Exploring Central North Carolina

Part One: Discovering Whitewater Nuggets in the Piedmont

a Carolina Paddler Article

By Zach Schiada

∞ Exploratory paddling is a niche category in the whitewater world at least for folks in the flatter Piedmont of North Carolina. Figuring out the logistics of putting in, taking out, determining good water levels, and deciding if a trip is worthwhile is a lot of work. Especially when many readily available rivers can be found on American Whitewater’swebsite. It’s hard to nail down why I enjoy exploring so much given the work-to-reward ratio. Something about it really gets my blood pumping. The excitement of finding a new creek or just a single rapid is something I find rewarding. During the few years I’ve been exploring, I’ve had a DIY attitude which has led to insights for increasing the success of “discovering” a worthwhile creek.

There must be resources out there for exploratory paddling, but I have yet to find a good guide. I wrote about this subject briefly in the past here, but I have since realized additional aspects to consider. If anyone has suggestions for resources on best practices for exploratory paddling, I would love to hear about them. I’m always happy to improve my methods. At a high level, there are folks like Ben Stookesberry, who documents his explorations throughout the world in enjoyable videos. I wouldn’t consider what I do in the same category, since I am limited by my skill level and proximity to whitewater.

I have met other paddlers who explore in the Piedmont area, and I encourage anyone who does this to share their experiences with the CCC. We would benefit from getting different perspectives on exploring in this region, as well as other parts of the state, country and world.

I put “discovering” in quotation marks because it would be presumptuous to assume that I am discovering any newcreeks. We live in a densely populated area. Furthermore, in the 18th and 19th centuries, the gradient of many creeks’ features was used as a means to power mills, long before whitewater paddlers came along.

I explore for personal satisfaction. I like to share these discoveries but understand not many people will spend their paddling time on obscure creeks when they can run a more popular river.  If this reality of exploratory paddling is not a deterrent to you, I’m happy to share the things that I’ve learned over the past few years. Maybe you will discover new places.

Finding a Whitewater Creek

Creek Width

My hobby started with scrolling around on satellite maps searching for creeks, usually within a major river system. Were they wide enough to navigate and were there any signs of boulders or rock morphology that might indicate potential rapids? A clump of rocks within a relatively wide stream is usually an indicator. With enough flow, the rocks could become a rapid.

Using a potential satellite lead, a family trip to the Asheboro Zoo led to discovering Richland Creek, a tributary to the Deep River. In my experience, a creek with an average 15ft. width is navigable. Many paddlers would consider 25-30 ft. as a comfortable minimum, but this is an subjective measure for each paddler. Any stream less than 100 ft. wide is going to have the potential for fallen trees and strainers blocking the way. The narrower the stream, the more this becomes a problem.

I rely on intuition as one of my safety measures regarding strainers. I boat-scout from an eddy when possible. If in doubt, I will portage and hike downstream to inspect what’s ahead. My approach has served me well up to this point. Each person has their own skill and tolerance level and in group situations collective judgement must be used to decide the best course. When uncertainty exists, a conservative approach to shore scouting and portaging is always the safer bet, regardless of the river size.

Measuring Stream Width

Width can be measured using Google Maps by right clicking at a point of one side of the creek, selecting “measure distance” and then clicking on the other side of the creek. When using this method, if a creek reads less than 15 ft in width in many places, it is probably not worthwhile. Richland Creek, for example, ranges from 55 ft. to 90 ft in the first section I explored, making it one of the better creeks I’ve paddled. New Hope Creek, a commonly known location for whitewater paddling, measures between 30 ft and 50 ft in many places. I have found if the stream is wider and the gradient higher, the creek will be good. If a stream is narrower, it will take a much higher gradient to be fun and worth the risk and frustration of more downed trees.

