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A bunch of us guys were having a few beers while playing poker in my mancave and started talking about a mancation. We had done a few class V whitewater rafting trips on mancations previously and always had a blast but this time we were thinking we wanted to turn it up a notch and go whitewater kayaking. After several months of research and planning we settled on a stretch of the New River in Virginia down near Virginia Tech college in Blacksburg. As usual we had a group of about 8 or 10 guys going depending on which ones would end up being able to get kitchen passes and make the trip so we were looking for a decent sized place to stay with some space away from neighbors and set back in nature for a long weekend. We stumbled upon a little treasure known as New Rivers Edge which is a large rustic log cabin built on the edge of the New River in Virginia making a perfect location for our mancation so we booked it. It’s on several acres so neighbors are no problem and it has a huge yard with a large fire pit right on the banks of the New River with beautiful scenery made for throwing back some beers with the guys. The log cabin is rustic but very functional and nice for its purpose. It seemed a little cluttered with stuff due to renovations and upgrades going on but met our needs very well. On the main floor it is basically a large open room with living room and kitchen all together and a bathroom in the back. Then there is an open loft over about half of the cabin with roughly 8 – 10 single beds in a dorm or barracks style layout in the loft. There isn’t really any privacy other than when you are in the bathroom but that didn’t matter to us as we spent most of our time on the grounds or the river and not inside until it was pretty late.

One of the things that really got our attention and turned out to be a goldmine was the fact that the owner has a big stash of whitewater kayaks on the property that are for use by the guests as well as multiple canoes, innertubes, and several whitewater rafts. When we made the reservations we discussed our plans for the long weekend and he told us of all the equipment we could use and also offered to drive his van with the kayaks, rafts, or canoes on the trailer behind and take our group up river several miles so we could float, paddle, and fish our way back down to the cabin on the side of the river. We took canoes up river the first day and spent about 5 hours paddling and fishing our way back down and it was awesome. There are only a few class I – II rapids on this stretch that are pretty tame, not amounting to much more than some bubbling water although a few of us almost tipped a canoe in one not paying attention. Once we got back to the edge of the property we pulled the canoes out on the bank and put them away.

We had arranged it with the owner that the next morning we were going to take the whitewater kayaks and launch ourselves from the edge of the cabin right onto the New River for some more exciting whitewater fun the next day and he would pick us up about 8 hours later down river at a specific location we agreed to, a large bridge in our case. The second day whitewater kayaking on the New River was a lot more exciting. This stretch of river had a lot more Class II’s and a couple Class III’s that were exciting to say the least for a group of guys that aren’t all that experienced in kayaks although we have done a fair bit of whitewater rafting on class V’s over the years on past mancations. We packed ourselves lunches and drinks in our kayaks and set off around 8:00am that morning. About half way through our trip we went through a pretty good set of rapids and pulled off to rest and have lunch on the river bank and it was awesome. After eating we hopped back in the kayaks and continued downstream for a few hours. We came to a pretty long Class III rapid or set of rapids that ran probably a hundred yards or more and turned over one of our kayaks causing a little bit of panic for a second until the guy popped out the other side and got his kayak back a bit down stream. The rapids seem small but when you are in them in a kayak they feel MUCH BIGGER than you would think if you were sitting up in a whitewater raft. Right at the end of the day we stayed to the right at a fork in the river that went around an island and this turned out to be the right call for some last minute excitement. As we rounded the bend the bridge came into view where he would be picking us up but between us and the bridge was a pretty white and frothy set of Class III rapids that promised to provide a lot of adrenaline and probably dump one of us. We paddled hard and shot through the rapids with nobody tumbling and that was one hell of a way to end a great day kayaking on the New River.

We spent a total of 4 days at New Rivers Edge which consisted of a bonfire every night in the fire pit by the rivers edge drinking a few cold beers while telling jokes and reminiscing about past stories and mancations we had all been on together. During the day when we weren’t on the river we were fishing from bank or paddling up stream a few hundred yards and floating back down in front of the cabin and fishing, over and over. In the course of the 4 day weekend we caught about 60 small mouth bass and had a blast doing it. The water is so clear you can see to the bottom of the river and even see the bass hanging out below when you are paddling by.

There is also a huge yard where you can play volleyball, Frisbee, football, throw a baseball, horse shoes, or many other lawn type games if you wish as well. We didn’t get around to anything else as our days were filled with enough already. Our group had a great mancation and all decided this was a trip worth repeating when we needed an idea for a mancation in the future. We went in September and the 4 day weekend cost us around $1500 for the cabin rental which includes all of the kayaks, canoes, rafts, and other toys as well as the owner shuttling you to partake in the river activities so all in all it was a pretty good value for a large group of guys compared to other whitewater rafting trips we have went on where you had to book things individually. It’s definitely a trip and place that we would like to repeat at some point in the future and we would recommend it to others as well.

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