Gragg Prong, North Carolina, US
|
|
Roseboro to Lost Cove Creek
| Usual Difficulty |
IV-V (for normal flows) |
| Length |
1.6 Miles |
| Avg. Gradient |
250 fpm |
| Max Gradient |
400 fpm |
Dragstrip
DragstripPhoto of Nikki Malatin by Philip Malatin taken 01/01/07 @ semi low
River Description
Feeling the need for speed? The Gragg Prong of Lost Cove Creek offers paddlers the chance to put
the top down and feel the wind in their hair. The creek boasts a number of large, clean granite
slides, one of which rivals Oceana in size.
The Gragg Prong starts out as class III through a tight rhododendron tunnel and follows FS 981 for
a short while. When the tunnel opens up, the gradient increases dramatically. First timers should
scout anything they can't see the bottom of. In most cases, scouting is pretty easy. While all the
drops are relatively clean, there are features that can interrupt the progress of a moving boat in
a few of the drops.
The biggest drop, Dragstrip, comes at the end of the steep section. It comes after a long,
multi-tiered, multi-channeled slide with an overhanging rock at the top on river left. Some folks
scout this drop and the Dragstrip in one trip. The Mountains-to-Sea Trail on river left makes
covering the distance down to the Dragstrip easy. The horizon line of the Dragstrip is not entirely
obvious from river level because the entrance is occluded by foliage and some large boulders.
Fortunately, there are last chance eddies on both sides of the creek. Both left and right lines are
possible. The right line at high water involves a pretty dynamic direction change. The left line at
low water is a bit thin. There is one more rapid of import after the Dragstrip. Be on the lookout
for wood in the rest of the Gragg Prong and Lost Cove Creek down to the takeout. Beware of wood on
Lost Cove! The beavers are dropping a LOT of trees into the stream.
As if one might need other reasons to paddle this section, the gorge is decorated with spectacular,
successive Catawba rhododendron, mountain laurel, and rhododendron blooms in May and early June.
The water quality is superlative.
Shuttle directions: The takeout is the confluence of Lost Cove and Wilson Creeks in the settlement
of Edgemont. Be aware that the land on the side of Lost Cove Creek is private property. To get to
the put-in, take FS 981, Roseboro Rd, toward the Blue Ridge Parkway. The road follows Rockhouse
Creek (Do a quick run on the way up?) and crosses Hughes Ridge and comes downhill to a bridge over
the Gragg Prong. This is the put-in.
StreamTeam Status: Verified
Last Updated: 2007-02-05 16:46:49
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
it. It rained pretty hard from 7 AM until midnight the day before. GP level would have been perfect
around 7 AM. I was not able to get to the putin until about 10:30 AM. By then, the boofing had
dropped from primo to lower runnable. However, the water quality had gone from brown/flood stage to
crystal clear! Wilsons Creek was at exactly 1 foot on the bridge gauge when I passed it at 10 AM.
Gragg Prong was about 2 inches above the long flat concrete shelf bridge support on the river right
side of the put in bridge. Leland's books says that if you can scrape down at the top, you are good
to go. In my opinion, that characterization is a little too generous. Based on my experience
yesterday, I think the water level needs to be at least 2 inches above the long flat concrete
shelf--otherwise the run is so scrapey that it detracts from the fun. We rode the last good bubble
down. There were more groups arriving when we took off around 12:30, but they were skunked. The
water had already dropped below the concrete shelf at the put in. Our whole group ran drag strip on
the left and everyone had good lines. No close calls or mishaps, just a good clean run. Keep your
eyes peeled for wood. There were at least 4 mandatory portgages formed by riverwide logs. Nothing
sketchy. The portages were all in relatively flat sections and easily visible from upstream (2 of
them were in the run out at the bottom). There were also several spots where you could just barely
sneak under or around fallen wood. Stay alert. Because this run is so far from everywhere, you have
to hustle to catch it. If you feel comfortable on the north fork french broad, you will have no
problem on this run at lower to medium flows. It is mostly solid class IV.
runnable and fun. If your willing to take a low water run it runs a lot more often then you think. Edit
under a lot of logs and walk around some. No wood in the main slides that I can recall. Edit
and then MAYBE GP will be running! Preferably 2 inches or more in the last 12 to 24 hours. The
hurricane rule applies here - in case of hurricane approach the WC tribs from above (north in this
case) and forget about running WC gorge. GP is a tiny watershed - get there fast! Most people find
the Wilson Creek tribs in order to avoid the high water Class V Wilson creek hydraulics (over 6" @
Adako or the WC Gorge put-in). As a result, there are not many WC trib visuals and runs. Not many
are willing to bypass WC for the tribs if WC is runnable. People & guidebooks will tell you to look
for the Adako bridge visual (also known as a Wilson Visual) to be 2 feet...but don't put your
entire boat in that eddy, the Wilson Creek tribs run a lot more than people think. Adako at 2 feet
guarantees water, but if you are ready, willing & able you can hit these pristine creeks when the
Adako visual is quickly on the rise or not even rising yet. Depending upon rainfall patterns and
timing, water in the Wilson tribs can drop out before Adako rises. Bottom line is that if you are
at Adako bridge during or soon after a >1" rain and Adako is still low or rising --- dash for
the tribs and you may catch Gragg Prong, Harper, North Harper, Rockhouse, Lost Cove, Little Wilson,
and maybe even Slick Rock - well probably not Slick Rock. If the sandbars and waterlines tell you
that Adako has peaked out below 6" and the rain is over, then don't bother with the WC tribs. From
Adako bridge, you can get to most of the WC tribs in 30 to 60 minutes. It is rare, but we have seen
Little Wilson running strong over 24 hours after a 1" rain - this is because the rain gauges can
fool you. More than 1" of rain fell during that rain event - for sure. Rain gauges and their solar
panels can become obstructed by trees which is the often the case with the Edgemont gauge. If you
see dashes on the AFWS page then there is usually a communication issue with the rain gauge -
frequently a blocked, missing, or broken solar panel. If a rain gauge is reading 0" or really low
and all of the nearby gauges are gathering rain, then there could be something physically wrong the
gauge (broken, obstructed...). Also, the rain can fall heaviest where there are no rain gauges to
measure it. On 2.18.08, GP was just above the minimum level in the ealry AM after a 1" rain. When
we got there at 10AM it was at the minimum with respect to the bridge footing. It was runnable but
we decided that it would drop too quickly for us to get it in so we opted to hike & huck Lost Cove
Creek instead.
