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Whitewater timing varies with scouting, portages, and group pace. Use as a planning baseline.

Description

With a huge watershed providing year round boatable levels this is THE run for beginner and intermediate paddlers in VA. While people come from all over to paddle this run, during the week you could have the river to yourself. On the weekends it can get pretty crowded, but when the level is good (over 4' or 2200 cfs) or after the weather turns cold most of the recreational canoers and fisherman clear out. All in all, this very fun run is mostly class II with an easy class III at Balcony Falls. It is a great run for instructing beginners and has enough play (at levels over 4 feet) to keep intermediate paddlers interested as well. The river left side of this run was affected by the 2023 Matts Creek Fire. See Also: Upper James Water Trail for excellent maps and other info. *Classic Virginia Rivers,* Ed Grove (1992 ed), p. 229. *Virginia Whitewater*, Roger Corbett (2000 ed.), p. 279. *Exploring Virginia's Waterways*, Ed Gertler (2022 ed.), p. 201. *Southeastern Whitewater*, Monte Smith (1995 ed.), p. 268.