The Slow Boat To Nowhere was out this weekend on the Paw Paw Bends section of the Potomac River, which is a 21 mile stretch of dramatic S curves between Paw Paw, WV and Little Orleans, MD. At normal water levels (3-5 feet) the river is rated A-1, but we were at 7-plus feet and we definitely hit a few decent rapids, maybe up to class two.
The canoe was flying, covering the first 8 miles to our campsite in 2 hours with very little paddling needed! We covered the last 13 miles in a little over 3 hours, again not breaking a sweat!
It was my and my bow man's first river trip and while we did pretty well with the white water, we did make two mistakes. We hit a submerged boulder head on the first day. It made an awful sound and I was sure there was going to be splits if not a hole in the canoe. Amazingly, the only damage were some superfcicial but long scrapes that did not go through to the wood and maybe just barely into the glass.
The second day we did something similar, although that one we took almost broad side going over a ledge. Again, it sounded catastrophic but nothing but some scrapes, none of which was very deep and none into the wood. We didn't even capsize (although that again is a testament to how stable the loaded canoe was and not to our river skills!
Here's what the bottom looked like. Most of the white is glare.
