Gragg Prong

Post Helene scout trip...not as much damage as one would expect here.

Managed to catch Gragg at a high flow on January 2nd, 2024. It was pretty full on. There were some nasty holes and then Dragstrip was insane. I did decide to fire it up :). Soooooo Goooood!!! The runout below Dragstrip was also sick.

Got my PFD on Gragg Prong at a low flow on Nov. 12, 2022. Such a sick run if you can catch it.

Medium flow

Dwight Nalbone coming down Drag Strip

Brad Running 'Pong' of Ping Pong

Dwight Nalbone finishing Drag Strip on the Gragg Prong

Reid running the 'Ping' in Ping Pong Rapid

Nathan Galbreath - Ran Gragg Prong ran yesterday (12/1/2010). It is an elusive run, but oh so worth it. It rained pretty hard from 7 AM until midnight the day before. GP level would have been perfect around 7 AM. I was not able to get to the putin until about 10:30 AM. By then, the boofing had dropped from primo to lower runnable. However, the water quality had gone from brown/flood stage to crystal clear! Wilsons Creek was at exactly 1 foot on the bridge gauge when I passed it at 10 AM. Gragg Prong was about 2 inches above the long flat concrete shelf bridge support on the river right side of the put in bridge. Leland's books says that if you can scrape down at the top, you are good to go. In my opinion, that characterization is a little too generous. Based on my experience yesterday, I think the water level needs to be at least 2 inches above the long flat concrete shelf--otherwise the run is so scrapey that it detracts from the fun. We rode the last good bubble down. There were more groups arriving when we took off around 12:30, but they were skunked. The water had already dropped below the concrete shelf at the put in.

Our whole group ran drag strip on the left and everyone had good lines. No close calls or mishaps, just a good clean run. Keep your eyes peeled for wood. There were at least 4 mandatory portgages formed by riverwide logs. Nothing sketchy. The portages were all in relatively flat sections and easily visible from upstream (2 of them were in the run out at the bottom). There were also several spots where you could just barely sneak under or around fallen wood. Stay alert.

Because this run is so far from everywhere, you have to hustle to catch it. If you feel comfortable on the north fork french broad, you will have no problem on this run at lower to medium flows. It is mostly solid class IV.

Got a lap on the GP yesterday. Wilson vis was at 1 foot. It ws a low level but everything was runnable and fun. If your willing to take a low water run it runs a lot more often then you think.

Dragstrip at fairly low water. 11Nov 09. Video of Jim Moser by Russ Langley.

We look for at least 1 inch of rain within the last 12 hours @ AFWS-Edgemont, & Grandfather Meadows and then MAYBE GP will be running! Preferably 2 inches or more in the last 12 to 24 hours. The hurricane rule applies here - in case of hurricane approach the WC tribs from above (north in this case) and forget about running WC gorge. GP is a tiny watershed - get there fast!

Most people find the Wilson Creek tribs in order to avoid the high water Class V Wilson creek hydraulics (over 6' @ Adako or the WC Gorge put-in). As a result, there are not many WC trib visuals and runs. Not many are willing to bypass WC
for the tribs if WC is runnable.

People & guidebooks will tell you to look for the Adako bridge visual (also known as a Wilson Visual) to be 2 feet...but don't put your entire boat in that eddy, the Wilson Creek tribs run a lot more than people think.

Adako at 2 feet guarantees water, but if you are ready, willing & able you can hit these pristine creeks when the Adako visual is quickly on the rise or not even rising yet. Depending upon rainfall patterns and timing, water in the Wilson tribs can drop out before Adako rises. Bottom line is that if you are at Adako bridge during or soon after a >1' rain and Adako is still low or rising --- dash for the tribs and you may catch Gragg Prong, Harper, North Harper, Rockhouse, Lost Cove, Little Wilson, and maybe even Slick Rock - well probably not Slick Rock. If the sandbars and waterlines tell you that Adako has peaked out below 6' and the rain is over, then don't bother with the WC tribs. From Adako bridge, you can get to most of the WC tribs in 30 to 60 minutes.

It is rare, but we have seen Little Wilson running strong over 24 hours after a 1' rain - this is because the rain gauges can fool you. More than 1' of rain fell during that rain event - for sure. Rain gauges and their solar panels can become obstructed by trees which is the often the case with the Edgemont gauge. If you see dashes on the AFWS page then there is usually a communication issue with the rain gauge - frequently a blocked, missing, or broken solar panel. If a rain gauge is reading 0' or really low and all of the nearby gauges are gathering rain, then there could be something physically wrong the gauge (broken, obstructed...). Also, the rain can fall heaviest where there are no rain gauges to measure it.

On 2.18.08, GP was just above the minimum level in the ealry AM after a 1' rain.
When we got there at 10AM it was at the minimum with respect to the bridge footing. It was runnable but we decided that it would drop too quickly for us to get it in so we opted to hike & huck Lost Cove Creek instead.

Brandon Hughett finishing up his run of The Drag Strip on Gragg Prong, NC. The water was a little low, but he still fired up this huge multi-tiered slide while most everyone else walked.

The low water and sunshine on this day made for a most scenic run. There is a perfect swimming hole at the top of this slide.

Mack fires it up as the water level is going up, up ,up.

Gragg started flooding while we were looking at Dragstrip. It came up 4-5 inches in about 5 minutes. By the time we got to Lost Cove, we were on a couple of thousand cfs, big water flush.

Just was curious how you got the names for

the rapids? Back in the late 90's, we had no

names for these.

Nikki makes the right line look smooth.
When the light turns green...