B-Side Streams: Short Cut Creeks

B-Sides Streams: Short Cut Creeks

Bear Creek (Deep River Tributary) and Thornton’s Creek (Cape Fear Tributary)

a Carolina Paddler Article

By Zach Schiada

-I think most of us are in love with paddling and are happy to spend an entire day on the river. However, there are times when we want to shorten our trips because of busy schedules, dull flat stretches of river, repetitive scenery, etc. In my case, I am usually trying to make it home as soon as I can to not leave the burden of childcare solely on my wife. She is kind enough to let me get out for a few hours every weekend. Whatever the reason one may have to shorten a trip, there are times when it becomes necessary to do so. I have two examples below of trips that I attempted to shorten, one with some success and another the biggest failure I’ve had to date in my creek exploration adventures.

The first shortcut, Bear Creek, I used when running the section of Deep River from N Howard Mill Road in Robbins, NC to High Falls dam in High Falls, NC. This is the section 5 of the Deep River in Paul Ferguson’s Paddling Eastern North Carolina. I had been curious for a while about this stretch of river but had been reluctant to make the hour-long drive from my house only to enjoy a couple miles of rapids along with about 4.2 miles of flat. In my attempt to make something difficult work, I searched for a way to eliminate the extra miles of this trip and hurry home to crying children and a grateful wife. I’ll go into more detail about my experience on Bear Creek below.

Riding on the high of success from previous shortcuts, I then decided to find a way to save all of us from the dreaded four miles of flat water on the Cape Fear from the Lillington Wildlife Access to the Erwin take-out. After many months of studying the map and possible routes to accomplish this goal, I decided to try Thornton’s Creek off Old Stage Rd S in Erwin, NC. This would theoretically place me just upstream of the first set of significant rapids on the Cape Fear in the traditionally run section. I’ll go into more details below on why this Thornton’s Creek adventure did not pan out the way I planned.

Deep River/Bear Creek Confluence to Reynolds Mill Rd

If you’ve never paddled what Paul Ferguson calls section 5 of the Deep River, I’d recommend it and if you don’t mind paddling up a creek with a couple portages, Bear Creek might be a good option for you as it was for me to shorten the 6.8 miles to about 4.2 miles. I will not go into detail on the Deep River section since Paul Ferguson already covers this very well.

I will say that Johnson’s Ford rapid, which is 2.5 miles from the put in, is one of my favorite rapids I’ve run. It includes either a fast and fluffy ride river left of a small island or some mild class II ripples followed by a small dip and a launch over a boulder to a 3.5 ft drop followed by a 1.5 ft ledge drop just below, which is class II+ at lower levels and I would expect class III at higher levels. The rest of the section prior to this rapid, while not difficult, is still entertaining enough for those that enjoy running rapids in central North Carolina. However, this adventure is less about the already documented Deep River and more about how I shortened the trip by taking the Bear Creek exit off the Deep River Highway.

Bear Creek is on river right about half a mile downstream from Johnson’s Ford. About half a mile in you will encounter the first rapid that needs to be portaged. In the next quarter mile, there are a few more rapids before encountering an abandoned mill dam that also needs to be portaged. After this is a short paddle, 0.3 miles, to the Reynolds Mill Canoe Access for takeout. I feel confident that if water level was high enough on Bear Creek, it would be possible to eddy hop and attain all the way up to the mill dam due to the rapids being very mild shoal types rather than ledges but cannot confirm this. This would also offer some easy surfing as part of the attainment.

That’s it for the shortcut, but you may want to stop and enjoy the scenery at the mill dam. Remains of the mill are intact,and I believe I saw a way to enter the building although I’m not sure this is allowed. I wouldn’t recommend going inside unless permission is obtained from whoever owns it. Although I have not explored other sections of this creek, there are several canoe accesses on Bear Creek near Robbins, NC for recreational boating, including occasional small rapids. I should note there is currently an effort to have the High Falls dam removed. The effort has suffered setbacks, but if it were to happen, there is likely more good whitewater to this run. However, this would make the creek short cut less desirable. Meanwhile, Bear Creek is still an option for those pressed for time like I often am.

If you were to run section 5 of the Deep River, it would be an extra 4.3 miles of paddling with a dam portage at High Falls, making the total trip 6.8 miles with about 5 miles being flat water. Because of this, I consider my shortcut a success with the trip totaling 4.2 miles and only about 2.5 of that being flat. Regardless of how one runs this section, I’d recommend the trip to those willing to do extra work to enjoy the experience. Due to the distance, one might think this is more of a recreational boating section of river. However, the rapids are more significant than what one would typically find when paddling recreationally.

Thorntons Creek Cape Fear Tributary (Erwin, NC)

I’m not sure this is an achievement worth celebrating. I imagine I’m one of the few people to have paddled the Cape Fear rapids from Lillington to Erwin without having paddled the 4 miles of flat upstream. Unless the paddler knows someone who lives on the river and can access their private property. In retrospect, this “shortcut” wasn’t one that made the experience any more enjoyable.  Maybe less enjoyable. Previously, I had run the Upper Little River from Titan Roberts Rd to the confluence on the Cape Fear just above Killing Falls. I figured there had to be another option that would shorten the trip but included more of the river’s better rapids. What I encountered in my adventure to find a shortcut from Old Stage Rd S to the confluence led me to rethink my previous logic. I thought that if you know the start and end of a stream, you can figure out how to run it

Thornton’s Creek empties into the Cape Fear just above the popular section of rapids. What I found was the narrowest creek I’d ever navigated. There were several places where I could not fit my paddle without steep angling and many spots were log jammed. About halfway there appeared to be some relief with a swampy area caused by beaver dams. It was not the relief I expected due to the trickiness of finding where the creek channel exits the swamp. I waded through grass that was over my head, dragging my boat for 50 yards. I am convinced it was divine intervention that helped me to eventually find a way back to the creek.

Getting lost in the swamp probably only amounted to 45 minutes but gave me a sense of panic, something I had not previously felt paddling. There was an area near a beaver dam that I thought was the creek, but instead was a dead end. I finally found the creek in what seemed to be stagnant water covered with grass. Once on the creek, it was as miserable as the section before. I mostly travelled by jogging through the woods holding my boat’s front strap. With flood level rain, there may be one or two rapids just before Thornton’s joins the Cape Fear since it becomes rockier nearer the river. Having explored this, I now know why I never heard of anyone trying it before. To say the experience was miserable would be selling it short.

Despite the challenges and negative experiences that come from using a creek to shorten a trip, it’s something I’ll continue to pursue. I have others in mind such as tributaries along the Tar River near Oxford, NC as well as a creek that dumps into the lower section of the Rocky River (more info on this creek sometime in the future). I’m always looking for possibilities and as I find them, I’ll be sure to share. Unlike the micro creeking for good rapids I normally do, this type of exploration is more of a challenge. I have not yet found a consistent pattern for what can be seen on the satellite imagery versus navigability in real life. Some rivers don’t look negotiable on the satellite and are. Others are the reverse. As I continue to explore, I hope to be able to share more insight on this subject.