Lost
2. WV 55 Bridge 3.7 miles above Wardensville to WV 259 Bridge below Wardensville(Dry Gorge)
| Difficulty | II-III(IV) |
| Length | 7.1 mi |
| Avg Gradient | 40 fpm |
| Gauge | Waites Run Near Wardensville, Wv |
| Flow Rate as of 1 hour | 3.68 ftmedium runnable |
| Reach Info Last Updated | October 4, 2024 |
River Description
The Lost River Dry Gorge is up only in the winter, spring or after a prolonged wet period. Much of the river literally 'sinks' above the gorge, only to reemerge on the other side of the mountain from large springs. Because of this, the riverbed is mostly dry much of the year. A large bridge for the Corridor H project has been built just downstream of the putin bridge, and a long stretch of parking was added along the edge of route 55 .
The first few miles are characterized by closely-spaced Class II-III rapids. Strainers can be a problem. There is a low-water bridge 2/3 of the way through that should be scouted. At favorable levels, one can run hard right or line up with the jet currents flushing through culverts under the bridge to ride the flow out of the hydraulic. Portage and scout on the right.
Landslide is the final and major rapid on the run (Class IV due to undercut rock on the right, part way through the drop) and should be scouted from the river left island. The rapid is a steep chute featuring offset holes, squirrely current and that undercut. Run center left working right to avoid a large boulder at the bottom center. The channel remains choked below, so swimming can be a bruiser.
Portage a second low-water bridge on the right and proceed to the takeout below Wardensville.
River Features
Put In - just below WV 55 bridge
South (upstream) of Wardensville along old WV 55 under the Corridor H Bridge.
Low-water Bridge
Landslide
'Landslide' is the final and major rapid on the run (Class IV due to undercut rock on the right, part way through the drop) and should be scouted from the river left island. The rapid is a steep chute featuring offset holes, squirrely current and that undercut. Run center left working right to avoid a large boulder at the bottom center. The channel remains choked below, so swimming can be a bruiser.
Take Out
Near the WV 259 bridge North (downstream) of Wardensville, WV.
Trip Reports
Log in to add a reportAs of 3/2/2021, at 2.75 on the bridge gauge (650 on the AW page) there are no strainers and Landslide is clear. Only mandatory carry is the second low water bridge.
Paddled 5/21/18. Log at Landslide is gone everything was runnable. Visual guage was 2'. Correlation with Cootes store not very accurate this time.
The lower part of Landslide Rapid is very dangerous. There is a log extending 3/4 of the way across the river forcing the paddler to go to far river right. (See photo.) One eddy can easily be caught, but the course down the right side is very rocky pushing the paddler into more rocks. There may be a submerged log on the river right in this channel adding to the difficulty. Paddling through the meat of the rapid is the easy part.
Photo shows log across the lower part of Landslide Rapid
Low flow, 0' bridge gauge
We ran this at minimum flow, 0' at the put-in bridge, 3.1 Brandywine and 3.5 Great Cacapon. Enjoyable class II run, with maybe one easy III, without scraping too much, although there are a number of long pools. Our run was just a few days after the comment below; you can see a member of our group ducking under the strainer in the photos. Certainly a concern if the water is higher.
Low flow, 0' on bridge gauge
On the Lost 8 May @ 1 foot on the rt55 bridge gage. About 1.5 miles into the trip you enter a long rocky rapid that curves left. Not until you are well down into it can you see a log pinned between boulders at chest height, blocking ALL of the main channel. There is a small slot on extreme right that can be got thru. So long as this log remains, it presents a high hazard.
Tom McCloud
Paddled this on 12Mar2011 at 3.78ft (994cfs) on the Po-Brandywine gauge. Most rocks were covered, most of the rapids were bouncy wave trains with holes & pourovers interspersed for fun, some ledges here and there to mix it up. There were a few strainers lurking, and at this levels some midstream submerged trees. Most rapids were class II+/III at this level, until the rapid with the undercut (that runs on the right of an island). The undercut is definitely one to respect, a few of us ran the rapid without incidence, and a few of us portaged without incidence. This stream is definitely worth catching when it's up!
3.75ft at Brandywine. Scouting Landslide from river right. It is much better to get out upstream of this on river left to scout.