The NARR Blog

The snow is melting, the daffodils are blooming, and NARR is opening back up for the season! With only 4 more days before we officially open our doors for the first rafting trip of the season, we are expecting one of the best seasons yet!

 
Some spring specials to keep an eye on this season are the Nurses Week package and Teacher Appreciation! Nurses Week is May 4 –12, in which Nurses and other Medical Staff can boat for only $70 per person on your choice of the Lower or Upper New River!

 
As we progress into April, NARR’s High Country Café will be opening back up for the season with our new Chef and Restaurant Manger, Al.  Al will be offering new, creative, made from scratch lunch specials, deserts and dinner menu items.

 
Some more spring news I am happy to announce is NARR’s favorite southern hospitality provider: Jon Rapp will be river guiding this year! You may have enjoyed his help while making your reservation, or heard his sweet southern West Virginian accent when phoning for information, and now you can enjoy even more of him on the river!

Since 1983 the National Paddling Film Fest has been celebrated in the greater Lexington area, Kentucky. This year I had the honor of attending and witnessing some amazing independent paddling films while representing NARR in Frankfort, KY.

Hosted at the Buffalo Trace Distillery, the film fest spans over two days with films, kayaking clinics, food, silent auctions, bluegrass music and bourbon tasting. Besides the steep creek running footage we are all use to associating with paddling movies, films were diverse and ranged from Italian paddlers in Patagonia to Kentucky paddlers presenting footage of their search for steamboat wrecks, all shared the same message of preservation and conservation.

Todd Gillman of Seattle and Bryan Smith now in Squamish (Bryan and I grew up an hour away from one another in MI), guest hosted the weekend’s events and were not the only friends NARR had at the film fest. NARR’s favorite Video Boater Casey Cunningham attended the fest with the Marshall Whitewater Club, I enjoyed Saturday nights silent auction for American Whitewater and the awards ceremony with Clay Wright of Jackson Kayaks and our paddling friends from North Carolina: the NOC, sponsored the National Paddling Film Festival. Alex Mohn, Team Paddler for Dagger Kayaks gave me the campus tour of the University of Kentucky, in which I met with the UK Snowcats who hope to venture our way this spring to run the Gauley River with NARR.

I am confident that you will see myself and hopefully some other NARR’tians at the NPFF in 2009, until than we are going to focus on filming our own whitewater footage on the New River next month when the 2008 whitewater season begins. Keep high water and spring flows in mind and do not forget to check out this season’s events, prices and packages!

Natalie

NARR has added a new trip for 2008! The New River Overnight Fishing Trip. Two days of fishing and rafting in the New River Gorge with our professional guides. Get the details on this fisherman’s-or-fisherwoman’s dream trip here.

Wesser, North Carolina – February 25, 2007 – Two of the country’s leading outfitters, the Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC) and West Virginia’s North American River Runners (NARR) have announced a partnership that will provide a comprehensive network of rafting trips on nine of the East’s finest whitewater rivers. The companies will share marketing and sales efforts, guide and operational staff during their different seasonal peaks, and combined, serve over 150,000 guests annually.

NARR Founder and President Frank Lukacs noted “NOC and NARR have been leaders in whitewater adventures for over 30 years, and have always shared a mutual respect. Our reputation for quality has been developed over those three decades, and both organizations intend to maintain the highest standards of professionalism, quality, and fun in the outdoor adventures they offer. I feel proud to recommend NOC trips to our guests, and am honored to be recommended by NOC.”

“NOC has always wanted to be in West Virginia. This partnership allows both companies to provide new and exciting recreational opportunities to our longtime guests. Because NOC and NARR share a similar culture, we feel confident our guests will feel as at home in West Virginia as they do in Wesser,” commented NOC President and CEO Sutton Bacon.

This announcement also coincides with the return of Brian Jennings to NARR. No stranger to the company, Brian was most recently NARR’s River Manager until he left to become Brand Manager of Wavesport. One of the nation’s top competitive freestyle kayakers, Brian will again serve NARR as its River Manager, managing all aspects of its rafting operations, instructional programs, along with brand marketing and sales efforts.

Like NOC’s Nantahala River Resort, NARR’s headquarters features lodging and dining and offers guests an anchor destination for an extended adventure vacation. Conversely, NARR’s guests now have access to NOC’s seven Southeastern Rivers and a new headquarters for their adventures in the Southern Appalachians.

NOC will be encouraging its guests to experience the popular Gauley and New Rivers under the auspices of NARR, while NOC’s nationally renowned Paddling School can now offer private instruction and group clinics on these beloved West Virginia classics in collaboration with NARR’s Kayak School, the oldest paddling school in the state of West Virginia.

Learn all about the New River here!

Learn all about the Gauley River here!

“You can do it Nick, you make it look easy!” This was one of the many motivations I received climbing the nearly 30ft tall ladder. I had all the support one could have from the people I spend 5 days a week with in school. Then, I conquered the ladder.The ladder was part of the large ropes wall in Hico, WV where the Queen of Angels Middle School students (7th and 8th grade) went to work together as a team so that we will know how to work together as a team for the next 8 months of school. Some of the activities we took part in were: whitewater rafting, a ropes course, the ladder and group work that allowed us to solve challenges together.

