North Anna Sunday 5/4?

chromo · Post by **chromo** » Sat May 03, 2014 7:49 am

Four of us are watching the North Anna for a run Sunday morning. It's about 2000cfs and going sideways right now, so I think it will be good tomorrow. Anyone interested?

Disclosure: Our current group does not include anyone that has done this before, so I'd love to have someone or sometwo with experience join us. My understanding is that this is a novice-friendly run with a Class III+ must-scout rapid near the end. That rapid can supposedly be portaged or sneaked on the left if the main lines are unreasonably terrifying. However, I haven't been there yet, so I make no guarantees!

mj101n25 · Post by **mj101n25** » Sat May 03, 2014 6:03 pm

What time, Chris? Meetup?

chromo · Post by **chromo** » Sat May 03, 2014 6:16 pm

Hey Mike!
10am at the takeout which is where US-1 crosses the North Anna (southeast corner of the bridge I believe).
I will be checking the RC gauge on the put-in bridge before we meet, since that's the only really reliable gauge for this run. If for some reason it doesn't suit us, we'll caravan up to the Rappahannock.
See you in the morning! Others are Nate and Greg (live2tele)

Brendan · Post by **Brendan** » Sat May 03, 2014 6:53 pm

I wish I could join you, but I have other obligations. The North Anna is a beautiful river, especially this time of year. The Fallsline rapid is fairly direct. The river splits around an island- The right side is the preferred run and is a series of three drops- the last one has a large rock in the center- Depending on the level fairly easy to boat scout. Enjoy.

Brendan · Post by **Brendan** » Sat May 03, 2014 6:53 pm

I wish I could join you, but I have other obligations. The North Anna is a beautiful river, especially this time of year. The Fallsline rapid is fairly direct. The river splits around an island- The right side is the preferred run and is a series of three drops- the last one has a large rock in the center- Depending on the level fairly easy to boat scout. Enjoy.

Post by **GinnyN** » Sat May 03, 2014 7:34 pm

you can walk along the river right bank to scout the falls rapid. it's worth doing that.

Jenny · Post by **Jenny** » Sat May 03, 2014 9:15 pm

Scouting is good on right, but best portage is on the left (and/or best place to look for alternative lines). Depending on level, the upper hydraulic can be rather sticky and there is an absolutely nasty hole bottom right at really high levels. We have run left side of river at top drop to right for bottom (on LEFT side of the pillow rock at the bottom if the river is high or on the RIGHT side if it's not). Sorry I can't join you -- live in NC now.

Rock garden (about 1/2 mile above the falls) is a hoot at about 2 ft on RC gauge. I've not run it higher.

Have fun. Stay safe.

mj101n25 · Post by **mj101n25** » Sun May 04, 2014 6:06 am

OK, 10 am it is. Looks like I take exit 104 I95.
My understanding is that u don't want to run it
over 2.5 feet?

Mike

chromo · Post by **chromo** » Tue May 06, 2014 7:36 am

Thank you for the advice! We had a great day on this gorgeous stretch of river. Here is the video that I put together.

https://vimeo.com/94159533

I am curious Brendan/Jenny: would you have just followed the flow and plowed through the hydraulic right of the bigger rock? It was clearly flushing but it looked pretty powerful!

AirborneBuff · Post by **AirborneBuff** » Tue May 06, 2014 7:57 am

I ran it a couple years ago at 2,200 cfs (over 4 ft on the RC gage) and you could run the line, to the right or left. In fact, we walked back up and ran that rapid 3 times and picked different lines each time. The hole is not all that sticky as long as you remember to paddle. Nice video, and I agree that it is a pretty stretch of river. thanks for sharing.

-Keith