Moormans

Ran from Millington to Reas Ford at 226 cfs. Just enough water for kayaks. Elapsed time about 3.5 hours.

We ran from White Hall to Millington today (8/8/2020) at 245 cfs (6 inches below zero on the Millington bridge gauge; 4.4 ft on the Moormans USGS Gauge) and it was great fun. Enough water for an almost clean run in solo canoes, probably not enough for tandem. 3 portages required at this low level, we unwisely did not portage one of them choosing to duck under in a class 2 rapid which we did without incident but with too much adrenaline pumping ;-)

Saturday we had a group of 5 go on the Moormans. We parked the take out car outside of Camp Albemarle. on Garth Rd. The Park was locked up so we had to park on the road. we put in down at Millington Bridge. There were some areas where we scrapped, a small bridge to go over, some great swimming holes. not sure it will be passable much longer we did have to walk in some rocky shallow areas, but there weren't any down trees that were impassable. Quite a change from my paddle there Memorial weekend. 6.3 miles took us about 2 hours 45 min. When we were taking out the guy that lives up the hill from the Camp yelled at us for loading at the bottom of his driveway. So be careful where you park.

700 cfs

Several cattle fences on upper section

Ten of us ran the Moormans yesterday, at 600 cfs, from the parking area alongside the river about a half mile below the reservoir, down to Millington. It was a delightful 8 mile trip, with no fences and just a few river-wide strainers (all visible well in advance) in addition to all the vegetation growing in the river itself. Despite the 'I-III' rating on this site and the 'II-III' in both Grove and Corbett, we all considered the first few miles a solid class III section. There were two short bony spots where the river braided, but we had plenty of water elsewhere, so the 450 cfs minimum seems about right.
Below White Hall, there were only two tricky spots. The first, in about a half mile, is a class III rock garden. The other is right at the take out bridge, where you should skirt the hole on the left on either side. Take out on downstream river left, and carry to a small parking area (room for 3 cars). Leave a note on your car telling Mr. Davis (the local landowner) that you are on the river and hope he doesn't mind your taking out there.

The new usgs gage (http://waterdata.usgs.gov/va/nwis/uv/?site\_no=02032250&PARAmeter\_cd=00065,00060,62620,00062) is online now.

UPDATE:

- 5.5 ft. corresponds roughly to a foot at the millington bridge gage

- 6.57 ft. corresponds to about 2.5 feet on the millington bridge gage

October 10,2005

A bunch of us ran the Moorman's Gorge Section this weekend. Mark and I had a low water run on Friday night, when the section below the dam was still running too low. The rain on Friday night brough prime conditions on Saturday morning and it was full on. We boated down from the third crossing. There are a few riverwide logs, so if you are headed up this way next time it rains, scouting is a must. I was impressed by the power of the river at this level... it was running three feet below the dam. We had a little bit of a hairy situation on the drop right below the third crossing put in. Also, beware of 4 point bucks traveling down Triple Drop. I would hate to get stuck by one of those horns!

...day after a hurricane

At 1.5'-2' (painted bridge gage in Sugar Hollow), the upper part of this run feels very similar to the upper Tye. However, the Moormans is narrower, and has more strainers than the Tye.

As long as the water authority continues to impound and divert most of the Moorman's flow (allowing the trees and brush to grow thick in the river bed), strainers will remain a problem on this section.