Cheat, |
|
| Name | Range | Updated | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| CHEAT RIVER AT ALBRIGHT, WV | 0.80 - 3.85 ft | 05h07m | 1.08 ft (rc= -0.1 ) |
| Gauge has been fixed | |||
| CHEAT RIVER AT HWY 50 NEAR ROWLESBURG, WV | 500 - 10000 cfs | 01h08m | 849 cfs (rc= -0.1 ) |
The Cheat is a local favorite, with 10 miles of wilderness paddling, impressive rock formations, and more than a handful of III-IV rapids with great play at many levels.
Every year, on the Friday of Cheat Fest (the first weekend in May), this river is host to the "Cheat River Mass-Occurrence," a truly legendary race. With a mass start of as many as 150 paddlers, this race begins with chaos and ends with a phenomenal party.
Put-in - 1 mi north of Albright. From Interstate 68, head South on Route 26. After about ten miles, take a sharp Right into Teter's Campground. Drive through Teter's campground to land owned by Friends of the Cheat. This is an AW paddlers' easement. Or you can put in at the bridge on Rte. 26 (where the paddlers' gauge is located) at Albright.
Take-out - Jenkinsburg Bridge, at the confluence of the Cheat and Big Sandy. Look for the turn-off to Hudson Road (WV 15), about 6 miles South of I-68; take it west for about 7 miles to Jenkinsburg. Another option if you don't want to torture your car's suspension is to call Glenn Miller (304-379-3404), whose shuttle service is reasonably priced and very convenient. Show up on time, and whatever you do, don't stand him up! Glenn is a famously nice guy, and he and his service deserve respect.
Charlie Walbridge adds:
Mountain Streams and Trails, the new owner of the Jenkinsburg Access, asks that private paddlers running the Cheat and Big Sandy use the Upper Parking Lot during Cheat Fest Weekend. The Lower Parking Lot should be kept clear for outfitter trucks and buses. Vehicles parked there make maneuvering these big rigs difficult or impossible. So please park where you're supposed to and give a big THANK YOU to any MS&T employees you see on--or off--the river.
Canyon Topo Map showing rapids
Take-out - On river right side just below Jenkinsburg bridge.
Lat/Longitude coords verified by GPS.
Paddlers generally go by the gauge on the bridge in Albright.
Cheat Albright PS Gauge
Alb. Bridge = (1.55 * Alb. PS) + 0.5
Cheat at Albright Gauge & Calculator - Frames
Low 1.25' bridge, High 5' bridge
However, this gauge has been unreliable lately (April, 2009), so we've replaced it with Rowlesburg. Another gauge of interest is Parsons, but it's farther upstream, allow 18 hrs for Parsons flow to reach Albright. Rowlesburg is only 7 hours upstream so is preferable.A graph showing Albright Bridge Vs Rowlesburg Flow is linked here.
| Name | Range | Updated | Level | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CHEAT RIVER AT ALBRIGHT, WV | |||||||||||||||
| usgs-03070260 | 0.80 - 3.85 ft | 05h07m | 1.08 ft (rc= -0.1 ) | ||||||||||||
|
Gauge has been fixed |
|||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||
| CHEAT RIVER AT HWY 50 NEAR ROWLESBURG, WV | |||||||||||||||
| usgs-03069870 | 500 - 10000 cfs | 01h08m | 849 cfs (rc= -0.1 ) | ||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||
| Mile | Rapid Name | Class | Features (Legend) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.8 | Decision | III |  |
| 1.5 | Beech Run | III | |
| 2.5 | Big Nasty | IV |   |
| 2.7 | Typewriter | ||
| 3.0 | Even Nastier | III+ | |
| 5.8 | Cue Ball | III | |
| 6.2 | Teardrop | III+ | |
| 6.5 | High Falls | IV | |
| 6.9 | Maze (Top) | ||
| 7.0 | Coliseum | IV+ | |
| 7.2 | Pete Morgan - Lower Coliseum | IV | |
| 8.0 | Boulder Line Rapid | ||
| 8.5 | Fossil Falls (Mouth of Connor Run) |
This first rapid is a series of offset holes. If you have much trouble here, you can make the Decision to hike back upstream to the putin.
(iCal)
River Alert
State News
River Links
NWRI - Cheat 2. (Canyon) Albright to Jenkinsburg Bridge (mobile)
User Comments
off slightly. Use this updated handy calculator http://keelhauler.org/khcc/cheatcalc.htm to get
bridge gauge from PS gauge. Edit
Louisville Viking Club, Hoosier Canoe Club, and local river guides trying to extract it. If it is
still there or if you find a yellow/orange Medium Burn on the Cheat or Cheat Lake please contact
Monica at 574-229-3145. The boat has been found and returned. Thank you to all of those involved in
the retrieval. Edit
is wrong, don't use it, use the Parsons Gauge instead. By looking at the flow of the Parsons Gauge
you can estimate the Albright Bridge Level: Albright Bridge Level = 1.0 foot at ~ 1000 cfs Albright
Bridge Level = 3.0 feet at ~ 3100cfs Albright Bridge Level = 5.0 feet at ~ 6000 cfs Albright Bridge
Level = 8.0 feet at ~ 11000 cfs
The guage keeps flucuating wildly for no reason Edit
Parsons to Rowlesburg, and another 8-10 hours to get to Albright. (This is based on a careful
correlation of the gauges, following small peaks due to upstream rainfall.) A reasonable minimum
level, I have found, is 500 cfs at Rowlesburg (8-10 hours before you put in) and 400 cfs at Parsons
(20-24 hours before you put in). The difficulty starts to increase noticeably at around double
those levels. Edit
things get interesting Edit
at levels up to 4.5 feet.
running the Cheat and Big Sandy Rivers use the Upper Parking Lot during Cheat Fest Weekend. The
Lower Parking Lot should be kept clear for outfitter trucks and buses. Vehicles parked there make
maneuvering these big rigs difficult or impossible. So please park where you're supposed to and
give a big THANK YOU to any MS&T employees you see on--or off--the river.
delightful, with clean lines, no scraping and lots of play, even though it was slightly below
minimum according to this site. It was also quite runnable when I did it at 1.0 a few years ago.
Perhaps the minimum level should be adjusted downwards.