Whats up with all the portraits of people that have nothing to do with the run? AW river pages
aren't personal blogs, they are for river information. At least put up a picture of one of these
people actually running a drop on Laurel Fork of the Cheat. This is the AW Laurel Fork of the Cheat
page. Open a picasa account for your personals please.

I ran this way back in '96, at 0.0, and we enjoyed it, but things change. I ran the falls in the
middle, after scouting from both sides very carefully. The left side is certain death (huge crack
above a boulder); the right side is a certain beating. Just FYI.

Hey Paul, you should probably either update this page or resign it.

The Evenwood gauge may not be coming back (it was taken offline when bridgework began where the
gauge is located).<br>
<br>
An alternative is the Gladwin gauge on the Dryfork. Though inexact, I've found the Laurel Fork with
water when this gauge was over 8.5 ft.

Almost all of the pictures on this site have nothing to do with the Laurel Fork. It would be nice
to remove them.<br>
<br>
Thanks,<br>
Rob

My friend and I ran this at a less-than ideal level of 2", give or take. The first 3 miles or
so are gravel bar riffles that really make you wonder if this is the correct river. Very tedious.
Then a 4' semi-ledge sneaks up on you, waking up your skills. After that things get fun with
numerous slide-holes and shallow ledges to boogie through, similar to Seneca Creek. Be careful
though as 5 major ledges exist on the run, some requiring a scout. The last large (7') ledge has 4
slots, and portaging is definitely not easy as the right bank is a vertical rock wall with a tree
down.<br>
<br>
One word of caution, the last 4 miles or so become really shallow and a few trees block off the
river. We counted 5 strainers, one requiring a portage.<br>
<br>
The river has a wide variety of rapids, moreso than most I've run in WV. Gravel bars, shallow rock
gardens, slide-holes, vertical 4' ledges/holes and the mentioned 'waterfall' halfway down which is
actually more of an oversized ledge with 3 channels. It's just for looking at though. Hats off to
anyone able to run that thing and still live. I also do NOT recommend the river be run anything
less than around 4" on the 33 bridge gauge. We got stuck too many times to count on the lower
1/4 of the run.<br>

Please note that this run changes drastically with very little change in the putin gauge. I feel
the ideal level is between 9 and 15 inches for a fun class 3-4 run. Between the minimum level of
about 3 inches and 9 inches, the run, except for the falls, is an easy class 3. Around 18 inches,
the max I've run it, all of those pleasant, little ledges you enjoyed at lower levels create keeper
holes and you will be spending most of the day dodging one hole after the other with little time in
between. It is definitely class 4 at that level.

Ran this on 5/3/2002. Putin gauge was 2 inches when we put on and 1 inch when we took off. 3 inches
is probably fun minm. 2 inches was passable but really low in places. At 0800 Evenwood=4.20 Parsons
6.31 and Hendrix 4.14. While we ran it at a low level, I find it hard to imagine this as a class
III-IV run except at way higher water. Except for the 12' falls the gradient is very evenly spread
out over the river, there are few if any boulders to obstruct the view, the ledges are all 2-4' and
easily approached to scout a spot to run them. And the rapids that are not ledge rapids are mostly
wide open and visible. My best rating would be class III to III- (using Nantahala Falls as a
reference rapid rated at III-)with maybe a low class IV (the 12' falls). The run does have VERY
VERY high scenic values at any level. The length is a little misleading. It is long but the
gradient is constant after about the first couple of miles and because the rapids (exc the 12') are
so comfortable to approach and run, it is easy to keep moving. The stream bed at the put in is very
indicative of what you will find downstream. In general the width and depth are about the same as
at the put in bridge. Ocasionally it will narrow but in general it is the same or wider all the way
down. Would like to see this at 12 inches and falling to 4 inches and falling.