Appomattox

Ran river with a bathing suit and rashguard on top, and the water felt fine. James River Water temp was 56 air was 77 at a high.

Lot of wildlife to see on this run. 2 turkeys, lots of otters, a fox, and birds of all species.

The river itself was a nice step up from the upper James without being too difficult. Lower rapids definitely felt like class 3 to me. I would recommend scouting from the bridge at the bottom of the run.

Parts of the route were a bit rocky, and it would have been nice to have a bit more water. However, if you're looking to go on a trip, this level is fine.

720CFS

6.5 ft

Scouting Jug at 1730cfs

Running the Abutment Dam at 1730cfs.

Andy B.
My son and I ran this on 31 Aug 08. It was running at 4.68 and was a fantastic run. Minimal scrapes, great surfing holes, and 3 foot standing waves. There was a strainer about 200 yards above Jughandle on river right that did a good job swamping canoes. Numerous other strainers here and there. Be cautious.

this was a fun summer time run. I have a friend that lives in Petersburg and the take out is right near his house so it was an easy run for us. The first part of this run is real calm and a good place to have some brews, fish or whatever....It didn't seem too shallow in any spots and we just cruised for about two hours.....the river picks up some with some mild rapids further downstream but as stated above becomes frustrating with several dams that have to be portaged......seemed like our portage spots were all river left for anyone travelling without people that have done this run before......the best spot on this run is the pipeline rapid at the end which is river right (maybe an old canal?) with a sharp 90 degree left as the last section of rapid......we hadn't seen anyone all day but when we shot out of the end of this rapid there were police everywhere! Apparently a guy had drowned swimming in the river or something and his body was floating face down on the opposite bank! Pretty gruesome but makes for a good story.....now after that rapid there seem to be some good jumping rocks if you want to swim...I have heard the river (which gets very narrow at this point) is almost 45 ft deep!!! at the bridge....most of the jumping rocks seem to be upstream from the bridge but I would be very careful as I have heard that several people have drowned here from a whirlpool under the bridge. Thats why I mentioned the rocks upstream as it seems a little less sketchy and still quite deep.....use caution as people have died jumping from the bridge.....At the end of the run it is easy to visuaize how prominent Petersburg once was from all of the old factories and abandon buildings.....rumor is the City will dredge downstream from here to establish a city dock for travellers from the Chesapeake so it may be a revival area soon!

once you open this pic click on it,
it gets verry big. most of the photos that I took are huge look at the file size if they are in MB not KB they will realy get you in there!

Notice the large strainer below the rapid. Luckly most of the water pushes around this strainer, however care should still be taken.

Looking up the canal above pipeline.
Map of river at the put-in

9 May 04: Ran this stretch at about 3.0 ft with my daughter in a kayak and her boyfriend, beginner, running open boat tandem with me. Wouldn't want to run this at a lower level, as it was a bit scrapy. Left some green vinyl from my Mohawk XL15 on several rocks! Pipeline and Target were fun, though. Caught the eddy river left of Target Rock, ferried out above the rock and continued down. Was a fun maneuver. All in all, a good river, mostly Class I-II at this level, with Pipeline and Target a good II+ or III.

Chesdin Dam, located just above the putin for the Matacoa section of the Appomattox.
The last of two exciting rapids located towards the end of this run. The water tends to force you into 'Target Rock', located behind the kayaker's head.
RC gauge located on the Matacoa Bridge. 2 feet above zero translates roughly to 4.5 feet on the USGS gauge. This is a fun level, not too dangerous.

not sure exact level it was around 5. The big rock is Target
Richard in the eddy on RL right before target.
Not sure of rapid name it was a z turn rapid and at the bottom was a fun little play spot.