Two-Day Trip on the New River (in the NC and Virginia mountains)

Length:  11.5 miles (about 5 hours of paddling and one portage around a dam)

Starting Point: Riverside Canoe outfitters just north of King's Creek Road bridge on the South Fork of the New River near Crumpler, North Carolina

Ending Point:  Bridle Creek boat ramp on the northwest side of Cox's Chapel Road bridge near Mouth of Wilson, Virginia.

Difficulty:  Intermediate - class I and II rapids with a moderately strenuous portage around a dam.

The New River is one of the oldest rivers in the United States and one of a few major rivers in the United States that flows from south to north.  It begins in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina and flows into Kanawha River in West Virginia. In theory, you could paddle from the mountains of North Carolina to New Orleans via the New, Kanawha, Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, but it would take a while.  In North Carolina, the New River, and large portions of the South Fork of the New River provide an cool, scenic and relatively easy place to get away from the heat.  There are several outfitters willing to rent boats and/or provide a shuttle service, and many good camping spots if you want to make it an overnight trip.

In June 2018, a mixture of old geezers like me, and a few young bucks, paddled from Riverside Canoe near the King's Creek Road bridge on the South Fork of the New River near Crumpler, North Carolina to the Cox's Chapel Road bridge near Mouth of Wilson, Virginia.  It was only an 11.5 mile trip, which we split over two days.  After the first day, we camped in a farmer's field near the mouth of Potato Creek, which was only about a mile from our take-out spot.  Other than a portage around a small dam, this was a relatively easy trip with some class II rapids to keep things interesting.

Due to recent rains, we had a steady 2 mph current on the flat sections that made it almost unnecessary to paddle. The USGS gage at Jefferson, NC indicated that the River was flowing at a rate of about 580 cfs with a gage height of about 2.7 feet, which was about a perfect flow.  The largest rapids were just big enough to fill the canoes in the group with water, but not quite big enough to require the kayakers to use their spray skirts.  On prior trips at lower water levels it was sometimes difficult to avoid going aground in a canoe.

This section of the river is very scenic.  Although a few sections of the river had vacation homes and campgrounds, long streatches seemed almost pristine with steep rocky banks covered with blooming Rhododendron. There were many beautiful spots where we could have stopped for lunch, including a couple of locations in New River State Park, but we chose a less-scenic lunch spot under a bridge where one member of our group was meeting his wife for a ride home.

A couple of tips about the trip.  Although the portage around the dam was formerly and easy portage on the left side of the river, the current dam owner closed the old portage around the dam and the only remaining way around the dam is on the right side of the river.  It can be difficult to exit a kayak onto the cement bridge foundation on the right side of the river, and the bank of the river in this area is extremely soft mud with a steep bank that is also challenging.  The actual portage is probably about 50 yards ending with a very steep ravine down to a wide sandy beach below the dam.  The take-out at the Cox's Chapel Road Bridge is on the left side just before the bridge and is a typical cement boat ramp.  After the Cox's Chapel Road Bridge, there are some class III rapids that probably should not be attempted by novices.

There are several private campgrounds along this section of the river, one very nice public campground at New River State Park, and many unimproved campsites for small groups along the unpopulated parts of the river.  We arranged ahead of time to camp in a farmer's field because we had a relatively large group of people.

Most of the members of the group were smart enough to bring 14 foot kayaks that had plenty of storage room and flotation for lots of camping gear, but for some reason I decided that it would be more challenging to overload a ten-foot fishing kayak (see photo).  My boat did great (despite have two openings for fishing poles that occasionally provided an entry point for water) and it was certainly more maneuverable in the rapids than the larger boats, but next time I would probably choose to bring my touring kayak to make paddling the flat water sections easier.

The staff of Riverside Canoe, who were
extremely accommodating, met us at the Bridle Creek boat ramp on the morning of our second day and shuttled us, our boats and our gear back to our vehicles.

Other things to do while you are in the area:

Shatley Springs, Crumpler, NC - This is a small fading piece of Americana.  Shatley Springs is collection of small cabins and a rambling restaurant dating from the 1930s. Today, some of the cabins contain craft shops, some of the cabins are rented to overnight travelers, and some of the cabins are falling down. The categories are not mutually exclusive. One set of interconnected buildings serves as a gift shop and restaurant.  The building may be slowly rotting, and the floors may tilt at odd angles, but they still serve country food family style in the restaurant.  This is a good place to feed a hearty appetite after a long day on the river.