Roaring Paunch,

Barthell to Big South Fork (3 miles)

Slot of Second Boulder Block

Slot of Second Boulder Block
Photo by Brandon Hughett taken 2/25/2006 @ low

Gauge Information

River Description

Roaring Paunch is Kentucky steep creeking hair. Go here only if you are a good boater with the skills to manage serious whitewater. The gradient is steep, there are undercuts, and sometimes trees. This isn't the Green Narrows or Grassy Creek but it is significant whitewater. If you read to trip report below, realize that this group was on it a low water and might not be up to the difficult rapids.

We drove down to Blue Heron on the Big South Fork of the Cumberland, dropped a bike, and decided to put-in at Barthell. At the old mining camp in Barthell, we drove through an iron gate and across the creek to find muddy water flowing at a medium level and some parent type locals. A brief encounter revealed: (1) we were on private property; (2) the gate would be locked soon; and (3) the creek was very tight in places and had many huge boulders blocking the stream. We of course decided to find another suitable parking place outside the gate and put on the creek.

The first 0.20 mile was rather flat and had a little moving current. We then came to a class II/III with a couple medium sized spinning waves and things were beginning to look promising. A riffle or two, some short pools, bigger boulders, and a couple of class III rapids continued for another 0.30 mile or so. Then the boulders got really big and we came to a horizon line.

We got out and scouted a class IV/V drop from the bank and discovered: (1) there was a good line; (2) the creek was suddenly really steep; and (3) wood. We decided to walk down the convenient railroad tracks and check out the next few drops. There were a couple of decent drops, several sieves, and a beautiful 10-15ft "Box" type drop.
Because of the wood and the character of the bank, we decided to bushwack off the tracks to below this section and continue downstream.

We pushed off, ran a couple of class III/IV drops and found ourselves above a horizon line with gigantic boulders blocking the stream. It was a 4-5ft. ledge into a decent hole, backed up by a HUGE boulder blocking 90% of the creek, a right hand jumble sieve, and a left hand crack that might have been a runnable cave. Hiking around the boulders on the right bank, we found what appeared to be a long mess of unrunnable sieves and a gnarly 8-10ft drop on the left bank that would have been the runout to the cave. It was now starting to get late in the day and we were faced with a possibly runnable class V into a complex, marginally runnable boulder field, or a huge portage. We decided it would be prudent to take the available railroad track back to the truck and save this one for another day.
So I ask again, does anybody know anything about Roaring Paunch Creek that comes into the Big South Fork at Blue Heron? Specifically, is the drop I am describing typically a portage, are there additional mandatories downstream, does the creek take ALOT of water, and should the AW database rating really be class IV(V)?