Tygart Valley, West Virginia, US
|
|
6. Valley Falls to Hammond (Valley Falls Section)
| Usual Difficulty |
II-IV (for normal flows) |
| Length |
1.5 Miles |
sweet picture
sweet picturePhoto of Mike Kemp by Dan Anderson taken 08/29/04 @ 4.12
Gauge Information
River Description
This is a fun run for when not much else is running. Its sometimes called the last water in West
Virginia, after everything else has dried up. It's a relatively stress-free way to get some
vertical action. It's a shoulder shuttle: park, put-in, paddle, perambulate to previous point of
paddling put-in. Due to an agreement between paddlers and park personnel, you have to sign in
before running the Falls.
The sign-in area is the superintendent's office, on river right. The putin coordinates given in
this website will direct you to the office.
Putin and takeout on river right. Please don't hike back on river left.
If you go as far as Twist And Shout, takeout out under the railroad bridge (39.40187,
-80.09554--see the Map tab). Please don't walk back on the active rail line; it's dangerous, and
the park superintendent will not be pleased. (Thanks to Jeff Macklin for this information and
for the lat/long coords that should help paddlers stick to river-right boathumpin'.)
Location: From I-79, take Exit 137, then 310 south for 7 miles. Turn right at the Valley
Falls State Park sign. Go two miles to the park entrance. Park at 39.38897, -80.08733.
Paul Herring sez: "The state park named for the Falls is accessed from the river-right side
of the US 50 bridge in Grafton by turning on Rt 310, which parallels the Tygart down to the park.
The gauge to look for is at Colfax...You want to find the Colfax road for shuttle if running the
whole thing, which includes Hamburger Helper and several other wierd rapids but is mostly class
I/II the last couple of miles. A rough dirt road runs from downstream along river left, but the
park road is much better access."
kdavis wrote, in Boater Talk 2002-08-11(http://boatertalk.com/forum/BoaterTalk/218315):
"Thought i was going to drown today. Pretty scary. Second time down through the falls at
Valley Falls. dropped the top falls, and went sideways. Side surfed into the curtain.
Windowshaded, couldn't roll up. Punched out, and went deep. I guess I got recirced about 4 times,
being held down around 30 seconds or so each time. Finally came out far enough past the boil to
grab the grab loop on my friend's boat. needless to say, this scared the hell out of me. Iwas
completely exhausted after all this. All I know is, I don't wanna go through that again. 'They'
say Valley Falls is as safe as it gets for learning, but it still has quite a bite if you f*up.
Got back on the pony and dropped the lower falls. Clean. But it took a while to stop
shaking."
Even something with a relatively harmless reputation still has a nasty bite, if you screw up. The
top left side has a reputation for spanking the errant paddler pretty hard.
Take this section seriously, especially at high water. This was the scene of a drowning at 6.75
feet (very high) in 2005. Read the accident report
here.
There used to be a race here in the late summer. Read I Play Outside's
coverage of the 1998 race, with more than your fill of pictures!
Valley Falls State Park
StreamTeam Status: Not Verified
Last Updated: 2010-08-18 10:03:45
Garrett going down rapid
Detail Trip Report
Garrett going down rapid
@Tygart Valley 6. Valley Falls to Hammond, WV(44.30KB .jpeg)
Garrett bombing the chute
Detail Trip Report
Garrett bombing the chute
@Tygart Valley 6. Valley Falls to Hammond, WV(58.09KB .jpeg)
Garrett boofing the stout
Detail Trip Report
Garrett boofing the stout
@Tygart Valley 6. Valley Falls to Hammond, WV(52.24KB .jpeg)
Hamburger Helper (the Sneak Line)
Detail Trip Report
Hamburger Helper (the Sneak Line)
Tygart, Valley Falls, WV(28.78KB .jpeg)
(Insert GENERAL LEE horn-sound here:)
Detail Trip Report
(Insert GENERAL LEE horn-sound here:)
Tygart River, WV(96.10KB .jpeg)
Rapid just below Valley Falls 2nd drop
Detail Trip Report
Rapid just below Valley Falls 2nd drop
Tygart Valley, WV(120.80KB .jpeg)
Jeff P at Twist and Shout
Zach at far river left of second drop
Detail Trip Report
Zach at far river left of second drop
Tygart Valley, WV(115.62KB .jpeg)
Ira at the top drop river center slide
Detail Trip Report
Ira at the top drop river center slide
Tygart Valley, WV(99.87KB .jpeg)
Jamie at the top drop river right slide
Detail Trip Report
Jamie at the top drop river right slide
Tygart Valley, WV(104.59KB .jpeg)
Valley Falls Aerial Map (large file)
Hamburger Helper mushroom
Brian K. on Top Falls of Tygart Valley
Detail Trip Report
Brian K. on Top Falls of Tygart Valley
Tygart Valley, WV(1.26MB .jpeg)
Hamburger Helper (the Sneak Line)
reach
User Comments
they can be trivial at low levels, are potentially deadly at higher levels. It all depends on the
level, and knowing the differences requires experience. As my biochemistry teacher likes to say,
"The dose makes the poison," meaning that a little of almost anything, like water, might be safe,
but a lot of something, especially water, can still kill you. For example, the Russell Fork is
great fun at 150 cfs, but should you be there at 1500+? Safe to say, "No!"
