The Best and Worst of the Lower Little River

The Best and Worst of the Lower Little River

a Carolina Paddler article

Written by Jim Butler.

Photography by Jim Butler and Rich Nathan

∞ There are ten rivers in North Carolina called the Little River, perhaps the most common of river names. According to Paul Ferguson in Paddling Eastern North Carolina, “The Lower Little River is noted on some maps as simply the Little River, but it is more commonly called the Lower Little River to distinguish it from the Upper Lower River, only five miles to the north. The Lower Little River becomes the Harnett and Cumberland County border before joining the Cape Fear River.” The river flows mostly in a due east direction.

Why did I choose the Upper Lower River?

Our oldest son, John, is staying in Durham for much of April and May. He was interested in doing what he calls adventure paddling. He and I have different ideas of what adventure paddling means largely due to our age difference. John is 27 and I am 66. He was looking for class II rapids with an occasional class III, a river to challenge us. Normally we would do Section 3 of the Rocky River but it only runs after a decent rainfall. We also considered the Eno or Haw rivers. The expected rain never materialized so we had to scrap the Rocky, Eno and Haw options. I scrambled fpr a plan B. I wanted to paddle within an hour’s drive from Chapel Hill, where I live. I studied the rivers in the Cape Fear River Basin section in Paul’s book. I noticed this description of Upper Lower River Section 3 in Paul’s book (page 121) – “Cypress and pine trees are found in this section along with mountain laurel. The banks are typically 30 feet or higher, giving the feeling of being in a small gorge. In spring when the blooms are out, it is a colorful trip.” This description sold me in an instant. We would have to save the rapids for another day.

Research

I usually comb the Internet for any recent river intelligence before paddling new water. I didn’t find much about the Lower Little River. I found this video of section 2 of the river which gave me a feel for section 3.

I found information online about Spring Lake Outpost which at some point appears to have offered kayaking services on the Lower Little River. All of the information was out of date so I think they are out of business. This review from 2018 probably didn’t help:

“I would like to state that my family has rented from this company two other times and love canoeing at this location. This review is a warning. Typically, when canoeing/kayaking it is normal to maneuver around obstacles in the river however staff did not makes us aware that the river was blocked in 2 sections and impassable. Please note, we have canoed/kayaked here before and we have not ran into this problem. Upon trying to make the staff aware of the issue they were dismissive and defensive. The blocks in river are very dangerous. Watercrafts can not bypass blocks without someone getting out of the craft and lifting the watercraft over fallen trees. This is very dangerous as in require one to balance on a slipper tree with a speedy water current. There are also jagged rocks in this area that can cut your feet (staff recommend we take our shoes off at the start of the trip). Please be warned the river is not checked for obstructions and staff is not equipped or trained to handle critical situations. I was disappointed by the lack of training, care and professionalism provided by this company.”

That was all the information we had to go on but at least we had some warning of potential river challenges.

Trip Background and details

My good friend, Rich Nathan, and my son, John, joined me on the trip. John and I paddled my Old Town Camper canoe and Rich paddled his 12-foot Eddyline Caribbean kayak. The three of us have done many overnight river trips together.

The best resource for any eastern NC river excursion is Paddling Eastern North Carolina by Paul Ferguson. Our plan was to do the Lower Little River sections 3 and 4 (PENC pages 121 and 122) for a total distance of 17.8 miles.  Here is some data from the book.

• Difficult of “B” in both sections.
• Scenery all “A” in section 3 and A (70%) and B (30%) in section 4.
• Width ranging from 40 feet to 90 feet.
• Gradient of 3.1 to 3.9 ft/mile.

The estimated minimum is 6.5 feet which is exactly the reading when we launched. Note that it got as high as 27 feet during Hurricane Helene.

April 26, 2025

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” I don’t think Charles Dickens ever paddled the Lower Little River but if he had he might have started his trip report in the same manner. The phrase highlights the coexistence of extremes, where good times and bad times can occur simultaneously. It suggests that life is not always a straightforward journey, but rather a complex mix of joy, sorrow, hope, and despair. Such was our afternoon on the river.

We arrived at the NC 210 bridge around 10:30AM. There were no specifics about where to put in by the bridge. We did see a short access road on the southeast side (downstream left) of the NC 210 bridge. A littered clearing by the river appeared to have been used in the past as a homeless encampment.

We dropped off our gear then headed to scout the takeout spot and leave Rich’s car. As is common with using bridges as accesses, the best put-in must be determined at the time. The PENC book recommended having a long rope for raising boats.

We had ropes but taking out at the NC 217 bridge was steeper and more difficult than we wanted to tackle. We then scouted a takeout spot about 3 miles upstream at the NC 401 bridge. The bank was not quite as steep, and we felt we could manage it successfully. It was close to noon so we thought shaving off 3 miles would make the trip a bit easier. We dropped off Rich’s car and returned to the put in where John had loaded our gear into the watercraft.

Within 10 minutes we came across the first downed tree. For the next couple of hours, we came to downed trees every 10-15 minutes. Most were easy to go over or under. The moss/slime on the top of the logs did make for tricky maneuvering.  With plenty of practice we became proficient at getting over trees.

The scenery was breathtaking, the most scenic water I’ve paddled in NC. The current was fast and there were riffles every 10-15 minutes which added to the fun. Paul noted in his book that “a few side creeks enter in small waterfalls of 4-8 feet”.

The water is dark but clear. There are numerous deep holes that hold bass, sunfish and catfish. The downed trees slowed our pace, so we didn’t have lots of time to fish. When we did, we had good success, catching a few bass and catfish and a dozen sunfish.  In section 4, frequent sandbars make for potential campsites at low water.

At many spots along the river, we could see signs of the high-water levels from Hurricane Helene. Here a large tree is lodged high in another tree.

A couple of miles from the takeout, I started to daydream. I was thinking we had found paradise. I could paddle the Lower Little River on a regular basis instead of constantly trying new bodies of water. There was no way to improve on the water we had just paddled. I was shaken from my daydreams by an exclamation from the stern of “Holy crap!”. I opened my eyes to see this.

Zach Schiada, writing in a Carolina Paddler “B-Side” article about the Upper Little River,  refers to something like this as a “strainer-filled mess.” We were facing the mother of all strainer-filled messes, a pile of downed trees with lots of strained trash piled up. We knew not to try to cross over something like this. The challenge was the right bank was steep and full of branches which meant our only choice was to scale the steep left bank and fight a path through a tangle of bushes and briars. Here John and Rich lower the kayak downstream of the mess.

We had ropes and with three people the canoe was manageable. The ropes came in handy in a spot where we hadn’t planned on using them. About 45 minutes and many briar scratches later we were back on the river.

We reached the take-out spot a bit after 7PM. The takeout at the NC 401 bridge is steeper than it appears in this photo. We didn’t need the ropes, but it was helpful to have three people carrying the load.

Summary

In all we paddled fourteen miles in roughly seven hours. Sections 3 and 4 of the Lower Little River are a spectacular stretch of water, especially during springtime. Due to the downed trees and logjams, I would only recommend it for experienced paddlers. At higher water, the difficulty would be roughly the same. Some downed trees would be under water. Trees we went under would have to be crossed. Swifter current in high water would make maneuvering more difficult. Since the river conditions are unpredictable, I would recommend only doing one section of the river at a time. This will give you a more relaxed pace and time to tackle downed trees. At the end of the trip, all three of us enthusiastically agreed we would do the trip again even with the tough portage and the downed trees. Who knows? I might even find myself back on the Lower Little River later this year. Until then, we have great memories.