Written by Brynn Cunningham
My family calls the town of Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania, home. We can be on the Youghiogheny River in a matter of minutes, and we’ve immersed ourselves in the paddling scene. Bolstered by a wide community of river families, our kids have learned to love whitewater.
After paddling the world, Brynn Cunningham settled in Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania, and started a whitewater family. Photographed by Eric Harder
One of these families founded Riversport School of Paddling, the area’s leading kayak camp for kids. In the late 1970s, Bob Ruppel of nearby Confluence bought a canoe to paddle his daughters, Erica and Kara, down the Yough. As the girls grew, there wasn’t enough room for them all in the canoe, so Ruppel bought Kara a kayak. Then Ruppel got himself a kayak, too. “That’s how it all started,” says Erica Smith, who today owns and operates Riversport with her dad.
Riversport was officially established in 1985 on River Road in Confluence, where the Ruppels began offering kayak camps for kids. They’ve since created a renowned multigenerational family business founded on their love of paddling together and of sharing that passion with others.
Smith was 8 and her sister a college freshman when Riversport took off. Her best childhood memories include being on the river all summer long, traveling to different rivers, and meeting people from all over the country and world. “My best friends have all come from Riversport,” she says.
Years later, my own family would find this river at the heart of our paddling journey, too.
After a decade of traveling, what lured me and my partner, Eric, back to my hometown of Ohiopyle in 2012 was the easily accessible class III–V kayaking. After going from the Chattooga River in Georgia to New Zealand to Ohiopyle, we planned to stay one season to kayak the Upper Yough, Lower Big Sandy, Cheat Canyon, and Meadow Run, among others. Afterward, we planned to travel the world, working and kayaking. The sky was the limit. We lived and breathed paddling and fell in love over it.
Our lives took a different direction, however, when we had our first son in 2013. After that, boofing the Ohiopyle Falls sank to the very rock bottom of our priorities, and we nixed our travel plans. The 1.8-mile “Loop” of the Lower Yough became our mini-slice of new-parent paddling heaven, taking turns holding the baby while the other parent played their way from Entrance to Railroad Rapid.
When we had our second son in 2017, our boating lives shifted even more. We became happy with the small stuff. That meant mostly class II–III runs close to home in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Because rivers fed our souls and our love, we never stopped paddling, and we realized we were living in a region with abundant, family-friendly whitewater.
West Virginia and Pennsylvania have an abundance of whitewater, where today’s beginners can become tomorrow’s expert kayakers. Photographed by Makenzie Tantlinger
Today, Riversport epitomizes how kayaking enriches the lives of children and families. In a supportive environment, kayaking is an empowering experience. Taking calculated risks and achieving goals like ferrying across strong currents, making attainment moves, or surfing waves fortifies self esteem. Navigating rapids, weather, water levels, big feelings, and other boaters demands communication, adaptability, and acceptance. Being outside all day fosters an appreciation for nature and wildlife.
Riversport offers overnight and daytime kayak camp options for all levels as well as a multi-sport adventure camp for rock climbing, mountain biking, stand-up paddleboarding, and of course, whitewater kayaking. The primary rivers its crew runs are the Youghiogheny, the Casselman, and Stonycreek in Pennsylvania, as well as the Cheat Narrows, the New, and the Tygart Valley River in West Virginia.
“We break up into groups during the day on the water then unite in the evenings for games,” says Smith. “The goal is that we’re all able to do the same river as a group on the last day.”
A unique aspect of Riversport is that many campers progress to junior instructor, then instructor. Smith’s daughter, Aspen, has grown up at Riversport and is now a junior instructor.
For Smith’s sister, Kara Weld, who competed internationally in kayaking, what stands out most about her time at Riversport is introducing hundreds of kids to paddling. She can still picture leading groups down the river, scouting rapids with them and sensing their mix of nerves and excitement. Instructors celebrated wins and reminded kids that every boater is always between swims. Capping off the day relaxing in the river reinforced the importance of both safety and joy.
“Those moments—enabling kids to make decisions, helping them cope with scary things, and watching their confidence grow—I’ll never forget,” Weld says. “And they’re still at the heart of Riversport today.”
Riversport has taught thousands of kids to kayak. Beyond that, it’s inspired families like my own and shown us that kayaking with kids is a worthwhile and fulfilling way of life.
