Route: Chalk Banks to Cypress Bend Winery (access by special permission). This started and ended as a great day on the river with kayak paddlers and staff from Lake Rim Park in Fayetteville (9 people total). However, when we got about ¼ mile south of US-401 ( Raeford Rd) we ran into a huge clearcut on the west bank. This goes on for 0.9 miles as the crow flies or at least 1.25 miles on the river. Google Earth imagery shows this as being cut about March of 2018.

River: Rocky (Cape Fear River Basin)

Section: Pittsboro-Goldston Road (Chatham County 1010) to Chatham Church Road (Chatham County 1953)

Length: 4.4 miles

Paddlers: Paul Ferguson, OC-1; Bob Brueckner, K-1

Date: Dec. 18, 2018

Level: About 200 cfs when you add USGS gauges at Tick Creek (113 cfs) and Siler City (20.7 cfs) to several perennial and intermittent creeks

 

By Bob Brueckner

What a difference a dam can make, or rather the lack of one.