Fall rafting season set on West Virginia's Gauley River

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — The fall rafting season on West Virginia's Gauley River gets started this week.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will begin lowering Summersville Lake to its winter level through releases at the Summersville Dam starting Friday.

The weekly releases will continue through Oct. 18. The releases form more than 100 rapids on the Gauley, which drops hundreds of feet along its route in southern West Virginia.

Rafters along a stretch of the nearby New River also will notice a change in river levels and conditions. Starting Tuesday, a two-month project at the Hawks Nest Dam will cause parts of the river to rise.

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