Rafting the Upper Youghiogheny River

This trip was in April of 1999. Located in Maryland, the upper Youghiogheny River runs northward and eventually into Pennsylvania's Ohiopyle State Park where the lower section can also be rafted as a beginner and novice level run. The upper section is quite technical and requires some real team work to get through safely. Kingsley Harmer, Chad Grim and I were on this run with only one other raft which included a guide in training and a reporter which never did send us a copy of the article he was writing.

	This run is very mellow in the first third of the trip. We had to paddle just to make it interesting. There were a few class II rapids to warm up on but they were spread apart pretty well.
	Yes, we were initially bored. (At least I was.)
	It got more exciting when we actually got to the real rapids. The middle part of this run is rapid after rapid and there is a lot of paddling required to maneuver the raft to the correct position and orientation as you go from one shoot to another....
	As far as you can see... RAPIDS! There's a lot of rocks just under the surface that will spin you around and make it difficult to get to the next shoot. One person fell out on this run (it was one of the guides) because of an unexpected catch on a rock under the surface of the water.
	On the right side of this picture is a typical rapid. It's about a 4 foot drop and then you have to shift to the other side of the narrow river to get through the next slot.
	From the left side of the river to the right again.
	Yes, this is just big enough for our raft to fit through. There are lots of these. Even though it's only about 4 or 5 feet difference from the top to the bottom of the drop you always have the risk of getting stuck, filling with water, flipping or getting knocked out of the raft. We held on though and just kept paddling.
	Keep your eyes open for what's below the slots too. You can drop down through one of these and easily get into a location that becomes too small to get through or maybe there's a rock hanging out just under the surface ready to grab you when you're still recovering from the face full of water.