By the last day of the trip waking up wasn’t normal. We all woke up still tired and very cold. Everyone hiked up a steep hill to the breakfast hall, all of us freezing. My group was nearly the last group at the site. We slogged in, but quickly raced to the buffet to grab as much food as we could. This included pancakes, bacon, sausage, and eggs! Better than my usual breakfast at home.

Not in a hurry any longer, I slowed down so I could hike with one of my friends. When we arrived at our next destination, I saw a very large wall. I had climbed the wall before but this time there was something completely new. I gazed up on a 40 foot high obstacle course. The lower part had an orange ladder that led up to a cable. The cable was holding the bottom part of another ladder to a caterpillar chain which looked very hard to complete. Even so, I was very eager to climb both of them.

When it was my turn to climb the ladder I thought I could do it easily. Because I felt so ready, I was up the first ladder in a split second. When I moved to the rope ladder, however, it became very unpredictable. My strength started to drain, fast! Pulling, struggling, and lifting my whole body up that ladder was more difficult than I anticipated. Half way up the ladder I was indifferent about finishing the climb. Waiting there, I heard the motivations of my fellow classmates. “You can do it Nick, you make it look easy!” I regained my confidence and started back up. Before I knew it, I was at the top. I conquered it!

On the van ride back to Cincinnati, I realized what conquering the ladder really meant. I definitely did not do it by myself. Had I tried to do it by myself, I would have failed. I learned that I could trust my friends – my classmates. In the end, we conquered the ladder.

Written by: Nick Bogner, Student Correspondent, Queen of Angels Montessori

Great food, entertaining guides, and a beautiful riverside setting… who could ask for more? These amenities and many more make up NARR overnight rafting adventures.

My name is Jeremy Graham. I’m here at North American River Runners for a summer internship. One of my assignments this summer was to assist on an overnight rafting trip, and now I can’t help but tell you all about it!

It was a beautiful Saturday morning in June when the guests, guides, and myself all met in the outfitter shop to start our journey into nature. We started our trip at the Stone Cliff put-in located on the Upper New River. The warm morning air brought fish to the surface of the water as the group of 16 guests and myself started down the easy flowing river in our duckies. “Hey Andy! Look at the Heron over in that cove,” I heard a guest yell at the site of the graceful bird fishing for breakfast.

Our first stop came at lunchtime at the old town of Thurmond. We took the time to walk to the Thurmond Depot Museum for a quick history lesson. Everyone had a chance to learn what it was like for the people living in the New River Gorge during its industrial heyday of the early 20th century. During this time the New River Gorge provided the country with a way to transport goods and materials westward and a consistent source of fuel to drive it.

After lunch we loaded back up for more excitement on the river. “We’ve got a little surprise coming up for everyone!” Erin, our guide for the trip said as she gave everyone instructions above the Surprise rapid. Surprise was no doubt our biggest challenge of day one, but everyone handled it like pros. “Great job everyone,” Mike, the trip leader for the overnight said. “One more Class II rapid and we’ll be at our camp site.”

Camping riverside along one of the world’s oldest rivers is an experience in itself. The gear boat arrived long before we showed up at camp. Wes, gear boat guide, had everything up and ready for us. “Camp looks great, Wes!” Mike yelled as we landed on the sandy beach. “Let’s get started on dinner.”

Campfire dinner consisted of fresh vegetables, mouthwatering barbeque chicken, and tender steak – all prepared right there by our guides! The smoky, grilled flavor in the air made me really hungry. Beverage choices ranged from ice cold soft drinks and beer, to a glass of chardonnay or merlot to compliment our dinners. After everyone got their fill, and the kitchen was cleaned up, the real fun began.

With nighttime upon us, some guests checked into their tents for the evening. Others stayed up to enjoy the night. Mike entertained everyone with chilling stories of the gorge’s past and a low-cost light show made with bubbles and a flashlight. One guest filled the air with banjo music as the night came to an end.

“My goodness, this truly is a beautiful and special place.” I heard one guest saying to his grandchildren as they watched the sun make its way behind the canyon wall for the evening.

“Get up Jeremy, breakfast is ready!” Mike said to me as I awakened at my campsite early the next morning. A big home style breakfast of bacon, eggs, home fries, and more started the second day off right. Food seems to taste better when served outdoors.

Once breakfast was over and camp was all packed back onto Wes’s gear boat, everyone loaded up for a quick trip to Cunard where we switched into rafts for the next portion of the trip.

The Lower New River was what we had ahead of us. The day two river trip took us through the heart of the New River Gorge, and through some heart pounding rapids!“This is a lot different than yesterday,” one young man said after rafting through Upper Railroad, our first major rapid of the day.

More big whitewater kept everyone’s blood flowing, and called for a few quick swims in the calm pools between rapids to cool off. At the end of the day everyone arrived at the take-out successfully, and ready to head back to NARR for a hot shower and a bite to eat at High Country Cafe.

“Two days of rafting, camping, and the meals we had – you can’t beat this deal,” one guest said once we had arrived back at NARR’s base. “We all had a great time. I will certainly be back to do this one again!”

Editor’s note: Jeremy Graham is a student of Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia majoring in Sports Marketing. NARR is pleased to assist students in their education by providing internship opportunities in several departments. For more information visit www.narr.com/employment.html