Coastals

Going to run the Roanoke River Gorge with Balcony Backup on Saturday afternoon.

The RRG is a short ,~4 mile Class I-II run that ends at Explore Park where Smith Mountain lake starts. It's known to have a bit of trash along the run, but is a pretty little Roanoke gem with a few Class II rapids at the start and a few small surf waves along the rest. A great place for novices to work on skils such as eddy turns, surfing and rolling. Right now there is enough water, but we'll see what the week brings.

NOTE: THE LAUNCH ACCESS IS NO CAKE WALK! Expect to Carry your boat on an ~10 minute hike down ~200 stairs to the put in. It's about a 3-5 min walk to the stairs, which are made from railroad ties. When I bring my heavy canoe, I tend to set the boat down and slide/drag it down the stairs the rest of the way.

https://www.americanwhitewater.org/cont ... [url][url]

I'm interested. What is the Roanoke River Gorge like, and where are the put-in and take-out? Wick

Hmmm...not sure why the orginal post is blank, because the text is there when I go to edit it. So here we go...Take 2...

OCT Sat 6/22: Going to run the Roanoke River Gorge with Balcony Backup on Saturday afternoon.

The RRG is a short ,~3 mile Class I-II run that ends at Explore Park where Smith Mountain lake starts. It's known to have a bit of trash along the run, but is a pretty little Roanoke gem with a few Class II rapids at the start and a few small surf waves along the rest. A great place for novices to work on skils such as eddy turns, surfing and rolling. Right now there is enough water, but we'll see what the week brings.

NOTE: THE LAUNCH ACCESS IS NO CAKE WALK! Expect to Carry your boat on an ~10 minute hike down ~200 stairs to the put in. It's about a 3-5 min walk to the stairs, which are made from railroad ties. When I bring my heavy canoe, I tend to set the boat down and slide/drag it down the stairs the rest of the way.
https://www.americanwhitewater.org/cont ... l/id/5115/

OK, Laura & I are in if it's the Roanoke Gorge. Glad that's the put-in you're describing, not the take-out! If it's Balcony Falls, is it practical to scout, and perhaps carry, Balcony Falls itself? Wick

Water Levels are looking good and will likely hold at a fun play/surf level.

Let's meet at the Blue Ridge parkway put-in at 1:00p. Bring a few $1 bills as the take out has a $2-3 parking fee.

Wick, I'll tell you more about Balcony later. Yes! It's scoutable and a great Beginner drop and Intro to large wave trains.

The RRG also has a couple bigish Class IIs at the beginning. If this is a "step up" for anyone, we'll scout Texas Tavern, and also peek down at the river from the Bridge. The 1st couple rapids have been known to flip beginners, but is gerneally safe and a great place to step up into Class II whitewater.

Note for rising Class II whitewater folk: Make sure you have proper whitewater gear as you step up. A skirted boat or SOT is recommended for this run as large waves will come over your boat. Make sure you have floation in your boat, even if it's just milk jugs so it doesn't sink if you flip. Making your friends wait on excessive bailing or retrieve sinking boats is "bad form." Helmuts are recommeneded for the 1st half of the run and in any play wave.

I'll see you at the put-in.

Laura's had to drop out, but I'm still looking forward to this. See you at the put-in, Wick