Rocky Broad

American Whitewater and some partners attended a site visit to the Rocky Broad hosted by NCDOT. It was a sobering visit, with so much hurricane damage to infrastructure, people's homes and businesses, and of course the river. We learned about DOT's plans to rebuild the roads in the gorge. There are some sections of the river that appear to still have good whitewater, much of the river was diminished in quality by the flood, and a lot more of the river has been essentially channelized and simplified by NCDOT to accomodate their temporary road, and the permanent road. The temporary road will ultimately be removed, and the river roughly put back in some kind of shape, which may be followed by 'restoration' by the Army Corps. American Whitewater is advocating for restoration of the river during and immediately following the construction project. The river should be restored to a reasonably safe run of similar difficulty as before.

Maybe it goes without saying, but all of the rapids appear to be totally different.

Dwight seal launching the portage of Walker Falls

PLEASE NOTE: I had the level very,

very wrong in my long trip report. It was

3.78 on the bridge gauge, NOT 4.78,

which would make a world of

difference on either the Upper or the

Lower! The online gauge said 4.4.

Here you can see a close up shot of the Rocky Broad bridge gauge. In this photo it's reading about 3.9 feet. This gauge is found on the bridge at the intersection of Rt. 64 and Rt. 74 in Chimney Rock, NC.

Here you can see the rapid named A-Frame and the reason for its name. The river was running at 3.9 Feet in this photo. A very manageable drop at this level.

A shot of the public park that is the takeout for the Lower Rocky Broad. Parking here is legal, and likely the best bet for boating access.

Here in this photo you can see the Rt. 64 bridge (right where it meets Rt. 74) and the Rocky Broad bridge gauge at the bottom of the closest bridge support.

The usgs gage Cove Ck near Lake Lure should be a gage of interest. The cfs/sq. mi ratios are the same as the Rocky Broad according to usgs archival data. Furthermore the Cove Ck gage adjoins the Rocky Broad and has the same drainage basin size of the lower Rocky Broad or about 79 sq. mi. with and average output of about 139 cfs. The upper Rocky Broad drainage is much smaller or about 40 sq. mi.. 200 cfs for the lower RB and 300 for upper should work. It is no more of a leap to use Cove Ck for the Rocky Broad as it is the use Ivy River gage for Big Laurel Ck.

HEADS UP!

Not sure of what they are planning to do long term yet. But the access to the river has been cut off at several spots. There is a temporary bridge that is bad news. What may be worse however is that they have erected a fence on river left keeping people from accessing the river at 'The Gauntlet' and 'Franks/Redneck Falls'. Redneck Falls is often portaged even when there is enough water. At lower flows, it is a mandatory portage/seal launch. If their plan is to make this area a private access point for the landowner. (Already no trespassing signs) There will no longer be any place to scout these rapids, let alone portage.

To anyone paddling The Lower Rocky Broad. Remain conscious of the fact that our access here is already limited. Please be extra considerate to the folks that live over there. Do not argue with the locals nor do anything to provoke the people of Chimney Rock into developing a bad taste for kayakers. I paddle there several times a month and never have any trouble. I'm trying to find out what the ____ is going on with these new developers. I wrote AW about this and I'm sure it will get worked out. 'IF' that is, nobody screws it up before we get to the truth of the matter. Get out and go creeking.

Peace,

JAH WILL