Passage Creek
2. Elizabeth Furnace to Waterlick (Route 55)
| Difficulty | II-III |
| Length | 5.4 mi |
| Avg Gradient | 40 fpm |
| Gauge | Passage Creek Near Buckton, Va |
| Flow Rate as of 44 minutes | 17 cfsbelow recommended |
| Reach Info Last Updated | March 23, 2018 |
River Description
Passage Creek drains a very beautiful and narrow gorge between two spine-like Massannutten Mountains in Virginia. The creek offers a fairly straightforward introduction to running small streams. The rapids are primarily Class II in nature, with two blind rapids that approach Class III.
The run begins with Class I-II and fastwater as you exit leave the day-use area at Elizabeth Furnace. The first major drop occurs at a right hand bend. Scouting is advisable because of the propensity to pick up strainers. (Of course, strainers may be encountered anywhere along this creek.) The rapid occurs where the creek first comes back near the road, narrowing down into a left to right chute. You can scout from a vegetation and tree choked island on river right. Another major drop occurs at the Out Of Sight rapid as the creek veers away from the road again. This is best run by eddying out first on the right and picking a line through the rocky set of drops.
Below the gorge section is a dam backing up water for a nearby fish hatchery. The dam may be runnable on the far left. Scout or portage from small river left trail above the dam. Shortly below here, one can take out at the Fish Hatchery Road bridge for a short run that can be easily repeated.
The rest of the run is Class I-II with some braiding of the stream into small channels around islands. Strainers are almost always lurking in this section in fast current.
Ed Evangelidi warns:
'Use caution at Rte. 55, as many of the landowners there are fed up with boaters. If you park on private property there without permission, you might find that your vehicle has been removed to who knows where. The owner downstream river right is convinced that he owns the river.
By the way, the section from Rte. 55 to the confluence with the N. Fk. Shenandoah is every bit as pleasant as the stretch above Elizabeth Furnace but requires less water to run (-3Â at Rte. 55). Use caution below the fish hatche
...River Features
Put In - Elizabeth Furnace
Put In - Elizabeth Furnace
Take Out
Trip Reports
Log in to add a reportRan at about 600 cfs on 5/16. Only from Elisabeth furnace to the hatchery as it looked like all private property around route 55. Beware though the hatchery road closes and floods over when the level gets high enough to run. Super fun, any strainers were avoidable, the portage around the dam is grown but findable. Water was fast and holes were big, class III for sure but I wouldn't wanna be upside down in the bigger rapids.
March 1, 2012 ran from E. Furnace down to Buckton at 5.01 on the website gauge and 460 cfs. A great level that at the lower section offers too many options that can end in strainers. There was one notable strainer in the bypass channel around the dam that may be a problem at higher flows. A great fun run at this level though. Mike Aronoff
Ran this on 4/14 @ 800 cfm. It was a great run with minimal blockage. Saw it at 1400 one day earlier and was too high to safely navigate through the trees. Red hole was a fun drop. You'll know when you hit it then quickly eddy to river left and look upstream. Someone has written its name on the rocks. Overall fun for a beginner/intermediate run.
running the rapids above the red hole
this creak is great for beginners and novices i find it to be more of a challenge when water levels are lower. you can run the creek down to about 60cfm and i have run it as high as 1800cfm. watch out for strainers. my brothers and I do our best to keep a clean path down the creek but new strainers pop up all the time. I have only been 4 times this year.
concur with advice to use left channel at the tree blockage (referred to as beaver dam by paddlers I was with). Looked at left channel, leader in group chose to go right instead, portage was very difficult and lonnngggg through downed trees and vegetation (good 1/8 mile!); once back in main flow, could see upstream where left channel came back into main flow, unobstructed after it rejoined the flow.
Fun 2-3 run at 5 ft on the online gauge. Wouldn't want to do it any lower.
1 mandatory portage due to major Beaver work. You'll know it when you see it, there's no surprise.
Stop in Waterlick Grocery for a snack, paddling partner, rental or a shuttle, if passage is running, Gooney usually is as well. Two fun creeks in one day.
USGS gauge is online. On 4/17/07 it was 9' on the route 55 bridge, about 4.7' / 290 cfs USGS.
This is the putin for the lower 'rapids' section. An alternate putin/parking lot is further downstream just ahead of the first class II drop.
This is the first 'real' drop. At higher levels it forms a halfway decent surf wave with good eddy service.
Huge tree down across the entire stream. Unfortunately a mandatory bushwhack portage.