Cumberland, Big South Fork

Day 2 - Station Camp to Ship Rock Area

We left Station Camp around 11:30am, with a flow around 600 cfs for the entire day. The water moves fairly quickly in this section, as there isn't much flat water. We made it to the Big Island within an hour (~3mph), and we paddled close to this pace all day. I thought this section was more scenic than the Leatherwood to Station Camp section, but it's all wonderful. Lots of interesting rock and river features to stop and enjoy in this stretch, so an earlier start would be preferred (a member of our team got food poisoning our first night - a lesson to be prepared). At this level, there were no safe camping sites at Ship Rock itself, but there was a lovely sandy bank on river right not even a mile further down. We arrived at this site around 7pm. The hiking trails run along the river here so I'm sure there's plenty of other spots off the river. I would not run this river without having a map of the hiking trails, not only for an emergency, but also for finding higher ground camping.

Day 3 - Ship Rock Area to Blue Heron

The flow rose to over 6100 cfs by 7am. We nearly lost a boat and a paddle because our 'safe' zone wasn't safe enough. I will always tie off boats and better secure loose items because of this. Thankfully one of our tents was just safe enough, but the water got within 2' of it. We delayed our departure to let things settle a little and thinking our day would be expedited due to the flow. However, two members of our group had open rec boats and they were no match for the big waves this flow brought. Thankfully they still floated when full of water once the paddler bailed, but this meant pulling over to drain boats after nearly every rapid. We left camp close to noon, with a flow around 4700, but we didn't make it to the Devil's Jump Portage until 5-5:30pm because of the constant draining. I would highly advise against an open rec boat because of this, and I would think a canoe at these levels would also be a nightmare (but I've never run a canoe). Rapids were likely II+, with 3-4' waves.

There is an obvious structural overlook on the most striking cliff you have seen on the whole section that signifies Devil's Jump is ahead. The portage is somewhat uncomfortably close to the rapid at this level, as the flow is a little pushy leading into it. To the less experienced paddlers in our group, this was a little scary. To play things super safe and keep everyone within their comfort zone, we pulled over to river left prematurely and tunneled through the maze of tree branches on the bank to stay in the eddy. This portage is far less of a production compared to Angel Falls due to its proximity to the rapid. Planning for 1.5 hours is likely a good estimate. The rapid roaring at this level was quite the treat to see.