward to report. Wayne did an excellent job handling convoy duty up and down the single lane road to the HF Adventure Center takeout. You don’t often get such a picture-perfect day on the river.

Cotton & Tim's Leg

Luncheon Rock - Annette, Kim, Gary, Ginny, Tim, Glenn, Ed

Return to Forum