Prayers of course. Tempting to head down the the Cheat river for a little class 5 rapid adventure! That river is one of the toughest I have rafted and a blast.
Wish I were retired qnd could volunteer more, but tough with a 10 year old.
The Cheat is high, but not bad. I personally would not get on it.
I had a pretty close call about 4 or 5 years ago. I was in the water for about 90 minutes on the South Branch Potomac near Romney, WV, below "The Trough" during a volunteer river cleanup when the water was high and cold. Without proper equipment and training, I would have just been a search, and not a rescue. I eventually got out of the river on my own. The worst casualty was that my "water proof" cell phone had died by drowning.
Presently, most of the rivers north of Corridor H and US-50 are just rather high and muddy.
In my younger days it was fun to raft, canoe, and try to fish on the New River and on the Gauley River. I don't know where they actually rank in white water, but I'm sure they are in the serious "brown water" category, and well out of their banks at this point.
I'm headed towards 69 years old, and would not do either river again, even in a drought.
Ken
