Roaring Branch

The first half mile of roaring branch, before the south fork dumps in, is tight technical and pretty steep, which equals lots of fun. This is a fun longish rapid with several cool moves, Russ dubbed it Spasmatic Mastication. Hard to find a good water level though, as there is a narrow window between low and lots of rock bashing, and high and really scary. The pictured level is slightly lower than optimal, maybe another 100cfs or so would pad stuff up better. Once the south fork dumps in the run gets more fluid and the river bed almost doubles. Big Branch was at almost 4 on the painted gauge

this is an underrated run for sure. ran it two separate times, once at medium lowish (Big Branch was at 2) and once at high (Big Branch was at 5+). at the medium low levels the upper part becomes very technical and rocky, once the south fork enters the riverbed is slightly less steep, but larger and more fluid tons of good boofs. at high this run was one of the most intense kayaking experiences of my career. definitely a solid 5. flipping or swimming would be very bad as the run is shallow and absolutely non-stop, but if you ate your wheaties very fun, you will certainly be tired at the end. be sure to scout from the road on your way up to know where the wood is. it seems there is always a fair amount and with decent water you need plenty of time to find a place stop above any downed trees. enjoy it be safe...would be a great run for a helmet cam.

As levels rise this curler gets huge and pretty powerful. Also directly below is a very uniform river wide hole that becomes a definite issue, a good place to set up somebody with a rope for sure.