Coastals

We'll be paddling the Roanoke River from Roanoke Rapids to Weldon. We'll meet at 11:00 at the take out. Post if you'd like to join us.

I'm curious about that section of the Roanoke river. What's the difficulty level of the river? I live way upstream in Clarksville and have always wondered about the rapids in Roanoke Rapids.

Thanks,
Russell

I haven't paddled this before so I'm only going by what's in the guidebooks and what I've been told. It's dam released so it's classified low runnable right now. It's class I-II with one III at the end that can be seen from the take out. It's straight on with big waves.

Class 1-2 w/ some flatwater. There will be a few waves to surf below I-95 (if you run the South channel). After that where most of the river goes right, you'll want to go left. There should be a wave or two at the top of the S-turns & nice eddy-lines at the bottom. After a bit of flatwater you'll get to Lion's Roar, it's just a bunch of noise. You can get a fun workout eddy-hopping around this one. Right after that, the river splits again. You can go left & there's a rock in the middle w/ very good eddy-lines on both sides so you can work right & left squirts. If you go right above the island, there's a rock garden w/ little to nothing to surf. There are a few different ways to run the best rapid (Weldon). If you go right (The Dumpster), stay upright. It's broken some previously very nice helmets Most folks run one of the center lines 1st time. You can get out on river left to check out the lines. The wave in the center at the bottom is what most folks come down for. At this weekend's flow it will have easy access. Should be good for carving & spinning. If for some reason surfing isn't your game you can easily cary back up & run the rapid over & over. When you get tired there's always the Jacuzzi

I'm on call & can't run the river this weekend. If I don't get called out I'll be surfing at Weldon all afternoon. I'll be in the red C-1. Say 'hey' when you get there.