OCT SF Shenandoah Aug 12 2023

[Daryl]

One of Saturday's OCTs was on the SF Shenandoah from Grove Hill to Newport. The predominant features of this section are the 2.5-mile lake and dam portage required which is why I hadn't paddled this section before today. I was joined by a few other adventurous souls: Pete, Christina, and Dennis (K1), and Reese and Pamela (OC1). Pete has paddled this section numerous times so his knowledge came in handy.

The trip starts off with about a mile and a half of moving water with some nice riffles. There are homes along both sides of the river here, and there were a lot of people out on the water boating and/or fishing. Once we made it to the flat water behind the dam, the people disappeared. We did see one motorboat that was traveling up and down the lake and another group fishing at the dam. Motorboats will be far and few between in this section to due to no public access on the lake portion.

The portage around the dam was easier than I expected. There's a nice and well-maintained portage trail. Reese brought a set of portaging wheels which helped get a couple of the heavier boats around the dam and we all carried the rest.

A few of us paddled/walked back up to the base of the dam. It's a design similar to the old Embry dam on the Rappahannock. On river right, there is the largest rapid on the South Fork. I'm sure its impressive when there's a lot of water flowing over the dam.

The last mile or so is mostly flat, moving current with one rapid at the site of an old mill dam. The old guidebooks warn to be careful if running the old mill race channel as there is machinery from the mill in that channel. You'll need high water to run that channel these days, but the gears and other pieces of machinery are still in that channel.

We finished off the day with ice cream in the town of Shenandoah.

A few photos from the trip:

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0faxT8i ... IKDNKnB_Ug

[Raymond]

Sounds as if you had a good trip. Ice cream afterwards is always a good ending for a summer float.