Co. Rd. 14-3 to RockvilleClass IV-V
0.82 Miles
Avg Gradient 325 fpm
Max Gradient 500 fpm
Sovern Falls
Sovern Falls Photo of Jim Warlick by Matt Muir (KHCC) taken 2/4/01 @ low Gauge Information
Sovern Run
River DescriptionThis small Big Sandy tributary has, as well as the ubiquitous downed logs every ten feet, a history of Acid Mine Drainage. Click here to read of Friends of the Cheat's successful project to improve Sovern Run! (Clicking will open a new browser window.)
November 26, 1999 Craig and Dave Sovern Run begins on the hill high above Rockville, West Virginia, by meandering through a farm and cow pasture before making its approximate 200+ foot-per-mile descent to the Big Sandy. The cow pasture explains the bad taste of the creek but does it have anything to do with the class V rating! If you don't like 'em steep, narrow, slot filled, and hard to scout, go no further than reading this description or maybe driving beside it on the way to Rockville. Craig and I scouted most of the run before deciding if we could/should run it. Starting at the bottom and working up river, nothing appeared too difficult until we reached the first rapid. Long and steep with 3 linked moves and no way to stop between them. A missed line could result in anything from a pin to a major loss of skin or emergency room visit. The line was complicated and not runnable, due to an unavoidable log sticking in the crux of the second move. Well, at least that was the case until "Hercu-Craig" was able to move the log. The pending reality of running this rapid made my heart start to pound. It's one of those times when you know you are good enough but also know you can get hurt if you make a mistake. Few words were spoken as we dressed, a sure sign that we were undertaking something serious. After putting on, you have no warm-up. 50 feet and 2 micro-eddies later, you sit at the point of commitment. "You going?, I'll go, You going?." I reviewed the line in my head. Over a ledge, close to an undercut, don't get shoved under the bank, down a slide missing the log, duck under the vines before going over the final ledge. After watching me survive the rapid, Craig ran a much cleaner line. The drops continued as a mix of sliding boofs, small ledges, cascades, and long slides. Some of the more memorable rapids include one starting with a fifty-foot bolder dodging section then you had to crank hard towards the left shore. Now at the shoreline, you had to do a sliding boof down a sloped rock to miss a piton. Another section I called the "Bobsled" constricted the creek to 4' wide. Here the creek bed was smooth and contained no boulders. Sweet ride! Towards the bottom there was a drop that contained a double boof. Boof of the ledge, then boof again half way down. Miss the second boof and you will piton! After paddling with a person for a while you develop your own communication system. In addition to our own, we do utilize the universal river signals, such as a paddle held straight up means all clear and go straight down the center. Sitting at the top of a very steep section I saw the “vertical paddle.” Cool, I peeled out and committed to my line. Half way through the drop I spotted Craig pinned at the bottom using that “vertical paddle” for stability. Ooops! I guess that wasn't the “all clear” sign. "Are you pinned?!#?" I screamed while heading for him like a missile. Just then, my days of watching Tarzan came to our rescue. There was a vine hanging across the river just upstream of Craig. Next thing I knew, I was swinging from the vine in the middle of a drop to avoid the “bow-to-sternum pin extraction technique”. You can usually only apply that technique 1 time between hospital visits. Fortunately, the misinterpreted all-clear sign was enough to free Craig. Our trip continued: scout. Paddle. Scout. Paddle. We took turns leading down the drops and numerous slides. Three drops from the end there was a ledge that we decided to carry. We were disappointed but safe. The left line had an unavoidable piton and the right line was full of logs. At higher water you could probably boof the logs in the right slot. After a series of boat-grinding slides and about 2 hours and 50 minutes into our 1-mile trip (remember scouting is hard!), Craig was feeling tired. I scouted the next horizon line as he stayed in his boat. After picking a line I came back to relay what I had seen. "Cross the horizon 1/3 in from the left shore with a little right hand angle". Having a previous good experience following a line based on verbal description only, he trusted my description and went first before I got on my skirt. Cresting the lip of the drop, and finding himself ½ of the way in (not 1/3), he began to curse me under his breath. I had underestimated the height of the drop. Not the 6' or 8' I had thought but rather 12' or 14' (he still argues more) onto rock. He described it as going off Wonder Falls knowing that you are going to land on rock. "This is going to hurt", he told himself while being launched airborne off a ramp on the right side. Still not knowing my error, I approached but got redirected from below. "This sure looks big" I thought. Finally in the pool below, I looked up to see the cabin signaling an end to our personal first descent. Join us on another Creekin' adventure following the next big rain! We have compiled this list of tips to assist you in case you decide to attempt Sovern Run in the future. 1) Don't drink the water unless you don't mind using cow chips as tea bags 2) Running your predetermined line doesn't always make it a good line 3) Coat your boat in a Teflon wrapper or better yet, borrow a friend’s 4) No more than 3 people per group 5) Look before you leap, wood, vines, and pitons are always a danger 6) Always boof even if you don't think you need to Dave Woten StreamKeeper Note: 4/14/2005 - the rock at the bottom of Sovern Falls has now moved clear of the runout. The pinning log in the Triple Slot drop is still there. The wood situation is better than average. StreamTeam Status: verified
Last Updated: 2005-05-24 11:33:11
|
You’ve followed a link to a topic that doesn’t exist yet.
