Russell Fork

Put-in - Garden Hole Road (Breaks Park), VA

When you scout the rapid, you are going to see a 10' drop that lands in front of a VW Beetle-sized rock. There are 2 channels: 1 to the left that goes under a large slanted rock and one to the right. As you come off of the big drop you want to be right of center so that you get pushed to the right side of the VW rock. The key here is being far enough right, but not so far right that you hit a micro eddy and get surfed back into the hole. I've done it and it'’s not fun.

Fist. Class-IV/V rapid with a Class-VI undercut. *****Fist has changed radically since the 2005 release season. A hole has developed that funnels directly into the crack. SCOUT THIS RAPID. The traditional release line is VERY SKETCHY now. The bail out is to scrape down the river left side into the big left eddy in front of the crack. If you trust your ferrying skills, the hairy ferry is the preferred local line. ****** There are 2 lines, the main line and the fire escape. Both start from the river right eddy. The main line is to ferry across to left of center and then work back right so that you clip the edge of the fan rock (Huge Roostertail) The fire escape is a sneak on the right and is easier than the main line, but just as dicey if you mess it up. What you have to do is to wait until a surge of water humps up over the semi-wet rock on the extreme river right bank. When it does this, bust ass and paddle as hard as you can so that you slide up onto the rock and down the side. If you screw it up, you will slide diagonally toward the fan rock and very possibly under the fist rock. My preferred line is the high and dry portage on the river left side of the river. It's a much easier portage than it looks and the only difficult part is going behind the fist rock. IF you start walking when the first member of your groups starts down the rapid, you can probably be back into the river just below the fist rock by the time the last guys gets through

The first drop is a right-to-left move punching a powerful hole. IF you flip, there is a small recovery pool before the rest of the rapid. The main line is basically nailing several 5-6' boofs down the center of the river. If you follow this line, you will be toward the river-left side of the huge undercut boulder. Once you get down to this rock, either paddle hard left or spin and ferry to the river left. There are 2 holes in the rock; the left hole is clear but the right hole tends to be full of trees and truck axles. This rapid reminds me a lot of Shipwreck Rock on the U. Gauley, only the moves upstream are significantly harder.

You will see a hump left of center on first drop. Paddle full speed ahead down the hump with your boat pointed straight. The left side is tempting, but the hole is much worse over there. As soon as you blast through the hole (dangerously sticky) spin to the left and catch the eddy.

After running 1st drop, you are set up perfectly for second drop if you want to pass up the first eddy. Second drop is a pussy cat, it's a big slide that angles river-left into a couple of big holes. Line up left of center with left boat angle and boogey through. Catch the eddy on the river left and line up for 3rd drop

Third drop is actually made up of 2 smaller drops, a 3' drop with a weird, POWERFUL hole and then a 6-8' bottom drop with a deep, powerful hole. There are 3 options at 3rd drop.

(1) You can do the sneak out of the eddy...just follow the 3 or 4' of water flowing down about 15' from the left bank.

(2) The standard line is to peel out of the eddy high, and then slowly work back left so that when you go over 3rd drop you actually just go off of it at it's highest point (it basically turns into a 10'’ single drop) and into the pool.

(3) My least favorite option. You can peel out high and ferry toward the right, spin and run down both drops angled left. Keep lots of speed going through these holes because if the top hole grabs you, it's going to wreck you and the bottom drop is shallow. A friend of mine had to get a dozen or so stitches above his eye after going down the drop upside down.

STREAMKEEPER COMMENT: Folks who live on & run this river at all levels generally agree triple drop is the unfriendliest rapid on the Russell Fork. That doesn't mean the most dangerous, just the one that is going to give you the worst whipping if it decides its your turn. Depending on the level, all three drops take on extremely nasty traits. This is now the 4th killer rapid on the Russell Fork. Note that at ALL levels, the right side of 1st drop is a keeper hole. Above 700 or so, the left is also, but at least on the left someone can get a rope to you. Make sure you hit the hump with good angle and stroke through the hydraulic keeping your nose high.

Whoever would describe second drop as a pussycat is sick, although 800-1000 (release) tends to be easiest. Below 700 or so, a huge roostertail in the middle will send you into the bottom hole at crazy angles. If stuck, the ONLY way out of the hole sends you straight into 3rd drop. Once you've done it, you'll remember for a long time. 3rd drop, although ugly, is the easiest drop to get past above around 3-400. The line below 300 is REALLY interesting, basically a hard right to left ferry across the shelf, boof/sliding into the seam, ferrying in the toilet bowl in front of the fang rock, then dropping into the bottom hole. 30-40% of the runs are a guaranteed wreck, but at least you can roll up in the bottom eddy (if you get that far). sjr

It's all good now -- …the scary stuff is over. When you look at El Horendo it's a lot like Oceana, both look twice as scary as they actually are. Basically what I do is sneak down into the micro eddies on the river left bank. From here I just ferry across above the lip of the first drop, aiming to hit the diagonal hole in the middle of the river. You can either (1) spin around once you are past the diagonal hole and drop over the drop or as I prefer, (2) Ferry on across and into the river right eddy. From there chill out, scope the scenery and look for a launch pad about 5' from the bank. Go off of the left side of the launch pad with your boat angled left. Once you hit the hole at the bottom you should punch through nicely if you have some angle. Take a couple of strokes to pull you out of the maw and toward the left so that you can avoid the nasty little shelf on the right.

******UPDATE****** More rock movement in the big boulders that surround the main line has caused more water to leak out of the main line...basically making it more seived out and much shallower than previous releases. Center line is pretty sketchy these days, keep it upright!*****    I would rate the Box Move class IV and the Race Line class V. I've never run the race line so I won't attempt to describe it. Basically the box move is to start out of the river-right eddy and boof with some boat angle to the left. When you land brace, roll, or whatever before you get pushed against the big, slightly undercut rock on the right. Avoid getting pushed up against it. It's a weird rock because it is easy to get flipped up against it and once you flip over you just stay stuck there and it never seems to wash you downstream so that you can roll. The box is really shallow and swimming in there kinda hurts a little. Trust me, I've swum the box more than anywhere on the river.

Take Out - Breaks Park River Access, KY.