In the beginning, every West Virginia rafting company was mom and pop, but some were mommier and poppier than others.

1986, Cheat River Canyon: After a violent flip at Big Nasty, Trip Leader, Mark Lewis, finally managed to eddy out on the bank, where he and his guides began to pick up the pieces of their stunned trip. Once ashore, it dawned on Lewis that he and his people were a tiny piece of a larger story unfolding around them.

If you’ve heard anything about the Gauley River rapid known as Bud’s Boner, it’s probably far more dramatic than the truth, which involves neither phallic symbols nor bizarre sexual proclivities nor, for that matter, the death of Bud Franz.