Clear Fork

Thursday we had a mixed group, from Canada eh?, that did Clear Fork to the Confluence while a smaller group went all the way down to Leatherwood Ford on the BSF proper. Clear Fork was approx 570cfs. Six BlackFly canoes and one kayak (me). Plenty of water to avoid a scraping, shallow day on this section. Once you turn off of Highway US27 the posted directions for this section work fine, but there are also supplemental Brown Natl Park Service signs and other signage to get you to Burnt Mill Bridge without issue. Pit Toilets at BMB now. Our group all scouted Funnel/Flume Rapid from river left and setup rope on river left. Speaking of which, about the time you'd be thinking that 'Flume should be showing up soon' Clear Fork starts to narrow down and you get into your first more-interesting rapid after a long-ish flatter stretch. Even from low-down, close to the water in my kayak, you definitely get the sense that something more substantial is approaching and I could see strong indications that the river was going to get very narrow between some large sets of boulders even though I could not see the Flume-Hole itself until we got out and scouted.

From well upstream of Double Drop, scouting from river right, the entrance rapid (pool) , first drop and some details of the second drop. Most of the other photos give better details of the drop itself but the entrance is a pool

Monday we did the clear fork of the BSF.
Clear fork: Burnt mill bridge to BSF confluence.
10/13/14 Flow was about 850cfs on the Clear fork at Robbins TN guage.
G- canoe, Eli- canoe, CT- kayak. G ran everything in the canoe except 'the Flume' which was a retentive hole.
There was lots of quality class 2++ rapids with great spots to work on eddy catching and ferries. The big undercut on the left in the third rapid was ferocious but for the most part well out of the way. Most of the big overhangs and undercuts we saw at 530 cfs were covered or were not as intimidating undercuts. The 'orca rocks' on river left were still visible and useful for orienting yourself. The lead into the Flume was faster and blended into a long class 3- rapid, we ran left, there was plenty of time to eddy out on river left and portage or scout the Flume. Great trip and spectacular leaf color.

3/16/14 Class 2++. Great river for big rocks and (ironically) clear water.
530 cfs. 1shredder, a canoe and a sit on top. The first rapid we called it 'little neck' because the river like the top on a drysuit. The third rapid in had a big undercut on river left. There was one rapid about half way through the run, on the left there were 2 rocks and one looked like an 'orca'. A little ways after was the class 3 rapid. It can be broken into 3 rapids at our lower level but at more flow would flow together. The first part was river right to left and was shallow and technical. The second wasn't memorable but then third was 'the flume' drop. A pour over into a nice small hole (good recovery pool), would get more green and flat with more water. Ferry across the poo brown New River. Longish uphill takeout. Shuttle 30 min.
George

There is a new bridge beside the old truss bridge. Also a bigger parking area on the west end of the bridges.

Moving over to river right, 100 meters upstream of Double Drop, before walking downstream to scout