Tye, North Fork, Virginia, US

Above Nash to Confluence with Tye R.

Cushion, NFT

Cushion, NFT
Photo of Sam Lindblom, Gordon Dalton and Harris Haynie by Wendy Knick taken 06/15/01

Gauge Information

River Description

"It's harder than it looks from the road!"

The North Fork of the Tye flows south and east between Fork Mountain and the Blue Ridge in beautiful Nelson County, Virginia. In its three-mile course, the North Fork Tye (the "NFT") drops a total of about 570 feet. The first two miles of the run course downward at 240 feet-per-mile. The boating is low-volume and very technical. The drops are tight and there is no lack of pinning rocks. Several local boaters have "discovered" notable undercuts the old -fashioned way - through personal experience. There is also at least one bad sieve (between "Marbles" and "Monkey") that could sneak up on you - especially at a level of 3' or more. Lastly, almost all the land along the stream is posted private property. The landowners along this, and all other area streams, should be respected. This makes scouting problematic, so your best bet is to go with someone who knows the lines.

Please add a COMMENT if you see wood in the creek, or etc. Thanks.

Take-out along the creek in front of the old Evergreen Church. To reach the take-out from Rt. 56 drive a few hundred yards up Rte. 687 (North Fork Road). and you'll see the church on your right. Park across from the church next to the creek. Be discrete and use appropriate behavior at all times. RESIST THE TEMPTATION TO TAKE OUT FARTHER UPSTREAM - TAKE OUT ONLY AT THE CHURCH except on Sundays. This is an active church so park 100 yards up the road on SUNDAYS. Services are at 9am so you may want to paddle another of the nearby creeks first and hit the North Fork later in the day on Sundays. The South Fork Tye, Statons Creek, South Rockfish and the South Piney are similar in difficulty and all are within a 30-minute drive. If the water is high, check out the "High-Tye" (UPPER North Fork Tye) if you need an adrenaline fix.

Put-in at the bridge about 3 miles up North Fork Rd. You'll see a sign that says "Rainbow Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary." There is very limited space for parking. Take only one rig to the put-in, or better yet have a shuttle bunny drop you off and meet you at the take-out. Do not block any driveways or the road. This bridge is also a take-out for the MIDDLE North Fork Tye which is a class IV+ run. The UPPER North Fork ("Adrenaline Alley" of the "High Tye") is a short mini-gorge section several miles upstream from here. If this parking area is full, or you want to extend your run a bit you can continue up the road along the creek to one of the several unposted pull-outs up the road. The section up there (the MIDDLE North Fork Tye) makes for a fun warm-up, or a good IV++ stand-alone run of it's own.

Trip Description: You'll have a continuous and technical warm-up section along the road for the first 1/2-mile -if you're having any problems in this first part of the creek then you might want to re-think whether or not the run is for you rather than have to walk-out over private land later (the nastiest rapid is not visible from the road).

The first named rapid is CUSHION, 1/2-mile from the put-in bridge. There is a small eddy pool with a big sycamore tree growing almost out of the stream on the right and a small cabin behind it. There are several route options here depending on level. Be mindful of the piton lurking in the center slot of the second ledge, and the sieve in the far-left slot (same ledge).

After many smaller rapids you'll reach ENTRANCE, where most of the water in the creek goes through a boat-width slot, drops into a hole, then filters over and around a maze of small rocks.

Above: HARRIS HAYNIE ENTERS ENTRANCE (1990's)

After this the river relaxes a bit more for a spell. Soon thereafter you may notice a large rounded cliff jutting into the stream on the left bank. A huge boulder constricts the river from the right. This is GLIDE, a sweet 3-4' boof. Below Glide is "Boof Right" and a few other technical boulder rapids.

Above: GORDON AT "GLIDE" (1997)

Keep an eye on the road - when it heads away from the river you'll know you're getting close to PACKSAW (note: you cannot see Packsaw from the road). About 1.5 miles from the put-in, Packsaw is perhaps the most carnage-ridden drop on the river. It is also the hardest to notice before you've already dropped into it. One hazard here is a small undercut cave/sieve jutting out from the left bank. It looks very avoidable, but a lurking and malicious guard rock likes to body-check boats directly into the submerged cave. There have been some sketchy incidents here. Oh yeah, the large rock in the middle/top of Packsaw is undercut too. NOTE: The bottom part of Packsaw changed significantly during the high water of December, 2005. The big rock that overhung the final ledge-hole fell into the current, backing up the flow and splitting the current. The final move is now much tighter, especially at low flow. Most folks portage this one now, especially below 3' on the Nash gauge.

After another quarter mile you'll reach MARBLES. Here all the water drops 5-6' against the overhanging cliff on the left. The large flat rock to the right of the washout - "Alligator Rock" - is undercut, but easily avoidable. Not to sound like a broken record but...the slot on the far right in the washout at Marbles is also an undercut fed by a hole. Oh yeah, you can vertically pin in the center slot. And there is a surprisingly bad sieve immediately below...

Above: GORDON AT "MARBLES" (1997)

Be aware of the sneaky but ugly sieve in mid-river below Marbles. This sieve is really hard to notice from above. It is the drop between Marbles and Monkey. Be heads up.

After you make it past the sieve you'll be heading into MONKEY. Monkey is a diagonal ledge running about 60 degress to the riverbed. After Monkey the river begins to mellow a bit, but still provides several fun rapids (S-turn, Gnat, and others). Take-out only at the church or a little bit upstream (on Sundays). Respect private property.

Note: As with all streams of this size, be aware of ever-shifting lumber in the creek. As of spring, 2001 there were logs spanning the creek in three places - all were negotiable via quick maneuvering but it's tight.

Special Notice - ACCESS!:

A few words on the N. Fk. Tye: This stream wasn't paddled much prior to the mid-90's. In the past there has been minor tension between non-boaters and boaters. All paddlers on the Tye should be aware of this and heed the lesson of John's Creek - keep a low profile and be respectful of the locals. This means driving SLOWLY on the shuttle road, no trespassing and no public nudity (no one wants to see that Whitesnake tattoo on your butt cheek anyway dude)....