Powell, Virginia, US

1. Kent Junction to Appalachia

Gauge Information

River Description

From BoaterTalk via "russellfork":

Mark Blair, the Wood Butcher & I decided to hit a run neither of us had seen yesterday, the Powell River at Appalachia to Big Stone Gap. BUT, since we're real he-men explorers, we decided to take in the section from near Norton to Appalachia first.

We put in at the mouth of a good sized creek underneath a bridge being rebuilt (couldn't find my Virginia gazetteer, Daryl, which creek is this?). After a bout a half mile of shoals, we dropped into a beautiful mini-gorge for around 2 miles of Class II/III water. Very easy read and run. Cliffs on both sides, lots and lots of rhododendron. It was almost like paddling through a rhododendron forest at times. Very beautiful. The surprising thing about this section is there are active rails on both sides of the river, plus a road (Old 23) up high on the right, but you'd never know it from the river.
After about 3 miles, we hit a mile of fairly flat (but moving) water, then it regained a bit of gradient coming into Appalachia. The old stonework on the bridges and retaining walls in Appalachia is pretty incredible, also. We finally passed the putin for the normal run. We knew it was the putin because we saw 3 folks putting in there when we were setting up shuttle (who, who, who?). Like I said, we had no clue what the actual putins/takouts are.

There's a big drop at the takein (straightforward, though) then about a mile of moving water. About the time I was thinking its gonna be kind of a snoozer on into BSG and that the upstream section had the good rapids...the bottom sorta fell out. Not REALLY fell, but went from Class I/II to stiff III and finally IV real quick. THERE'S NOTHING LIKE READING AND RUNNING this kinda water. One of my favorite parts of boating that I rarely get to do...
Anyway, there's a series of off kilter ledges and big rocks in the flow that require some good maneuvering. I'd bet some big ole holes in higher flow, too...

Anyway, if you ever find yourself getting skunked on the Guest or Little Stoney, take a gander at the Powell...it's not the gnar, but above 400 or so, it's a sweet float!