Black Bear |
A local who picked us and our gear up at Blue Heron and dropped us off at Station Camp warned us to look out for both copperheads and timber rattlers. We saw four bears on the drive down into the ravine on the way to the Station Camp put-in. We also knew the rapids, even at a meager 150cfs at Leatherwood Ford would be challenging for us. Big South Fork at 150cfs had both positives and negatives for us. On the plus side it would be more safe since we are inexperienced with whitewater paddling. It also seemed like a plus that we would have things largely to ourselves without the Spring kayaks to contend with. The downside of the 150cfs flow level was that there were several areas where we had to get out and pull the canoe through shallow spots. I don't particularly mind doing this if the scenery and fishing are good and they were spectacular. We wound up only having to get out five or six times on our 17 mile trip.
Little Brown Jug |
Breakfast on the Pop Can Stove |
Black Cohosh |
Rock Bass |
There is no cell service along the length of this river which means it's important to pay attention to the twists and turns and natural landmarks to track your progress. It would be easy to linger too long casting and enjoying the scenery and then worry your family being late exiting the gorge.
One thing that makes this stretch of river so special is the scattered house size boulders that have calved off of sheer cliff walls all along its length. I have no doubt that its deep enough in many spots to jump off of many of these but we avoided doing this given that it's so remote. The number and size of boulders as well as the size of the rapids seem to increase as you move down river from Station Camp toward Blue Heron. The smallmouth seemed to be in the current or immediately above or below riffles and often waiting in the eddy's behind boulders to ambush their prey or our baits. We saw a grand total of two other people during the entire three day / two night trip. As it turned out, one of the two had been a rafting guide on the New River in West Virginia.
More house sized boulders |
Pulling up to our campsite the 2nd night. |
Adam was sitting next to the tent by the fire and took this picture of me swimming. |
The third day was the best day of fishing. We caught over 20 smallmouth, another rock bass, and two spotted bass. Adam lost the biggest smallmouth I've ever seen after it jumped and dove back into a strong current. We also noticed several redhorse suckers cruising the shoals. If we come back I might read about how to catch one. They weren't the least bit interested in what we were throwing. We passed the rafting guide who was pulled off below a rapid and he snapped this picture. We are very comfortable on this size rapid and were successful on several along this stretch of the Big South Fork at 150cfs.
The problem is that at the end of this segment, just before you get to Blue Heron is a rapid called Devil's Jump that is more difficult (at least for us) even at this level. Somehow Adam managed to stay in the canoe and escape Devil's Jump after I fell out and swept through. I was lucky to tip at the end of the rapid below the main drop.
Timber Rattler along the Devil's Jump Portage trail hiding under a Rhododendron. |
The boulder field above Devil's Jump |
Looking down into the narrowest part of Devil's Jump from a boulder above it. |
Put-in.......: Station Camp
Take-out.....: Blue Heron Mining Community
Miles........: 16.9
Miles to Date: 299.7
Map Used.....: National Park Service Brochure Map
Fish.........: Smallmouth Bass, Rock Bass, Spotted Bass.
Miles to Date: 299.7
Map Used.....: National Park Service Brochure Map
Fish.........: Smallmouth Bass, Rock Bass, Spotted Bass.