was closed. Park was still open if you want to walk the 1 mile down the road and back up again, but
there is no car access to the falls. Probably best to call before heading there to see if the gate
is open. Edit
be quite false. It was pretty easy to find with a little poking around on the far bank. I think he
is just trying to avoid having any issues there with paddlers getting in trouble. Edit
running the whole section, but apparently the take out is completely INACCESSIBLE. The road to the
take out was washed out and has not been repaired. just fyi. Edit
The walk back is a real pain, but well worth it.
at 4.9' this past weekend. Main river left channel of the first falls was easy to boof; but major
recirc if you mess up - I give it a III+.<br>
<br>
Ran the river right spout on the second drop. Easy and consequence free if you mess up. I give it a
III-. Then we ran down another little III- rapid.<br>
<br>
Next we came to Hamburger Helper. At that level a solid Class V. This rapid (including the sneak)
is probably as tough as anything I have paddled on Upper Gauley or Upper Yough at normal flows.
Dangerous recirc and pin potential. Ran it through the sneak and had to roll up (3 times).<br>
<br>
Then we came to Twist and Shout. Scouted it for a while and decided not to run it (even though I
have ran it seveal times before without problem). There was a big pillow rock near the bottom of
the drop that sent about 45% of the river into a bad pinning "room of doom" situation. It
looked really nasty. Have to say Class V at that level.<br>
<br>
Overall, I'd say Valley Falls is a III-V run at 4.9'.
with the IV rating on the falls as we found it very straight forward... In fact the only must make
move, gravity took care of!! ;-) I also have some questions about the max that is listed on this
page as we were running above the MAX and the Ranger (who was VERY nice) said the locals run it
considerably higher???? (My guess is that this was copied out of a guide book sometime) It sure
looked to me that it could be run with a lot more water in it... HH is definately a IV and dererves
the name... UGLY... The Ranger only asks that kayakers sign in before running... 10 miles exactally
from the interstate... A great way to kill a couple of hours and test your wings ;-) --russ--
erected on both sides of the Valley Falls section of the Tygart. Access to the falls in the State
Park is still open; however boaters wanting to run the section below now no longer have access to
the take out. These gates are allegedly the property of Martina Mine.
"thought i was going to drown today. pretty scary.<br>
"second time down through the falls at valley falls. dropped the top falls, and went sideways.
side surfed into the curtain. windowshaded, couldn't roll up. punched out, and went deep. i guess i
got recirced about 4 times, being held down around 30 seconds or so each time. finally came out far
enough past the boil to grab the grab loop on my friends boat. needless to say, this scared the
hell out of me. i was completely exhausted after all this. all i know, is i don't wanna go through
that again. 'they' say valley falls is as safe as it gets for learning, but it still has quite a
bite if you f*up. got back on the pony and dropped the lower falls. clean. but it took a while to
stop shaking."<br>
<br>
Whoa.<br>
<br>
Even something with a relatively harmless reputation still has a nasty bite, if you screw up. The
top left side has a reputation for spanking the errant paddler pretty hard.