Gradient/Distance

The next thing that needs to be determined is whether the gradient of the creek is worthwhile to pursue. Like width, this is a subjective measure that must be decided by each individual paddler. In central North Carolina, a popular class II river is going to be in the lower teens to mid-twenties range for the rate of drop in river elevation per mile. A typical river with some class III is generally going to be in the upper twenties to fifty feet drop per mile. When it comes to smaller streams, my experience has been a bit different. Class II is closer to twenty to forty-five or fifty feet per mile and class III, which is rare for our area, is going to be more like fifty to over one hundred feet per mile in some cases. I have not yet found an unknown creek or section of river that sustains such high gradients for more than about half a mile due to the geological limits of the Piedmont. The difficulty of a run is more complicated than gradient alone and considers other factors such as streambed morphology, hazards, holes and other challenging features, but it is beyond the scope of what I am writing about here. Unless I discover otherwise, a sustained run of Class III action should not be expected when exploring the Piedmont.

To justify the research and logistics needed, my criteria for a creek to be worthwhile is a minimum gradient of twenty ft. per mile. To measure gradient, I open Google Earth and move my cursor to my proposed put-in location, hovering over where the water is, usually by a bridge and take note of the “elevation.” I then do the same for my proposed takeout location. Elevation of the put-in minus the elevation of the takeout is the drop over that distance. Then I will use the Google feature mentioned before for measuring width and trace the path of the creek from put-in to take out in miles. This is done by clicking multiple times while tracing the river’s path. The put-in elevation minus the takeout elevation divided by the number of miles is your gradient per mile.

Sometimes it can be difficult to get a clear enough view of Google Earth’s satellite image to find a creek’s gradient. Other times, data differs when compared to other satellite images (Apple Maps, Bing, Map Quest, etc.). When this is the case, looking at a topographic map from the USGS website is a good way to confirm elevation measurements. Each elevation line in the Piedmont region of North Carolina is a drop of 10 ft from the previous line. In mountainous regions of the state, you will need to look at the number indexes to see what the rate of drop is for the region, but it will generally be higher than 10 ft of drop per line.

For safety purposes the distribution of gradient over a run should be considered. Recently, I paddled a very short section of the Little Uwharrie River in northwest Randolph County, south of Trinity, NC. This section of river was about one mile and had a gradient in that mile of 36 ft. 36 ft per mile is not extreme gradient for a mile of river, although it is on the higher end for the Piedmont. However, the first 2/3 of that mile is only about 6 feet of drop, whereas the remaining third of a mile made up the other 30 feet of drop, which I would consider very high for the region. Although this case is rare, it can be important to break up the gradient into half-mile or even third-mile sections to determine the distribution of gradient. If any doubts exist about the difficulty of an unknown creek, it is better to be over-prepared than to be physically on the river, scrambling to decide what to do with the higher-than-expected gradient.

Related to the gradient, trip distance is also important to consider. Paddling a small creek can be a more complicated experience than on a known river since scouting, portaging, and shuttle logistics can take up more time. For this reason, I like to keep my trips short; usually from 1 to 3.5 miles. This is also better from a safety perspective since more time out in the unknown increases the chances of something going wrong. Sometimes the lack of put-in and takeout options can make this a tricky thing to plan, but keeping your trip short is still recommended.

Accessibility

Accessibility is the most frequent and controversial barrier to creek exploration. Places I have paddled were probably explored before, but their difficult accessibility made them less desirable than rivers on the American Whitewater site. Accessibility is another factor each paddler needs to determine for their own comfort. Messing this up can impact other paddlers’ pursuits. Our whole community can be damaged if lawmakers perceive conflicts between boaters and property owners.

For this reason, you should carefully plan where you want to put in, take out and how close you will be to someone’s property. North Carolina is a paddler friendly state. The public has a right to access water from a public right of way such as a bridge or roadside and to paddle wherever there is navigable water. Not all property owners are aware of the law. Some may consider your paddling near their land as a threat to their tranquility or even a potential burden to them if an accident happens. Having a legal right to paddle a stream doesn’t always justify the possible difficulties you could place on landowners. As paddlers we should be aware of this. Whenever a conflict arises, be aware of the rights you have and where your rights are limited. Be apologetic and willing to de-escalate the controversy, even to abandon a trip.

