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By LOU HATTER
4 Arundel Newspapers Staff Writer
• If your idea of a special weekend getaway is being pampered in luxurious surroundings, skip this trip. J But if you enjoy the outdoors, ■ love an adrenalin rush and don’t HIS mind getting wet, the Gauley River 5 is waiting for you. * Five hours southwest of Warreri« ton, the Gauley flows between steep ■ tree-covered hills and sheer granite I! cliffs as it meanders south to its confluence with the New River. For most of the year the river is relatively placid, a haven for fishermen ^•and canoeists.
But for about six weeks each fall, -‘'all that changes. i>"> There is a giant earthen dam just upstream of Hico which creates . vSummersville Lake, a pristine recreation area. During September and "October, West VaCo, the electric - mtility that takes hydroelectric power from the dam, draws down the lake for the winter.
Water pours from huge outlets at ">the base of the dam at the rate of >2,800 cubic feet per second. The • "gushing flood creates a permanent "'mist in the air below the dam, world4 ’Class whitewater in the river rapids *-below the lake, and a quickened < jpulse in any rafter seeing it for the first time.
“Gauley Season is special,” said "'Kathy Rech, assistant manager of <■>J'Jorth American River Runners, one •of the outfitters that runs the Gautey. Whitewater rafting trips run on West Virginia’s 2,000 miles of rivers ’'from early spring through late fall, •L>but for whitewater afficiandos, . -“Gauley Season” is different.
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