Stony River

2. Route 50 (in West Virginia) to North Branch of Potomac River (Kitzmiller, MD Take-out)(Lower Stony)

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September 18, 2004

Trip Report

ReporterJonathan Mayhew

This 4 foot ledge was a fun class 3 drop on river left and an interesting boof over a sticky hole on river right (just out of sight in the picture).
Some offset holes made this a pretty fun class 3 rapid.
The rapids are starting to get a little trickier.
In the background of this picture is a rather mean ledge drop; in the foreground there is a riverwide strainer.
Can you spot both paddlers in this picture? (Hint: one of them is blasting through a huge wave)
Looking downstream into one of the larger class 4 rapids.
This is only part of a long class 4 rapid with some tight slots and big holes. At lower water levels, this rapid presents some tricky pinning spots. If you look carefully, you can just barely make out John sitting at the top of the rapid.
This slide is the bottom drop of the same long class 4 rapid shown in the other picture. This part has some pretty major holes to contend with, such as the one John is about to blast through.
This is the largest rapid on the run- at lower levels, it consists of 3 distinct drops in quick succession. These pictures were taken from the top of a large undercut boulder just downstream from the large bottom hole.
Chris busting through the massive bottom hole of Sawmill Ledge- don't screw up here, or you could get pushed into a nasty undercut!
This slide, which is located just downstream from Sawmill Ledge, is about 50 yards from the confluence with the North Branch. The approach to the slide had some major holes, one of which seperated Chris from his boat. The bottom of the slide is surfable at lower levels, but watch out for a nasty left-side whirlpool in the runout.

Trip Report – Lower Stony | American Whitewater