Tygart Valley

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