Working the Lower Yough: 2.5 - 2.3

Section: Lower Youghiogheny River (www.americanwh...)
Level: 2.5 dropping to 2.3
Put-In: Lower Yough Boat Launch (goo.gl/maps/J3...)
Take-Out: Lower Yough River Takeout (goo.gl/maps/xh...)
This video covers a recent run of the Lower Yough in whitewater kayaks. Most of us are pretty familiar with this river, and the intention of this run was to really work it- find every hard move, eddy, slot, and boof. I don't make all of the moves, but at least this video should help you find these if you want to try them yourself.
These are not the traditional lines, and most of the lines we take wouldn't be well suited to new paddlers. Make sure that you have a solid safety crew and good river knowledge if you're going to try the slot moves specifically- there's an inherent risk in pinning when you run slots. Be sure you know how to recover and help save a fellow boater who's pinned in a bad position!
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[@macfawlty]

Well done Chris on another solid LY instructional. Always good comments and advice for the intermediate and advanced paddler.

[@potomacbeater]

Thank you, it means a lot! 🤝

[@adamtateus6012]

Dude, your videos are always improving. love it and keep it up

[@potomacbeater]

Thanks so much!

[@macfawlty]

I finally got my PFD of the LoYo last weekend with a small Calleva group. Late start to the season w travel and minor wrist fracture. Inadvertently left my nose plugs behind when I removed the ear flaps from my helmet at the parking lot (which resulted in 3 swims). Paddling my Antix 2 (in hindsight, half-slice probably wasn’t the best choice for my PFD). The first swim was at cucumber when I followed another in our group into the hole below right of the middle submerged rock instead of hugging the left. Photo guy got some epic pics though as I was in great form, completely submarined to the chin, came out well until I hit a rock just after. Harder to roll when your head is dragging rocks (w/o nose plugs)! Going back next Friday w/ a large CCA group led by Jordan T.

[@potomacbeater]

Gnarly! I hope you had fun on that second run!

[@macfawlty]

@@potomacbeater Ok, my 2nd run on LoYo was truly a joyride. Dry head, no swims, great fun. I felt like I paddled well both times, but the 2nd run I had a much better idea on interacting with the rocks. Your warts & all instructionals encourage me to be humble in your failures and soldier on.

[@shawnarvin7652]

Entertaining and lots of good info as always. Thanks for sharing.

[@potomacbeater]

So glad you enjoyed it!

[@robertseaman4456]

Chris Thank yiu for your helpp thus weekend if you ever disciver how your boat got moved let me know. Thanks again you embody the characteristics of why I love the kayakking community.

[@potomacbeater]

Hey! I’m glad we ran into one another, keep shredding- I’ll let you know next time we head to the Yough, please do the same if you’re ever over near the Potomac! Yeah, I am still puzzled by how my boat managed to walk down the path on its own… but nothing was stolen, so there’s that…

[@joetibbles3179]

Ran this last week. Such a fun run!

[@henrywight4057]

In 1996 we ran the lower at 9.6 ft at the ohiopyle gauge. It was a different river

[@potomacbeater]

I’d love to hear that story! Sounds… insane!

[@IE_Tiger]

Great video. Would love to paddle with you sometime.

[@potomacbeater]

Let’s do it! Send me a note on Instagram!

[@hipernet]

love your video but please use 4k, I like to watch it on big screen.

[@potomacbeater]

Yeah sorry about that, this footage disappeared from my SD card so I had to download it from the cloud for the video :(

[@hipernet]

@@potomacbeater oh no problem man hehe next one 💪🏼 see u in the river

[@dMaribo]

"Three Sisters" because of the three rocks in a row. And "Gates of Hell", I call it. Whatever. I have run this river a bunch of times, but you introduced some moves that I did not know about.