If permissions allow (as a AW Member, you may edit River Wiki, for example) you may create it by using the “Create This Page Button” below by hovering your mouse over the edit wrench.
If you don’t see a wrench, you don’t have permission to edit or edit is turned off.
If you don’t know what you are doing click on the sandbox and instructions link off the create page link.
Big Sandy Creek at Rockville [ WV ] |
Current Conditions
Station Graphs |
| Level Legend: | Running | Below Minimum Recommended Flow | Above Maximum Recommended Flow | Unknown |
| AW Gauge ID: | 1328 |
| USGS Station: | 03070500 |
| HUC: | 05020004 |
| Latitude: | 39.6156 |
| Longitude: | -79.7050 |
| Class: | 4 |
User Comments |
|
2008-03-01 01:18:41 (225 days ago)
paddled this a few weeks ago. suprisingly clear of wood! there were 2 trees but both were passable to the far right... i miss mike vanderberg Edit
|
|
2005-01-12 20:05:50 (1368 days ago)
Brad Roberts
Update on Sovern Run, WV New <br />
<br />
Forum: BoaterTalk<br />
Date: Jan 13 2005, 0:47 GMT <br />
From: WVboofboy <br />
<br />
Paddled the Sovern a few times in the past week with all the rain and everything. First time was at bankfull. All in all the run is pretty clean. A few areas to be on the lookout are as follows: 1) After the boulder drop following the second major slide (the one that has the big drop at the top) there is another slide. There are two trees at the top. Both can be negotiated, but things could get sketch there. 2) After the drop called Frog Rock (the mini reverse Big Splat maneuver) there is a steep drop with 3 channels. The far right is clear. The far left channel itself is clear, but in order to get there you must ferry in front of the middle channel (affectionately known as the Vanderberg sandwich and the one shown on AW where the Topo was extracted) where there is a log lodged under the water. This could be a prime site for an underwater pin. Please be on the lookout for this. There is no place to stop between Frog Rock and this drop at high water so scout on the left bank by eddying out RLeft above Frog Rock. We tried to move the log, which was in an even nastier spot, but ended up floating it into the middle slot. I will try to move this when the water drops, but for now be wary. Also, when running this creek, take every precaution to keep your lips tight. There have been reports of a physical illness being contracted by paddling the Big Sandy (having to do with runoff from farm areas). Sovern most definitely has the same problem, and could possibly be the source of this pollution. I ran it again today after work at pretty low flow, but I managed to complete it in a stylish 10 minutes. Pray for rain. <br />
<br />
Mike Vanderberg. <br />
<br />
|
|
2003-07-15 01:31:29 (1916 days ago)
Brad Roberts
Update on Sovern Run, WV New
<br />
Forum: BoaterTalk
<br />
Date: Jul 15 2003, 5:12 GMT
<br />
From: wvboofboy
<br />
<br />
Sovern Run, a trib. of Big Sandy Creek outside of Bruceton Mills, WV has changed with the recent heavy rains. I ran it several times on the evening of Saturday the 12th at a medium level. The good news is that it has changed mostly for the better. Most, if not all of the small hassle rocks in the creek bed have been flushed downstream and chocked in the major drops, or have been deposited in the Big Sandy. The entrance is pretty much the same, as well as the cascades, though the water seems to be moving a little faster (a good thing). The middle boogie section has cleaned up and become more channelized, making for better flow, and opening up a drop that I have been eyeing up for a while (a good boof into a room on the right, to the left of a pinny undercut beneath the surface - on the right side of the second island encountered). Another plus is that the flake rock drop (frog rock) has also opened up, giving more room to the right to make a ducking boof to avoid the flake. Something to look out for is the drop following this. The entrance boof has become meatier, but is still good. The triple slot below the entrance, however, has changed. It is usually run on the far left against the shore (there is a strainer there now), or on the far right boofing up on the rock on the far right. At medium flow there is a rock in the right channel that will pin you if you miss the move, and the channel leading to the right is much more shallow than before, making it difficult to carry any momentum to drive you up on the rock. This leaves the center channel as the only real option at this time, which can be negotiated, but is dangerous. Get your bow up if you try this. Everything is good until the final slide (Sovern Falls) which has become more eroded on the left and the rock at the base of the falls seems to have moved, or has become more exposed. Enter left of center with left angle. This should keep you clear of the rock at the base, and the left bank is not as junky as it used to be, so don't worry about that. A final bonus is that the creek can now be run to the confluence with the Big Sandy. Under the bridge leads into a cool boof on the right into an eddy or a neat move on the left into a whirlpool-be sure to get an ender into a pirouette here to finish up a great run. Clean the rest of the run down the center through some squirrely stuff. You'll be sure to have a smile on your face. With the weather being as it has been, I wouldn't be suprised if it ran a few more times this year. Have fun.
<br />
<br />
-Mike Vanderberg
<br />
<br />
<br />
|
No rapids entered. If you know names, and locations of the rapids please contact and advise the StreamTeam member for this run. 
River Alert
State News
River Links
(RSS)
(KML)help
(mobile)
River Info (mobile)
