KNeals / NBoP / CBoats Armada... whatever you call it...

[arhdc]

I think that several of us here are at least nominal members of the Benscreek CANOE Club crew. It should be noted that the CANOE in the name is mostly a historical relic, there are a few locals that break out their old open boats now and again but for the most part they are a bunch of playboating kayakers.

My observation is that the Stoney runs fairly consistently during normal springs (not last spring but that was not normal) through the end of April or so. The issue that was noted was not about getting water to run the canyon section of the Stoney but rather to be able to hit the class V creeks that are in the Johnstown area. The Benscreek CANOE Club has installed a WW release valve on a county owned reservoir and they do have WW releases scheduled starting mid May (last year they tried for every other Sat/Sun) till the water runs out. Stoenyfest weekend the past two years they have done Fri/Sat/Sun releases to allow three days of good levels on the river.

Stoneyfest http://benscreekcanoeclub.com/rendezvous/ is scheduled for May 17-19 this year and is the main fundraising effort by the club to pay to $10,000/year maintenance fee for the WW release valve. In addition to the WW release valve the club also was the driving force in building the WW park on the Stoney. The club gets permission to take over the municipal park along the Stoeny where the WW park is built and open it up for camping. There are a couple of food vendors, bands, a playboating competition and they light the playwave for late night (in the case of the canoes at least) demolition surfing. The festival is a lot of fun but a fair sized event, maybe 200-300 people camping for the weekend. Last year we had about 12 of the regular, and I might add, more disputable, posters here on cboats in attendance. It's not too wild an event, nothing like Gauleyfest certainly, maybe others can chime in here.

I don't have a solid opinion on the whole ARMADA during Stoenyfest (Annual Benscreek Canoe Club Whitewater Rendezvous officially), it is a fun event and 20+ canoes would definitely be quite a spectacle in that venue. It would be a different vibe than last year but for anyone that has not run the Stoney it could be a real treat, it is a fun river but easy enough (class III ish) for almost anyone that wants to come out. Also, there is an easier section between the canyon and the play park that is class II so there are definitely options for novice boaters.

The LY is about a 80 minute drive south from Johnstown.

P.S. I do still need to get onto the Cheat Canyon but that can come another time if the ARMADA is not there.

[KNeal]

Switch the vote (or start a new one) that has just the Cheat and Stoney as location choices and add dates in May through mid-June and give the ability for boaters to vote twice (once for venue, once for weekend).