White Oak Run
White Oak Fire Road to Lower White Oak Canyon Parking Lot(White Oak Canyon)
| Difficulty | V+ |
| Length | 1.4 mi |
| Avg Gradient | 524 fpm |
| Gauge | Rapidan River Near Culpeper, Va |
| Flow Rate as of 1 hour | 1.34 ftbelow recommended |
| Reach Info Last Updated | November 16, 2010 |
River Description
Some wipeout footage of White Oak is featured in Epic Fail. The very end of the video is Bobby Miller wiping out off Flaming Moe, the last 60 footer on the run.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eC1EMeVyf1A&feature=related
Zone Doggy Dogg and Joe Stumpfel bagged a first descent on August 12, 2001. Here's the Dogg Report, fresh from ZoneDogg.com:
Stay tuned for your Fox Channel 5 Special: WHEN FLASHFLOODS HIT : The first descent of White Oak Canyon
By Bobby 'ZoneDogg' Miller
Nestled down by Skyline Drive in Madison, VA, there is a famous canyon by the name of White Oak. It had sparked my interest for awhile due to its reputation of big waterfalls (6 of 35 feet high or greater) and 1000 feet/mile gradient. I had hiked it in the summer of 2000 and viewed it as unrunable. However, the more I thought about it, the more I thought that it could be done so I planned to go back for a second look.
On Sunday, August 12th of 2001, my friend Joe Stumpfel and I decided to go hike the run and clean out the trees. There was nothing available to run; everything was too low. We had looked long and hard. I stuck to the main roads and the gentleman's clubs while Joe searched the back alleys and the whore houses. In the end, we found nothing to paddle so we reverted to plan B, go hiking.
We brought the boats with us because you never know in this day and age what is going to happen. After taking many wrong turns (thanks to the piece of crap DeLorme Gazetteer that I paid $20 of my hard-earned money on), we finally arrived in the parking lot at the bottom of White Oak Canyon. We packed in Bow Hack and his big brother (bow saws) and prepared to do some damage.
We hiked the trail up to Flaming Moe (the last major waterfall) and then hiked the creek bed from there. We cut several trees out on our wa
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Log in to add a reportIf anybody is trying to find this run using the map or directions found on top of this page- you will be heading to the wrong creek!
I'm, like, totally going to hand paddle this at night next time it rains hard. Maybe for TVF 07? Do I hear 20 White Oak laps?
From Joe on the MCC board:
We've actually run that three times but for much of the upper section the word 'run' should really be replaced with 'walked'. :) On the first trip down there Bobby and I really lucked out. It was supposed to be just a strainer removal project when heavy afternoon thunderstorms hit and quickly flashed the creek up to runnable levels. With thanks to Joey Beck, who unbeknownst to us had previously cleared out many of the strainers, we rushed to as high up on the run as the dwindling daylight would let us. We put-in and ran down from about the mid-point of the big stuff, taking out at the base of the last sizable drop after a hard landing knocked Bobby out of his boat. For the second attempt we waited for a big overnight rainfall then headed for the trailhead up on skyline drive for a full top to bottom decent. The group included Bobby, Andy Maser, Ian Devine, and myself. It turned out to be less than 50% runnable and had become more log choked since our first run. That particular day I had to drive home a bit earlier than the rest of the group so while the others were still up battling it out with the biggies I completed the first ever run of the lower rapids which is good fun Class 3-4 for a mile or so before it peters out to cobble bars complicated by too many fallen trees to count. :) It's a fun way to really get your exercise but I'm not sure Whiteoak is really worth it these days-- atleast until the strainers are cleaned up a bit.
The video to watch, if you can find it, is Sucker Punch. There is also an entry into the Big Gun Show's 'You Gonna Eat That?' from a couple years ago showing Bobby's landing off of Flaiming Moe on the 2nd decent.
Joe at Springriver