Brush Creek

We ran this creek on 9-18-04. The Bluestone Gauge was between 8 and 9 feet and dropping after Hurricane Ivan brought a significant amount of rain to the area - not nearly as much rain as the Asheville area and northern WV got. Given the class III-IV rating, we put on at the put-in listed above and expected to find something similar to NC's Big Laurel Creek. It was mostly II+ with a little bit of class-IIIish rapids in between. But about a mile above the Rt 3 bridge, there are two class IV's stacked on top of one another.

While we stood at the falls (in the pictures above) trying to decide on the best line, another group of boaters arrived. Shortly after, some locals showed up and told us that some people jump off the right side of the falls at lower water .... and that's where everybody decided to run. There were some flat boofs and a couple of people penciled in. One boater went slightly 'over the handlebars'. Apparently the right side is deep. However, it is a 20 foot waterfall and the potential for injury is there. On the last run, one boater landed flat and reinjured his back after having strained some muscles within the previous week or so.

Throughout the run, many creek-side tree trunks were under water and I don't think I would run the right side of the waterfall with any less water - the potential to stall at the lip of the drop would be there... We didn’t run the section of the creek between the falls and the confluence with the Bluestone.