Gooney Run
Boyds Mill (Intersection of VA 622 & VA 649 [Browntown Rd.]) to Karo Landing (Route 340)
| Difficulty | III-IV+ |
| Length | 3.9 mi |
| Avg Gradient | 78 fpm |
| Gauge | Gooney Run Near Glen Echo, Va |
| Reach Info Last Updated | August 29, 2025 |
River Description
Gooney Run is located south of Front Royal, Va. and offers Washington-region paddlers a close-by Class III-IV creek run with several Class IV rapids and good technical whitewater. This creek shouldn't be taken lightly, as it's full of every conceivable river hazard and can be packed with wood. The creek runs through a beautiful and intimate gorge that is lined by privately owned land, so boaters should be on good behavior to keep the creek accessible. Gooney comes up only in the winter and spring and during prolonged wet periods.
Access:
THE DEAL ON PARKING. Parking access is limited on both ends of the run. At the takeout, you can pay $2 to park at Gooney Run Campground when it is open. If parking in the pullout at the Hwy 340 bridge, you will also have to cross campground land to reach your vehicle (they own both the land on both sides of the bridge), so please pay the proprietor when parking there as well. The $2 fee is the campground's day visitor rate. Parking is also available at the Karo Landing fishing access, but there are only a few spots and you must not park on the grass. At the Browntown Rd. putin, pull off the road at least 10 feet beyond the guardrail river left of the creek. Please don't block the gravel easement adjacent to the guardrail that provides access to a private wooded area (There is a No Parking sign on the guardrail here).
Rapids:
The run begins with a straight stretch paralleling the road and behind several houses. Be mindful of the ford crossings as you warm up above the gorge. Shortly after the creek cuts away from the road you will enter the gorge and the rapids pickup to II-III. After the first solid III, be on the lookout for First Falls, a Class IV+ with dangerous boulder sieves in the middle and lower right. The middle sieve is often full of wood, meaning this drop is often a mandatory portage that is easiest on the rig
...River Features
Put In - Boyds Mill (Intersection of VA 622 & VA 649 [Browntown Rd.])
Put-in - Boyds Mill (Intersection of VA 622 & VA 649 [Browntown Rd.])
First Falls
First Falls comes up quickly after the first Class III drop. It's full of large boulders that choke the channel and create a drop of around 10 feet. The midstream boulder is severely undercut, as is a boulder at the bottom right. The most common line is to the left of the midstream boulder. Be wary of running the right side - several boaters have pinned in the lower right sieve here.
Second Falls
Second Falls is just downstream of First Falls. This drop is a bit smaller and safer than it's upstream counterpart. With enough water, there are numerous lines. The most common lower water route involves ducking behind a huge river right boulder into a small eddy (you can get out and scout from here or from upstream). From there, run just right of several midstream rocks over the first drop, then setup to run just left of a triangular rock for the final plunge. Be aware of sometimes sticky holes in the runout.
No Place To Swim
This is a long and busy rapid that can be entered center left. Go over a couple drops and look for midway eddy on the left. From either eddy you can set up for a two part ledge drop. The second pourover requires a committed boof into either the left or right eddies. At higher water, the rest of the rapid can be run down the right or right to left. At lower water, however, it seems best to start left through the final boulder drop to avoid pinning rocks.
Chainsaw
This rapid is at a left bend in the creek. The final drops pick up wood easily, so ease into it down the left side or scout. There is an eddy on the far left 3/4 of the way down and several routes depending on the wood situation.
Surprise
This is the last hurrah and often comes up as a, um, surprise. Eddies are available at the top left, which is where you'll want to run. Go through a bouldery s-turn channel and look for another left side eddy. From here you can set up for the final chute-drop with a left to right peelout to straight down the middle.
Take Out
Trip Reports
Log in to add a reportI am interested in running this run, but it appears Im 23 years late to the show. Im 17 so you guys have been paddling this run way before I was born. If anyone has any info at all about this run please let me know at VA.liamwolfgang@gmail.com, thanks.
Here's a recent video of the run, at about 3 inches on the painted gauge: https://youtu.be/m2DGkabVzE8
We had 2 mandatory portages, and a few other spots where portages could definitely be considered, and high water would have probably been 5 portages.
FYI The waypoints on the map, showing the put in and takeout are wrong.
Ran it after the big rains we got Tuesday, and Gooney was good to go. Levels were between 9' and 12'. There were two pieces of wood in road-side part, but both were passable to the left and easy to see. First Falls has some wood in the scouting eddy, and a log across the left channel that would be hard to see over 12'. There was also a river-wide must portage log about 5-6 rapids down from that, but, it was pretty easy to spot as the river bent to the right. Other than that, all clear.
I'd say Sandy did minimal damage to the run, this just looked like standard Gooney trees. Didn't see a lot of snapped branches or trees hanging in from the shore like I see a lot in WV now.
Got the follow from the usgs per its non reported gauge reading for Gooney....are there any local folk..boater or otherwise...who could help with acessing real-time levels here???
Thanx Steve Taylor potomacsurf@verizon.net
Hello Mr. Taylor,
Real-time stream flow data collection at station 01630700 - Gooney Run near Glen Echo, VA was discontinued Oct. 28, 2009. This site, along with several others in the area were deactivated as a result of cooperative funding reductions. We apologize for the inconvenience. Historical data for this gage can still be accessed at:
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/va/nwis/dv/?site\_no=01630700&referred\_module=sw
Thanks for contacting the USGS.
Joel R. Guyer (jrguyer@usgs.gov)
Hydrologic Technician
USGS Virginia Water Science Center
1730 East Parham Road
Richmond, VA 23228
804-261-2612
804-261-2659 (fax)
http://va.water.usgs.gov
Most of the wood was cleared out at the end of last spring. We ran it a month ago at 6' and there was only one portage. All of the blind drops were clear at that level. MK
The lower Gooney is full of strainers, just about every drop has some wood in it -
this is the worst!
Low water shot of the sieve at First Falls
Low water drop of second falls...fun in a creeky way.
This is not from Philippe Damiano, whoever he is. As of 9/05/06, all drops are runnable, although there is one tree in a trivial rapid that most people portage, and is sneakable only at the minimum level. Also, for you first-timers, there is one rapid down there, almost half-way down, that has a bad sieve on the right side---stay left or portage, please.--Robert Farmer
Bobby is right over the seive that takes all of the water with less flow.
This was one of several strainers we encoutered on the way down, none were hard to navigate but you always had to make sure there was at least one down stream eddy between oyu and where the river vanished round another corner or over another horizon line
At this level the far left line is the one for 2nd falls. If you stay on line, like Tim did, it is plain sailing!.
This is one of the more elusive runs in the area. On this day there was no flow at the take-out, but we decided to drive to the put-in for lack of anything better to do. Much to our surprise is was running.
This is the best rapid on the run. The rest of the creek is fun boogie water.