<br>
Forum: BoaterTalk<br>
Date: Sep 03 2004, 23:28 GMT<br>
From: nhaase<br>
<br>
Yesterday, September 2, 2004 the area surrounding the Wilson Creek drainage received more than 2
inches of rain. A group of 4 including Keith Sprinkle, Wilson Bell, Jason Parker, and myself (Nik
Haase) rendevous'd near Linville canverns at the 181/221 intersection.<br>
<br>
At this point we headed to the put-in for the Gragg Prong to meet up with Chris Clark, a Marion
local, his buddy Adam(the new disco kid, I promise), and a couple of West Asheville friends name
Ryan and Paul. As we make the turn onto Roseboro Rd. a group moves in right behind us on our way to
the put-in. The turned out to be a buddy from Boone named Isiah and two friends.<br>
<br>
Upon arriving at the put-in we find the Creek to be flooded. Not just flooded but higher than any
of us had seen it(we prevously attempted a high water descent in Nov 03, epic trip). Anywho,
shortly after our arrival the rest of the crew show up after having to go around the washed out
Brown Mountain Beach Rd. They show up with two extras, Leland Davis and Andrea. This point the time
is approximately 12:30p.m. A few show up a minute later and back out immediately.<br>
<br>
The rest of the crew, 13 people, hang out and decide to wait for the creek to fall. It didnt take
long to figure out that we had just seen the bubble and the Prong was dropping very quickly. So
after a couple hours of waiting and watching the creek drop almost two feet, we decide that 4:20 we
be the latest put-on time to have. So that was the plan.<br>
<br>
The group with Isiah put on almost 45 minutes befor us. As we were watching their departure, Isiah
very, very quickly flushed into a tree near the bank and lost his paddle in the flooded water.
There was nothing we could do. 4:20 came and we gathered our gear and put on. The creek had dropped
nearly 2 feet. You could see some rocks at the put in and the water had cleared for the most part
although still very high. Most folks were in creek boats except our friend Adam, he paddled a
disco. yup. As we set off the group stayed spread out for there were small eddies. We moved
efficiently scouting blind drops and running the boogie water. Shortly we arrived at the first
drop. The first slide is a zig zag move above a big slide, most people ran the right side but
because of the high water some went to the left line was open.<br>
<br>
The big cave rapid below was only run by 4 or 5 of us. The next series of slides were very cool
staight forward with big holes. All had clean lines here. After a couple of drops and vertical 6
footer comes the boulder choke rapid with a bad pin in the middle then exit through the slot on the
left. The water was so high the pin rock was gone, this left only big holes to deal with.<br>
<br>
Disco kid had himself a time here. A substantial triple drop comes soon after. This rapid has a
really sticky hole at the bottom of the third drop, not to mention that it is backed by a over
hanging undrecut rock. Most walked this one except Parker, Wilson, and maybe one another. I
portaged and went straight to the next drop, the big one. This is the one they call drag strip.
This drop/slide/waterfall is huge. It really is. With the water level we had it looked ridiculous.
except for the disco kid and one other we all fired it up. Several very clean lines and some pretty
crazy. Wilson Bell was the 4th person to run it. He entered left and stayed left hitting the
gigantic roostertail. It sent him at least 4 feet in the air, spiraling onto his head. Mind you he
was traveling real fast. (50mph, I dont know, fast!)<br>
<br>
Keith Sprinkle went soon after hitting the left side. This through him into a aerial free wheel
type manuever. this looked insane from the top. If Leland got a photo, it has to be good. My turn
came and learning from others I dropped in more right than Wilson and Keith, that put me were I
wanted to be, I thought. 3/4 of the way down I thought i was fine, but instantly I flipped and
smashed my hand and ran the rest of the slide upside down. thinking my fingers were broke I headed
downstream with Parker, blind.<br>
<br>
Right around the next bend is another big slide, we bombed it. We kept bombing down to the bridge.
At this point I said we are here, where do you want to get out. Parker said I dont think this is
it. I second guessed myself and we paddled further right into Wilson Creek proper(way above the
normal gorge). It was flooded we were moving very fast and covered lots of river quickly. So we
knew we had passed the take out. ended up getting out in private property and hiking a dirt road
into another peice of privated property. A man there helped us figure out where we needed to go. He
said we had to cross the river and get up to the road (would have been enormous hassle). With it
getting dark I begged, "please give us a ride. I will give you some money or ..." The man
responded , oh I'll give you ride, we just need to go over here and unload this trailer FULL of
wood." So of course Parker and I started chucking wood.<br>
<br>
After all the wood was moved we loaded the kayaks and headed back up stream to the take out. there
are friends were waiting and wondering where the hell we were. In the darkness we ran shuttle and
then celebrated our high water descent.<br>
<br>
SYOTR, NIK<br>
<br>
the rapids? Back in the late 90's, we had no<br>
names for these.