I would like to touch on the only situation where I was yelled at. I felt I was exercising my “rights” and didn’t consider how it could have impacted a landowner. After talking with other paddlers, I realize the burden I might have placed on the landowner.

A friend and I paddled a small tributary of the Haw River about a year ago. We accessed this creek from a road, which is a public right of way. We stayed on the creek, but did shore scout below the highwater mark, well within the creek’s banks. Bank scouting was necessary for one rapid. We determined there was no major safety issue in running the rapid. After running the safe line, we were approached by an angry landowner. After speaking to the landowner for a few minutes, tensions cooled. The landowner did not want us to come back or to share the location with others. We agreed. Their main concern was our personal safety, given the high-water conditions at the time.

We had no issues with the rapid or the rest of the creek, but I could imagine a pin occurring in the rapid. If a mishap resulted, and we couldn’t self-rescue, there is a chance a rescue crew would have been summoned. Emergency crews would need to walk on the landowner’s property and maybe bring trucks onto the owner’s driveway. My right to paddle on the public waterway would have infringed on the private landowner’s property and they would have no say in the matter. They pay property taxes for the land, where I am just a visitor to the public water flowing through their land.

An accident could have an impact on the entire paddling community. In recent years legislators proposed a bill banning access from bridges and roadsides. The proposal was dropped but the threat remains. Disputes have developed on Boone Fork and the Upper Watauga River. We need to be responsible with how we use our “rights” and be considerate of landowners in the decisions we make. If a conflict seems possible, we should contact landowners to discuss our trip in advance. Avoiding a problem is sometimes the best idea, regardless of our rights. Not every creek would require this, just the ones where satelite or in-person scouting suggests a possible encroachment on someone’s property. Unexpected portages could put you crossing a landowner’s property, a situation where you are at fault.

The Paddle Ways app is a tool I use to find who owns land near a river. You can find owners and the boundaries of the property. Paddleways is like a county’s ArcGIS tool, but I find it more user friendly for paddling purposes. It includes beta on rivers and user-submitted information.

Beyond riparian disputes, there are other access factors to consider. Will the put-in or take out bridges have enough space for parking? This can usually be seen on Google Maps or Bing Street View. If no street view is available, you can physically drive to the location to find a suitable legal parking spot.

What if the creek flows into a larger river? Is the nearest parking for the river upstream or downstream on the river? I have run creeks for which I paddled a quarter-mile upstream on a larger river to reach my takeout. This was the case for Little Buffalo Creek near Sanford, a tributary of the Deep River. This can only be done if the gradient for the larger river is very low. If traveling downstream on a river, you need to consider a heftier flow on the main river and whether the increased flow is something your group can handle. If it’s the case that you do not have access nearby on a river, you need to plan how far you are willing to paddle and hike to reach your takeout point. There are likely many creeks offering decent whitewater, but distance is a limiting factor to make them a reasonable trip.

Creeks can also be used as your exit ramp from a river. In the case of running the Deep River between N Howard Mill Rd and High Falls, I did not have the time to paddle all the way to High Falls. Instead, I saw not far after the rapids ended on the Deep River, Bear Creek was a decent exit, river right. Bear Creek was a relatively flat paddle with some small shoals to attain and one dam to portage up to reach a paddle access on the flat water above the dam (Reynold’s Mill Rd.)

If paddling upstream is the approach and you are unfamiliar with a section of creek or river, plan for only short upriver paddles since even low gradients can be difficult to attain if water levels are high. You also need to be mentally prepared to hike if the current is unattainable. This could lead to trespassing on private land.

In “Part Two of Exploring Central North Carolina”, I’ll consider other aspects of exploring small creeks: dams, tunnels, getting lost, weather and water levels and the value of documenting your explorations.  I’ll also share some of my favorite finds.