Cranberry

2013 (sorry: edit didn't preserve orignal post date) Since last October (?), there have been tree trunks fallen into the middle Cranberry River, WV. I couldn't car scout the entire run, so don't know if any trees require a portage. Some channels are blocked.

John O. Mitchell

(sorry: edit didn't preserve original post date) On 4/11/2013, I and a partner paddled the Middle Cranberry at about 4 feet (lower runnable) in a Shredder. John M.'s comment is spot on—probably thanks to a large, heavy snow last October, there's A LOT of wood in the water. Many logs and branches were submerged enough to run over. Many more were not. Since so many of the channels and drops on this section are blind and since neither of us had ever run it before, we scouted probably 11 or 12 times throughout the course of the day. There are several trees blocking 80-90 of the river, but none blocking 100%. With careful scouting and conservative lines, we did not have to walk any of the rapids, but we spent much of the day dangerously close to strainers. As always, paddle at your own risk.

Cheers!
Jay Young

This one isn't anything new, just something I hadn't noticed before. I ran it Sunday at just over 4.0' USGS. There is an eddy bank-left just above the last little drop of S-turn. I caught this eddy low and realized I was getting sucked backwards into a tunnel. I was able to paddle away from it but it surprised me. There is a fair amount of flow through the tunnel at this level which might get pretty bad when it's higher.

I like to catch this eddy to set safety. You might want to catch this eddy high or skip it.

Ken Dubel

At 5.75 this river becomes a much more difficult river. We started this run with 10 boaters and only four finished the run without walking off. All of the boaters had at least excellent class III/IV skills, others that walked off have no problem running IV/V rivers. In fact one of the paddlers who walked off had just run it the previous day without issue. Please know the level before you put on. If there has been a good steady rain recently be ready for a different river. CK