Potomac, North Fork of South Branch
1. Confluence of Laurel Fork and Straight Fork to Cherry Grove
| Difficulty | II-III |
| Length | 6.2 mi |
| Avg Gradient | 50 fpm |
| Gauge | N F South Branch Potomac River at Cabins, Wv |
| Flow Rate as of 32 minutes | 86 cfsbelow recommended |
| Reach Info Last Updated | February 6, 2020 |
River Description
This section is fairly continuous class I-II rapids with a few approaching class III especially when complicated by strainers. At medium-high flows, a couple of the rapids have waves large enough to nearly swamp open canoes without full-boat floatation. The main gauge (North Fork South Branch Potomac at Cabins) is located many miles downstream so some guesswork is required to know the flow level. There is no wireless coverage throughout the whole North Fork valley so it's hard to check the gauges online while in-person scouting. The scenery is pretty mountain views in a pastoral setting. Noteworthy wildlife (e.g. bald eagles, river otters) is common. As of 2019, the river has at least two sets of wires strung across it - presumably to keep cattle constrained. The wires were both duckable at medium high flows but be aware. The bridges are easily passable at medium high flows.
It's easy to park and put-in directly at the confluence along Nance Run Rd. For the take-out, there is parking just downstream of the Snowy Mountain Rd. bridge aka Cherry Grove.
River Features
Put In
Take Out
Trip Reports
Log in to add a reportOn 21April2019, we ran this section. At the time of put-in, the Cabins gauge read 7.4 FT or about ~3000 cfs. It had rained hard the night before and the gauge was slowly dropping from a peak of 8 FT. The flow level was about perfect -- plenty of water to pad rapids but not so much to make the waves too large. We paddled a tandem, open canoe with float bags in the stern and bow but otherwise open. We nearly swamped twice from waves washing into the boat. In the tandem open canoe, we're intermediates and we found the rapids fun but challenging. About half-way through the run, we encountered a set of double metal wires across the river. We couldn't eddy out in time in the class I-II water and we were forced to drive under the wires. We just barely passed, lying flat on our gunwales. A second single wire was encountered later and was more easily duckable.