Passage Creek,
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Elizabeth Furnance to Waterlick (Route 55)
Class II-III
6 Miles
Avg Gradient 40 fpm
Max Gradient 60 fpm
First rapid
First rapidPhoto by Chris B taken 9/20/04 @ 250cfs
Gauge Information
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 hatchery, where there is a gravel bar on the right and an elbow bend on
the left where the water often goes under, around & through large strainers. Use the gravel bar
to scout or portage. Below this, look for a small channel that goes left. This side channel is
almost always better than the strainer-prone right side main channel.
Ryan Emanual and others, including myself, can also testify:
"When it's open, Christina's Mexican Cantina in Strasburg is a great place for post-run provisions
and refreshment."
StreamTeam Status: Not Verified
Last Updated: 2005-04-01 11:25:37
No guide books for this stream. If you know of a book that describes this stream please contact and advise the StreamTeam member for this run. 
User Comments
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.
strainers mentioned. The class 3 rapid is scoutable via shuttle, pull over in the parking area just
above and scout if the creek is up high.The left hand route mentioned is the way to go but at
certain lower levels you will have to portage a small strainer blocking the entrance. Better to
have 3 or more boaters since there are plenty of creeking hazards. Its a blast! Edit
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. Edit
to major Beaver work. You'll know it when you see it, there's no surprise. Edit
running, Gooney usually is as well. Two fun creeks in one day. Edit