Boating Trip Report: South Fork of the Shenandoah River on June 17th

Some 14 people made the trip on June 14th. WSC members brought along friends and family. Shenandoah River Outfitters handled it all easily with first-rate gear and a fun attitude.

The run Bealer’s Ferry to Burners Bottom (see the details here) on the South Fork of the Shenandoah River went exactly as advertised.

We were told that this section of the river has gentle riffles. It did. A lot of them. There were deep stretches for swimming. And we saw the towering limestone cliff at the Class II Compton’s Rapid, which our team handled with style. Plenty of sun with the clouds; that day’s summer storms thankfully went elsewhere. The club pretty much had the entire river to itself on this Monday trip.

"I thought the Shenandoah trip was excellent," Dick Elder says. "The river was fun to paddle. Never too easy, never too difficult. The scenery was especially nice; lots of camping and cottages, but also good mountain views and some amazing cliffs and rock formations."

“The river level was between 2.64 and 2.80 ft,” notes Dick. “I don't think we want want to make this trip at a lower level.”

It was a full day. Leaving Wintergreen at 8 am, we got to the outfitters about 10, and were on the water by 11. The trip was about five hours, with a break for lunch and a swim after Compton’s Rapid. With the ride from the river back to the outfitter’s base, changing clothes, etc., most got back to Nellysford about 6:30 pm.

Lessons learned included sunblocks works great and WSC river runners like cookies, especially the oatmeal-currants cookies.