VA Access Protected at Dam Site

 

Town of Big Stone Gap is underway with new dam construction for Big Cherry Resivoir. The town has proceeded with replacing the failing Big Cherry Dam with a new structure designed to increase the lake’s storage capacity from 400m gallons to 600m gallons.

 

On Thursday 11/4/2004 I spoke with Estes Brothers Construction job superintendent Greg Estes and informed him about the resource found in S. Fork Powell watershed for paddlers. He was very nice and was surprized that kayakers have been frequenting the stream. He said the workers and his company have NO PROBLEMS with boaters accessing the creek while they are working on the new dam. Although he did ask that we try to limit our upstream (near the old dam site) access to the creek. There are some spots along the road that one can access the creek, but be prepared…it is a short jaunt over the hills and through the woods to make a run on the creek top to bottom.

 

Also, one more noteworthy point: About mid way through the run (in the calm stuff) there has been a large debris slide from the road. Currently the debris is located about 50-100yds from the creek. It should be visible from upstream. It is very noticeable from the road as it drops into one of the last difficult stretches of whitewater just before the portage at the water plant.

 

One more plus: when BJ Johnson, Al Gregory , et al made their post 2002 flood run, they apparently drove out of Crackers Neck and back up US 23 to the High Knob area and then drove down to Big Cherry Lake. One heck of a shuttle….This is still an option when the gates are locked at the bottom of the mountain near the water plant. However, during the week…(M-F) the gates are open. The road has been reconstructed to allow large rigs to deliver supplies to the job site.

 

If you choose to utilize the new road going up from the water plant, PLEASE bring a CB radio with you and monitor ch. 25….although this is a new road, there are some narrow spots that would make for quite an adventure with a load of boaters and boats encountering a large rig coming off the mountain. Once dam construction is complete, the road should remain open…also I hinted at the fact that their new road would make it a lot easier for us to access the creek and to stay out of their way. The old route from High Knob requires boaters to come a little too close to the job site for my own personal comfort, so we’ll keep working with the fine folks at Estes Construction so we can have access to this Virginia gem.