Rising on the southwestern slopes of the Great North Mountain, near Orkney Springs and impounded by the Lake Laura Dam, Stony Creek is a hidden treasure that offers 14+ miles of fun Class I/II+ pool-drop paddling. It offers short & fast flat water sections frequently punctuated by moderate wave trains, occasional boofable boulders, and tight turns. As of January 2024, there are only 3 low-water dams to scout in the Upper Stony (Dellinger Acres Rd. to Wakemans Grove Rd., 9.5 miles). All of them can be heard and seen well in advance to permit proper boat scouting. There are two bridges that require mandatory carries and two rapids that should be scouted every run.
Paddlers can run the entire creek or run one or more of four distinct sections listed and described below:
Section 1 (Upper): From Dellinger Acres Rd. to Wolf Gap Rd.3.5 miles (Class II)
The first dam is a rocky jumble that is more like a man made swimming hole dam. Run it center left. The second low water dam sits below a red iron & wood private driveway bridge. The far left side provides a 6’ easy slide and requires a quick right turn at the bottom. There’s a fun little rapid just beyond the ford over Hottlestown road. You’ll know you’re there when you see the dirt road disappear beneath the creek. Point your boat toward the cliff with blue spray paint at or near the water line. Then hug river left until the river bends to the right, you’re approaching Hottelstown Hop.
This rapid is a series of three ledges and narrow river right chute. The main channel flow tries to force you in a sideways line over the ledges, but the fun line requires an aggressive ferry to the chute with a quick left lean/boof into an angular hole.
Section 2 (Wolf Gap): From Wolf Gap Rd. to Wolf Gap Bridge. 3 miles (Class II)
The most significant rapids on the upper section—Gilligan’s Island and Blind Faith—appear shortly after the confluence with Little Stony Creek. Here, Stony splits into two channels and, as of January 2024, an aluminum rowboat was pinned and wrapped like a taco shell around a strainer on river left of the left channel. At lower levels, the river left line is boney (below 4.5’). Above 5’, the line is narrow and will try to push push you into the rowboat, so you’ll need slalom between smallish boulders and the boat. The river right line looks intimidating because there are several large river right strainers and a series of large descending boulders river left… there may be an overhanging strainer about 6’ above waterline. The key to running the right line is to start center left while aiming at the top right of the rapid, the drop left, and catch the ample river left eddy.
Here’s where you’ll have full view of Blind Faith and it will be apparent why it cannot be boat scouted above Gilligan’s Island. The narrowness of the channel, the underlying character of the riverbed, and the volume of water provide a short multiple-line short thrill ride. Catch an eddy immediately and ferry up the bottom up the rapid to take in the view...
More great scenery and drop pools follow…
The last dam on this section is the biggest, as it’s carrying a significantly larger volume of water. This dam has a breach on the left side, creating a nice & fast clean chute.
The least pleasant part of the Upper Stony paddle is the mandatory carry around Wolf Gap Rd. bridge. At runnable levels, it’s dangerous to paddle under as strainers flow into and get snagged below the surface for significant periods of time. Predictably, this creates downstream hazards when the strainers break free. Once you put-in again you’ll drop immediately into a powerful tongue of water emerging from under the bridge. Nevertheless, there's a river left eaasy-access eddy just below the bridge where you can slide right in.
Section 3 (Wakemans Grove): From Wolf Gab Bridge to Wakemans Grove Rd.3 miles (Class I+)
Beyond the river left bluffs the creek turns west-southwest into Blinded by the Light, a fun Class I+ (classified as such because on sunny afternoon days, paddlers are heading directly into the Sun and the glare is so blinding even sunglasses don’t help). It’s bumpy below 5.5’ mostly because you cannot—CANNOT—see the lines.
The next several miles are a series of pool-drop Class I rapids that meander and drop through hollows and farms and past empty backroads. Along the way, you’ll encounter the last mandatory carry: a low-water bridge that will be visible up and impassable up to 6’ on the Cootes Store Gage. Take out river right, put in river left.
Setting shuttle is pretty easy. There is sufficient parking for multiple vehicles @ put-in. Gear can be stashed riverside, under the bridge. Overflow parking is available on USFS lot near Riles Run low bridge. Look for gated service road.
Section 4 (Lower): From Wakemans Grove Rd. to N. Fork Shenandoah Confluence.4.5 miles (Class I+)
No updated beta on the Wakemans Grove Rd to N. Fk. Shenandoah section. But it looks very similar to the first three sections (based solely on early Spring road scouting)
Recent Paddlers:
1/11/2024: D. McMullan, V. Darpiyem, & K. Durr
1/13/2024: D. McMullan & Sup Rio
1/30/2024: D. McMullan & G. Nolen
4/3/2024: D. McMullan & R. Wallin
Ed Evangelidi testifies:
Pretty narrow at the upper reaches but the rapids sort of have a similar character to them from top to bottom. The upper rapids have downed trees that change location from flood to flood and more low-water bridges to walk around, but the scenery is more like a mountain stream here. Basically you have a mix of rocky route rapids and wavey rapids and the spacing between rapids (and low water bridges) eases up below Rte. 42. One high dam in the lower section can be run with proper precautions. Hopefully your precautions taken before you try running it will include spotting the rebar lurking around. There are other low-water dams throughout the run that can cause problems if you lack speed or boat control.
See Also:
_Classic Virginia Rivers,_ Ed Grove (1992 ed), p. 185.
_Virginia Whitewater_, Roger Corbett (2000 ed.), p. 148.
_Exploring Virginia's Waterways_, Ed Gertler (2022 ed.), p. 88.