Staircase. 6.4’. Millville to HFAC. We had ten paddlers on the Staircase today: Larry, (OC1), Lynne (inflatable K1), and Bruce, Hildy, Peter, Paul, Cotton, Hugh, Gary and Mark in K1s. We took the river right channel bypassing Bull Falls (aka the Jungle Run, the Lagoon) which deposited us near the end of Bull’s Tail. This section is a pretty, shaded and mellow Class II stream and a good warm up for what follows.
The upper (above the bridge) and lower (below the bridge) Staircase was full of standing waves, juicy hydraulics, and pushy water. My advice was to look out for and dodge the bigger holes and to punch the ones that you couldn’t avoid. That is how we paddled. On river left on the lower Staircase at the Ruins we all punched a big eye-opening wave hole. More hydraulics ensued but soon we found ourselves at the confluence with the Potomac, which added about 6,000 cfs to the 9,000 cfs on the Doah. Needless to say Whitehorse was a chaotic wave train that we all managed to make it through upright. We did the entire run in about 2 1/2 hours.