Tohickon Release - March 17-18, 2012

[Tohickon Release]

Signed up (8/50):

[Nick Bowley]

Trip Leader: Nick Bowley

Class: III (Solid Intermediate Skills)

Time: 9am at the location below (setting shuttle by 9:30)

Where: Tohickon
6011 State Park Rd, Point Pleasant, PA 18947
(This is the address for the put-in.   You will see a bridge going across the river.  Go down the little gravel road to the right of the bridge and go under the bridge.  We usually park along the river in that cluster of cars. )

When: Meet at the put-in around 9, leaving to set shuttle by 9:30.

Prerequisites: Flotation, cold weather gear, ability to catch small moving eddies, solid roll or plan on doing self rescue.  This run has lots of long contiguous rapids and the water can be chilly this time of year.

Description:  If the group is similar to last year, we will be playing every significant and insignificant feature of the river.  You don't have to be a play boater to be with our group. If you run straight thru the rapids plan on waiting for everyone or working on skills like catching eddies and ferrying.  We dont mind showing people the lines or helping someone push their ability a little, but read the river summary and make your own informed decision to attend.  First run may take us a few hours which is unusual for this section.

Summary: The Tohickon is a solid class III but you don't have the calm pools between rapids to recover people and their gear from a swim like you do on most other class III rivers.  There are eddys on the edges, they are just hard to catch if you are swimming or pushing a boat full of water. If you swim you will want to swim hard and hang onto your paddle.

http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/River_detail_id_1672_

Confirm your attendance by clicking the "register" button below.

[RedPointyBoat]

I would list "solid intermediate skills", not "solid novice skills" as a prerequisite.  The Tohickon
offers cold and bruising swims to people who come out of their boats.  (Note, however,
that there's a stretch upstream of Ralph Stover that's markedly easier.  Still just as
cold, though.)

See also the graph here: http://www.rockandwater.net/pa-ww/tohickon.html
which shows the relationship between between the USGS gauge at Pipersville
(which reports in CFS) to the bridge at Ralph Stover State Park (which measures
in feet).    Scheduled releases are normally in the ballpark of 1.75 feet, or 700 CFS.
A hundred CFS more or less doesn't change that much, HOWEVER, this is a stream
that begins to change character substantially at higher flows.  I wouldn't recommend
anything over 2.5 feet for a first-timer unless they have exceptional skills and are
part of a solid group with experience on this river.   Above 3 feet, the run is much
more class IV than III.  Above 4 feet, it's one rapid 3.5 miles long, and you simply
cannot swim.

[Nick Bowley]

Fixed.   Solid Novice was a typo carried over from an old post.

The summary listed in the initial post is accurate per the last 3 standard releases which were below 2.5 and is quite similar to what you describe.  Thanks for the additional info about higher levels, good to keep in mind.  Can't plan for every situation, just adapt and make good decisions when the time comes.  If Toh were high there would be lots of other choices to accommodate the skill of the group.   Thanks for the info.

[Nick Bowley]

Notice the corrected date for this event.  Thanks for the heads up Shannon.

I will be leading this trip.  If you are unsure if you should come on this trip, there is a local Class I-III trip on the gunpowder the same weekend.   In addition to the previous post, a good per-requisite for this trip would be the Lower Yough.

[Laura]

Thanks for the date update. Where did you find the information?

[Nick Bowley]

http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/findapark/nockamixon/

That site says 3rd weekend in March.  I had the 4th weekend posted orginially.

[Nick Bowley]

I think I will try camping this trip if there is an interest.  Let me know what you think.

[John Muhl]

I'm going to try to make it up Sunday. 

[Caveman]

What nights were you thinking about camping? Fri? Sat? Both?

John>

[Nick Bowley]

Definitely Saturday night.   Not sure about Friday night.   Jon drove up Friday night last time and had a nightmare with traffic.

[Nick Bowley]

Bump

[Maribo]

Does anybody know if there are any decent B&Bs in the area?
... David

[Nick Bowley]

I cant personally recommend anything, but here is what I found.

This one is right there at the takeout.
http://www.tattersallinn.com/

Here are some others nearby.
blackbasshotel.com‎
1740house.com‎

There are a ton in New Hope, PA which is a pretty neat town about 20 minutes south of the river.  This town is a tourist destination, prices might be a little higher.

[Maribo]

Thanks, Nick.  I am in for Saturday.
... David

[Eric Ruhl]

I don't mind driving, but if anyone wants to carpool for the weekend trip let me know.  Would like to fill the van up so we can all save some on gas.  I would be able to seat 4 additional people and their boats/gear.

Let me know and we can arrange the meeting spot.