Red Creek

I paddled this May 9, 2012. The water was too low up at the takeout for the upper section, but I put in at the lower road bridge, and the water was barely adequate for a day of new river exploration, checking visually. The Hendricks gauge read 3.9. Parts of this run were nice, and several were too bony, but would have been nice with 6-12 inches more water. The first part had a lot of small boulders. There were several logs to dodge, as well as a massive log jam that needed to be portaged, but which would be possible to sneak to the right with perhaps 2 more feet of water, although that might be risky. Downstream of the highway, there is an island. Due to low water, I went left, whereupon I immediately pinned on a small log that I tried and just failed to claw my way over. Downstream still alongside this island, I broached on a very annoying pipeline---this was rather frightening, and definitely to be avoided; I swam and felt lucky to have avoided death/injury/etc. while keeping all of my gear. With another six inches of water, the pipeline might be under water. Probably best to go right of the island, although the pipeline is probably over there, too, so watch out! Be alert! Somewhere around here (I think, upstream of the highway) there were some beautiful, low-angle sliding rapids on a solid rock streambed. Finally, just above the Dry Fork of the Cheat confluence, there is a super-nasty, evil-looking pourover/hole on the left side of the river against an undercut cliff where the creek jogs right a bit. Definitely avoid this!! All in all, I enjoyed it, but more water would have eliminated most of any unpleasantries that I had. With more water, I can definitely see how this could be solid, continuous Class 4; difficulty depends largely on water level, to answer the comment below mine a bit. I saw very little in the way of Class 2.