A Day To Remember: Upper Red Creek

There are creeks that have rapids of such superior quality that a day on them can’t help but be memorable. There are places that are so enchanting and unique that just gazing upon them makes one feel fortunate to see Mother Nature in her most glorious form. Red Creek in West Virginia is a place that combines both of these aspects of kayaking.

The pure aesthetic of Dolly Sods, a mountaintop plateau of rocky plains, spruce forests, and bogs, combined with the cascading torrent that is Red Creek make for an experience like no other.

Red Creek’s infancy begins mildly as it meanders through a marsh. As it enters the forest of its childhood, it transitions to a lively stream, darting here and there over rocks, ledges, and slides. Red Creek reaches its adolescence as it tilts its streambed off the plateau’s edge and careens restlessly down a steep and raucous path, wild and free. Finally, the stream finds the maturity of adulthood as it enters the valley in a spirited manner with an occasional cataract as an homage to its untamed time now passed.

Starting at 3900 feet on Dolly Sods and descending to 2600 feet near the community of Laneville gives the true experience of the many stages in the life of a mountain stream. From start to finish, Red Creek is a challenging adventure that will delight the heart of anyone with the skills to navigate its course.

The transition from May into June brought heavy rain, high water, and lots of options for the Southeast Stouts class with Calleva’s River School! We were craving large amounts of gradient, so the logical place to go was the Mountain State, West By God Virginia! Our top choice was Red Creek, which usually will hold at a low flow the day after high water.

We arrived at the takeout to find the flow to be minimal but acceptable. I touted the benefits of wildcatting your way down a stream that lacks optimal flow and how sometimes these are the best days. I gave an honest summary of what to expect: a good amount of scraping on the lead in and paddle out but one of the best sections of whitewater the group had ever seen in the middle. Everyone seemed keen to give it a shot so we loaded boats and prepared for adventure. After all, a day on Red Creek is better than a day not on Red Creek!

We drove up to the top of the mountain and across the plateau of Dolly Sods. We stopped by the “Magic Tree” as a good omen for safe passage down Red Creek. We parked at the trailhead for the Beaverdam Trail and began the 1 mile hike across a soggy plain to the put in. The creek at the start is barely wide enough to turn a creek boat around in and flows along gently with some small rocky rapids. The bottom changes to sand as it twists and turns along a serpentine course through a marsh, nearly circling back and touching itself at times.

Soon, we entered the forest and we worked our way through beautiful scenery with small rocky rapids and slides. Some spots were frustratingly shallow and required keeping momentum and pointing your boat downstream as much as possible to avoid stopping. I worried a little about group morale during this part so I kept it moving. I knew that if we just could make it to the steep section without anyone strangling me and leaving my lifeless body to the coyotes and bobcats of the Sods, that all would be well from there forward.

Soon, the other fork of Red Creek joined in on the right and added significant extra flow. At this point, the riverbed channelizes nicely and tilts downward and the next 3 miles drop at an impressive 250+ feet per mile.

Red Creek goes down more slides than any other creek in West Virginia! It all begins with a long shallow slide similar to Swallow Falls on the nearby Top Yough. You start down 75 yards of small slides before you are staring at the tree tops! The drop itself is pretty friendly, just go left of center and hang on for the ride! The next falls is called The Clapper and is a portage due to a tree blocking the landing. Jesse tossed the boats off the cliff on the right into the pool where I could collect them while everyone walked around through the nearly impenetrable rhododendron.

Once everyone had completed the portage, we scouted The Double Clapper immediately downstream. This drop requires patience as you float off the middle and reconnect with a shelf partway down to launch your boat out onto a slide. There is an inconveniently placed rock shelf in the landing which will knock the yellow off your teeth if you happen to piton here. Everyone ran it well and all smiles showed the appropriate levels of dentin discoloration!

The section below here alternates between sections of steep, manky boulder rapids and more fun slides. We worked our way slowly down river, making sure that our large group spread out and didn’t overcrowd the eddies. Soon enough, the mank faded back to bedrock and we gathered above a 12 foot falls with a shallow landing. The approach is thin and grindy and the lip tilts down before the freefall. A well placed stroke at the lip will keep your bow up to avoid a stiff piton that will knock the corn off your cob! The tricky approach may or may not have resulted in a couple pitons and pig nosed creek boats. I’ll never tell!  

The section below the falls is one of the best parts of the run and features a Super Slide that is well over 100 yards in length! Soon, we hopped out to scout Run Rabbit Run, a tight boof followed by a long slide. The key is to drive right to left and launch a sweet boof off the bedrock shelf. Everyone had great lines here and were all feeling good about the rapids. 

The run settles into a routine of medium sized boulder drops and slides. Many of these are wildly entertaining. We arrived at the climax of the run, Mood Ring, which is worthy of a scout. Here, the creek jets down a 50 yard slide that ends in a 15 foot waterfall. The key is to stay in the narrow tongue a few feet off the shore to carry speed and take a well timed boof stroke to get over the hole at that bottom. It is a glorious rapid that left the entire crew beaming from ear to ear! 

A short distance past Mood Ring, the pace slowly abates as the stream widens and flows down loose rocky rapids. Just when you think the major drops are finished, the Finale Gorge looms into view. There is a 10 foot falls followed by a few ledges to give Red Creek some extra icing on the cake!

Eventually, we reached the valley and Red Creek’s furious descent slowed to a crawl as we paddled out on Class 2-3 rapids with gorgeous scenery. Although some of the runout was scrapy and frustrating, it couldn’t put a damper on the incredible day we had. The run had exceeded everyone’s expectations and was a worthy run for the Southeast Stouts Training!

After all, you don’t measure your day by the scratches on your kayak, but in the smiles on your face!