Guest, Virginia, US
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USFS recreation area (Rt. 72) to Clinch River -- Guest River Gorge
| Usual Difficulty |
IV-V (for normal flows) |
| Length |
8 Miles |
| Avg. Gradient |
100 fpm |
Last ledge
Last ledgePhoto of Matthew DeLong by Gerald DeLong taken 06/03/06 @ 1 foot
Gauge Information
River Description
The Guest River begins as a pastoral meandering stream until it reaches the vicinity of Coeburn,
VA. Then the proverbial bottom drops out and the phrase "out of sight, out of mind" takes on a
whole new meaning.
This creek is fairly boat scoutable at most sane levels, once the gauge goes over 3' this run takes
on a new persona.
As always on tight runs like this, be alert for wood in unusual places.
Some of the bigger rapids are (in order of encounter)
--Pile of Rocks-- Recognized by a large angular rock.
--Hard Right--River makes said move in front of BIG boulder.
--Screwball-- Don't screw this one up, because it washes into Ski Jump.
--Ski Jump-- Run this one LEFT or MIDDLE, by all means DON'T GO RIGHT!
--Toilet Bowl (aka Hell's Kitchen)--
This drop is easily recognized from upstream by the orange flagging ribbon and old "road
construction" sign tied to a tree at the entry to Hell's Kitchen. (SK note: post 3/2002 flood the
"road construction" sign is no longer on the tree. Just the orange flagging ribbon.)Scout this
entire stretch before committing yourself and your friends. This section harbors some of the most
severe consequences on the entire river. Undercut walls, rocks, pinning spots just to name a few.
This also leads you into one of the most gnarly drops on the Guest, Toilet Bowl. When running the
Kitchen around the island, the ideal line is RR or RL. The RL line is dubbed Frequent Flyer, it is
a nice 5ft boof. The ledge that creates the drop is undercut, so the hole has potential to get
nasty.
--Toilet Bowl--
The main dangers in the "Toilet Bowl" are the HOUSE sized undercuts that block almost the entire
flow of the river and the HUGE sieve on RL. You can decide if you want to dance with the devil on
this one.
Some other "big" rapids are:
--Alleyway-- Just downstream of Toilet Bowl. Can be ran in the alley or right.
--Trainwreck--A short ways down from Alleyway.
The river continues along its course over, around, under, and through boulders until just before
its confluence with the Clinch river. From here, it is an "easy" (boring, flat, slow) 2 mile paddle
to the Dungannon Public River Access take out.
If you are thinking of running the Guest, find someone who has run the river before or take
advantage of the trail along the run. Bring the MTB up one weekend and ride the trail while you
scout the drops. Then come back in the future with the creek boat!
Local paddlers provide some insight into the lumber situation on the Guest in the comments section
below.......
StreamTeam Status: Verified
Last Updated: 2007-02-07 13:31:06
Editors
No rapids entered. If you know names, and locations of the rapids please contact and advise the StreamTeam member for this run. 
User Comments
is continuous Class IV+, and contains a mandatory portage about 1/3 into the run. AND you better
know where it is!! If you love creekin in the Appalachians, then find someone who knows the river &
the lines, and you will not be disappointed. The description of this section is not very accurate.
It is the product of a prior streamkeeper who ran it at very low levels. His descriptions are
mostly useless. Wood is a constant issue so be very watchful. There was a massive snow storm in
December 2009 that resulted in a lot of wood in the stream bed.
(powell near big stone gap) is on the downslope and only at 250cfs, the Guest is still very
runnable and not low at all until the end when the river widens a bit. I was very pleasantly
surprised today to find the river at 9 inches. Great run, Don't hear much about it though, wonder
why that is? I also found some Pictures of some other rapids here
http://geocities.com/billh1970/pics/Guest_River/guest_river_pics_2001.html
center gauge is difficult to read. It felt like 2.5' to me. The limbo log is still across the river
left channel of the island upstream of 29. Gerald raised it with rocks so we could get under it.
This probably will not be permanent. There was a new log on the right side of the 6 foot drop above
29 in the river left island channel. It is easily avoided as you normally run the left side of this
drop. There are still logs in the river right channel. It looks like they have shifted downstream
almost to the confluence of the two channels above 29.
pillar. The log on the left side of the island above 29 was still there. Do not run the right side
of the island. There have been strainers on that side also. We could not see if they were still
there yesterday. Also, there is a large hole as the river turns left on the back side of the
island. It would be difficult to punch and hit the last eddy before being swept into 29. This was a
fun but very pushy level. There are large holes and pour overs to avoid. Be sure to know the run
and what to expect before trying it at a higher level like this.
under the log mentioned on the left side of the island. Do not go to the right of the island as
mentioned previously. There is a new strainer to the right. It does not look like you can get
around it. The portage around the strainer on river left is very easy on the left side of the
river.
the top of the island above 29 or Toilet Bowl. This is what I have always called the rapid where
the water goes under the two rocks on the left. You have to run to the right of the island. We hit
an eddy on river right just before the river curves back left above Toilet Bowl. We made the
portage on river right from there. There is a slot on river right that some people may run to avoid
the second part of the portage on the right. Beware, there is barbed wire across the river from the
right side to a rock in the middle. Very difficult to see. We were not sure how it got there. There
are also some limbs in the left side of the slot sticking out from under the rock. The level was
2.5' on the middle pylon. On the right pylon it was 1.5'.