New Hope Creek (Haw River trib.)

This may be a little outdated, but I ran this section of New Hope Creek after Hurricane Fran in 1996. The entire section was choked by strainers and windblown trees. The run took about 5 hours and ended in a muddy slog through the dark. It looked to have been such a beautiful run through a small and intimate gorge, but the hurricane ended that.

Despite the countless portages, there was one nice playspot (small hole) in the very heart of the section near the point where a trail forded the stream. I think Nealy even noted it on his map of New Hope Creek.

Does anyone know if the run has been cleared since 1996? I heard tale of plans to have a volunteer unclogging before I moved away in 1999, though I can't imaging Duke allowing such alteration to the Korstian Division of its forest.