Blackwater, West Virginia, US
|
|
North Fork Confluence to Hendricks (Lower Blackwater)
| Usual Difficulty |
III-V (for normal flows) |
| Length |
7.345 Miles |
| Avg. Gradient |
88 fpm |
| Max Gradient |
144 fpm |
Gauge Information
River Description
Keel Hauler Rating - 32
From the top, gradient by mile is:
144
127
90
101
71
121
50
Put-in 2 mi downstream the North Fork from Thomas past the town of Coketon. Park here, walk 3/4
mi on rail-trail past North Fork Falls. Put-in from an extremely steep goat trail just below the
confluence of the Upper
Blackwater and North Fork.
Takeout at the AW takeout on the right side of the Black Fork just downstream
of the confluence of the Blackwater and Dry Fork in Hendricks.
Mark Anderson adds a description of the run.
- The rapids begin immediately at the putin, so take a breather after the long carry in before
launching. The first few rapids are nice technical boulder drops. Then you come to Krakatoa.
- Krakatoa is a sloping ledge into a mean hole followed by a second ledge. Scout this on the
left. At lower flows the first ledge can be run left/center with left angle and the second can be
boofed off a center shelf. At higher flows, the first ledge hole is harder to clear and the hole
feeds undercuts on either side.
- Boof or Consequences (a.k.a. The Ledge or The Boof). This is not far downstream of Krakatoa.
Most of the river is constricted over a 5-foot-ish ledge in the center of the river. Scout this
as well. Boof the right corner into a right eddy. The pourover created in this drop literally
spits sprays of water from the hole.
- Rock & Roll. This follows after some boat-scoutable drops. It is easy to scout this on the
right by taking out just above the congested and blind entrance. There is a lot going on in this
rapid and it's steeper than it looks, but there's more than one way to approach it. The
rocks at the constriction at the bottom are undercut.
- The Slide. On down the river there is a long low-angle slide that goes on for a couple hundred
feet with flow that shifts from left to right. Be sure to skirt the big hole at the bottom.
- The Waterfall. Midway through the run there's a 12-or-so-foot sloping waterfall with
numerous lines and numerous junky spots. The left and center area seems to be easiest to
navigate. There's vertical far right line where the flow lands on a rock shelf.
- Other Notes: People complain about the carry in, but the final 2 flat miles once the gorge
widens out seems worse to me. There's plenty of Class IV fun in between the descriptions
above. At lower flows there are inconvenient rocks in almost every rapid. At higher flows, there
are several places where a boof will make the day go more smoothly.
AW Access Director Jason Robertson's directions and editorial comments:
Heading upriver from Parsons/Davis, turn right at the Hedricks (no-"n") store in
Hendricks (with- "n"). Go to the end of the street (3 blocks) and park to left of foot
bridge over river.
Heading downriver from the confluence, turn at the first left after the bridge, go to end of
street and bear right at the "L", drive to end of street at next "L" will see
parking area on left and foot bridge on left.
The site is in dire need of repair. Needs to be mowed/bush-hogged. The change room sidewalls were
kicked out by some hoods 2 years ago and have not been repaired.
StreamTeam Status: Not Verified
Last Updated: 2013-04-24 13:42:55
No rapids entered. If you know names, and locations of the rapids please contact and advise the StreamTeam member for this run. 
North Fork Confluence to Hendricks, Blackwater West Virginia, US (mobile)
User Comments
of the channel, there's a path through on the left, but, it's got lots of branches. We walked
right. There's a river-wide log in the run out at the 2nd bridge...easy to portage around/over.
Everything else is "clear"...in that you can run every rapid, but one of the channels is usually
blocked with a log or branches. Especially after the cascade midway through the run, the 2 miles of
rapids below that have a tree in basically every rapid. There's one towards the end that blocks the
right channel chest high and would be especially nasty. Still very runnable as a whole, but, keep
on your toes, as I'm sure some of it will shift.
with caution.
In the lead in to Rock and Roll, the current bounces off a boulder and turns right. There are a few
annoying F-U rocks in there, especially below 400cfs, and they can put you sideways into an
inconvenient hole.
As for Rock and Roll itself, two main lines I've run. All the way down the right is fairly
straight-forward, and then the left line involves a series of tight turns. At low flows, its a
narrow line with lots of piton/head impact risk, but in the 4-450 range its a really fun line.
Left out of Mark's description is a rapid in between Rock and Roll and the Slide that deserves a
look your first time down. You'll run an easier rapid after rock and roll, and then there will be a
BIG boulder on the right with the current channeling left. Its essentially a broken off-angle drop
in an L shape. The right side falls off early into a crease, and the left side lands on a junky
rock ledge. About 20yds downstream is a pretty nasty pocket hole on the left that is easy to avoid
on the right when you are upright. A boater who flips in the top ledge almost always ends up in
that hole though, which can be tough to surf out of. I've run it all 3 ways, and finding the middle
line to be ideal ideal, but the left side is definitely the junkiest of the routes, especially in
the 3-400cfs range.
As for wood, there is one log that is probably the same spot as Nori mentioned in 2006. It's about
a mile after the Slide in one of the many boulder garden rapids. You can see it early enough to
avoid it to the left. There is also a tree on the far left at the Waterfall, but, its not really in
the way of the left line. The center line is more fun anyway.
that has a huge boulder in the middle. Old one flushed out two years ago but there was a new on on
July 8 2006. This tree is only constricting the right side and left side is wide open.
- The rapids begin immediately at the putin, so take a breather after the long carry in before
launching. The first few rapids are nice technical boulder drops. Then you come to Krakatoa.
- Krakatoa is a sloping ledge into a mean hole followed by a second ledge. Scout this on the left.
At lower flows the first ledge can be run left/center with left angle and the second can be boofed
off a center shelf. At higher flows, the first ledge hole is harder to clear and the hole feeds
undercuts on either side.
- Boof or Consequences (a.k.a. The Ledge or The Boof). This is not far downstream of Krakatoa. Most
of the river is constricted over a 5-foot-ish ledge in the center of the river. Scout this as well.
Boof the right corner into a right eddy. The pourover created in this drop literally spits sprays
of water from the hole.
- Rock & Roll. This follows after some boat-scoutable drops. It is easy to scout this on the
right by taking out just above the congested and blind entrance. There is a lot going on in this
rapid and it's steeper than it looks, but there's more than one way to approach it. The rocks at
the constriction at the bottom are undercut.
- The Slide. On down the river there is a long low-angle slide that goes on for a couple hundred
feet with flow that shifts from left to right. Be sure to skirt the big hole at the bottom.
- The Waterfall. Midway through the run there's a 12-or-so-foot sloping waterfall with numerous
lines and numerous junky spots. The left and center area seems to be easiest to navigate. There's
vertical far right line where the flow lands on a rock shelf.
Other Notes: People complain about the carry in, but the final 2 flat miles once the gorge widens
out seems worse to me. There's plenty of Class IV fun in between the descriptions above. At lower
flows there are inconvenient rocks in almost every rapid. At higher flows, there are several places
where a boof will make the day go more smoothly.