Tygart Valley

The take-out at Cove Run is quite an ordeal! The last half mile of the road requires a bit of clearance and at least AWD. The trail down to the river (when the lake is drawn down) is extremely muddy.

It is a good idea to check the elevation of Tygart Lake before deciding to set shuttle at the Moatsville Bridge or Big Cove Run takeout. With Tygart Lake at 1107', the drop at Wells Falls shrank. The big hole at the bottom was almost gone and the sloping drop into it was much shallower. At 1102', Wells Falls preserved all its glory, but there were no rapids between it and the Big Cove Run takeout.

According to old topo maps, the conflunce of Big Cove Run and the Tygart is somewhere between 1050 and 1100', probably closer to 1050 given what was observed at 1102. Around 1050 plus some amount more, you will have rapids all the way to BCR.

Moats Falls

Jay running Premonition at lower water

I've seen Bill Blauvelt run that far left side just as smooth and pretty as you could ever want to see.

A great weekend with the Keelhauler Canoe Club led by Dr Dave Herron

Undercut Rapid around 1600cfs

After 3 long minutes stuck just above the falls, it was all good.

Moats Falls at 1300 cfs. Probably as low as you want to run it (see next pics)

There isn't much water up top at this level, and i got caught in shallow water at a pretty unfortunate place.

Bill Dermota on a first Decent of Wells Falls, What a Sweat Rapid !!!!!.... It funny though when you are scouting the above apoach there are several waves holes to navigate before the finnally and they dont look as big as they really are from the scout rock but still easily managed once your in.......

Wonderful day for my first time over the falls

What a fun rapid!

after scouting, Danny Doran a FLOW member of Rochester NY (age 13), felt the 14 footer was no problem. he aced the line and landed great. not bad for his 1st falls, he decided to run it twice.

Rhett with a nice line on a low water run of Moats Falls.

A good level for the wave after the galloway beach hole.

Another beautiful day on the Tygart. This is one of my all time favorite rapids to run.

Epic level on the Tygart.

Just a note: The mileage of the first 4.5 miles from the bridge to classic is way off. We measured it to be 2.3 miles.(I ran it in 15 minutes)

Wood hazards at Moats Falls.

The natural bridge above Moats (right side)now has a huge log stuffed into and spanning the entire slot.The drop now creates considerably more suction and should be treated with serious caution.Swimmers at Premonition should be kept away from it at any cost,even if that means swimming the falls elsewhere.This log looks to be stuck for a long time to come.

At the bottom of the right side,heavily undercut route 2 boulders are trapping wood

between them.Flushing under the undercut shelf on the right bank and flipping due to hitting the shelf will leave about 75 ft of heavy water to recover in with about 35% of the flow aimed at the strainer.Ropes on the left side are probably the best alternative for rescue due to the heavily undercut right shelf but be aware there is an undercut angled slab at the bottom left where the flow turns hard left to cut towards the center drop where Moats is most often run.By the time the center drop is runnable most paddlers will want to be very careful with the right side route.

Paul Herring

Bernie Lenrow running the waterfall river right, Moats falls Arden section of the Tygart.

The PYRANHA 4-TWENTY in ACtion!

Pretty easy move but I would hate to miss it. Big hole followed by a big undercut. Fun though.

Ride the tongue
ride the tongue

the pre-carnage pic
the rescue effort
punchin' the hole

Boy is this a treat to do. A thrill every time. Start left, the flow pushes right, aim for the pillow at the bottom. Both sides are undercut, though, so take caution.