Crabtree Creek (Umstead State Park)

Did this run on 05/07/09 at about 5.5'. We (myself and my crew of one) used an Intex Seahawk Sport 400 inflatable boat - The Regnus Zandt. The whole trip took about 5.5 hours with necessarily lengthy breaks. We did four or five carries for trees and other blockages, and dragged it over half a dozen more downed trees (while precariously balanced on sometimes floating logs). If the water had been half a foot higher there would have been many more. There is neat rapid in the beginning by the quarry, where the creek squeezes to the left of a big rock and then to the right of another. After you enter the park (you will see a series of cliffs and overhangs on river left) there is another small set of rapids around a sharp bend to the northeast which probably doesn't exist at higher flows. There is a longer set of riffles and easy rapids before you have to get out at the footbridge. There is a major blockage there. The Company Mill Rapid is fun, though we got into a rock or two at the end of it. Everything beyond that is basically flat and the carry/drag situation does not improve. I would run this every week if I could convince my crew (girlfriend) that we should take out at Company Mill Dam and hike the boat out. This is a good run for proving you're a real man, or highly eccentric, as it's more work than fun and no one really does it. The creek will take you pretty far away from civilization, especially in the second half, while still being very much surrounded by it. I might do this again one day, but by hiking out after the last rapid. -Zeke (zeke73sg at aim dot com)