It’s Harder to Kill Something with a Name

It’s Harder to Kill Something with a Name

a Carolina Paddler Article

By Zach Schiada

-Over the last few years, I have been paddling many of our local rivers in the Triangle area. We all appreciate the Lower Haw River, which has a longstanding tradition of named rapids such as Gabriel’s Bend, Moosejaw Falls and Harold’s Tombstone. I have noticed other local rivers are less popular and do not have a river naming history. I have found the naming of specific rapids to be fun and helpful to signal areas that might be of interest as well as places to be more cautious. When I first began paddling whitewater, it took time for me to connect with paddlers familiar with rivers other than the Haw.  I was looking for guidance on what to expect. An example of this was the Lower Rocky.  The Paddling Eastern North Carolina guidebook by Paul Ferguson had useful information. American Whitewater’s website had good user submitted beta. I believe  most of this information was provided by Garrick Douglas Taylor and Brandon Levi Price. My first trip down the river was an exploratory run, but the AW river beta, specifically on the named rapids helped arm me with information to make it down safely.  As a beginner I knew where to scout and at my skill level, what areas to avoid.

Since I found the AW beta on the Lower Rocky helpful, I thought it might be fun to investigate what other rivers had rapids that could be identified. As is the case with many of the subjects I write about, I feel the need to add a disclaimer. Simply reading a rapid description online does not give sufficient information to go out and paddle an unfamiliar river. This is  especially true for solo paddling, which is not recommended at any skill level. The following should be viewed  as a supplemental guide, taken from one  paddler’s perspective. Some might find the rapids discussed here insignificant; for me they were noteworthy and  deserving of a name. With disclaimers out of the way, I’m sharing  features of rivers I found helpful to note.

The following river sections will include known rapids names that seem to be well established as well as unnamed rapids. I hope this will generate excitement for what the section offers and indicate where a rapid is located and deserves additional attention and skill.

I am including a link for each section, using AW’s section guidelines. A Google Maps link will show where the rapid can be found. This is not an exhaustive list of unnamed rapids in the Triangle. Some rivers I don’t know that well. I’m including a Class rating for each rapid with a note of caution,  I am not necessarily qualified to make such a call.

I am building on existing information in guidebooks or on American Whitewater. using their ratings criteria. Consult with more experienced paddlers to ensure you are within your ability to paddle the rivers mentioned here. I am happy to receive feedback on details or ratings that don’t seem accurate. Don’t hesitate. I want information to be right and my feelings will not be hurt.

Middle Haw:

Known Rapid Names:

Thunder Falls/Thunder Rock II+

Crystal Falls (II+)

Attainment Drop/Elevator Drop (II)

S-Turn (II+)

Unknown Rapids and Suggested Names:

Bye Bye Bynum (II)- Ledge in the far left channel just below Hwy 15/501 bridge.

Bynum Beach (II)- Small Drop between the piers on the pedestrian bridge, river right.

Lower Haw:

Known Rapid Names: 

Lunch Stop (II+)

Ocean’s Boulevard (II)

3 Foot Falls/Joshua Falls (II)

Rapid Above Gabriel’s (II+)

Gabriel’s Bend (III)

Moosejaw Falls (III)

The Maze (II)

Harold’s Tombstone (II)

Unknown Rapids and Suggested Names:

Waterslide (II) – Name suggested by Ben Clarke. River left slot with a river left eddy that runs at very low water.

Cascades (III-) – Name by Ben Clarke. Middle River, just left of Gabriel’s Bend Surf Wave. Several options including a 4 ft ledge with a curly roostertail on the left side. After running Gabriel’s Bend, I normally portage and climb the rocks to run this drop.

Lower Rocky:

Known Rapid Names:

Knucklebuster Ledge (III)

Round Two (II)

Roundhouse Cut (II+)

Unknown Rapids and Suggested Names:

Last Chance (II+)- Final ledge after 15/501 before flatwater. River left is chunky unless water is high. River right has a offset slanted ledge into a small hole followed by wavy water.

White Pines Flush (II+)- Final wavetrain before White Pines Nature Preserve. Waves get larger as water level rises, but none are diagonal.

Upper Rocky:

To my knowledge, no rapids are named. I’m suggesting the below.

Unknown-Suggested Names:

Old Mill Rapid (II+)- Rapid just before Meadow Creek where there is a stone dam wall river left after the drop.

Great Wall of Rubble (II+)- Busted Dam just before the big rapid downstream.

Tumbledown (III)- Biggest rapid of this section. A wavetrain with  ledge holes to avoid river left.

Beverly Hills (II+)- Rapids just before the Hwy 902 take out. Probably the most technical rapid of the section.

South Fork Little River/Little River Gorge

Known Rapid Names:

Swimming Hole (III)

Fossil Rapid (III)

Unknown-Suggested Names:

South Fork Falls (III)- 6 ft ledge before S Lowell Rd., Remains of old  9 ft dam. Followed by some boogie water for the next 100 yards.

Time to Bail (II)- Last Rapid before the gorge. Last chance to get out before things get more interesting downstream.

Lower Flat 

Known Rapid Name:

Fluffy Bunny/Bunny Hole (II)

Unknown-Suggested Names:

Pump up the Volume (II)- Ledge and waves just before the river curves right and heads into the “gorge”

Ragin Gagin (III-) – The rapid just below the USGS gage. There is a ledge followed by some waves through shallow rocks.

Upper Flat
To my knowledge, none of these rapids has a name. I’m suggesting the below.

Unknown-Suggested Names:

Moore’s S’mores (II/III)- Steepest section of the river after the busted dam above Moore’s Mill Rd. Rapid is a series of ledge drops and waves until the Moore’s Mill Bridge.

Split Decision (II+)- Final drop in the nonstop rapids just past Moore’s Mill Rd bridge. A rock splits the flow requiring a choice of left or right of the rock. At higher water, diagonal waves hit at the base of the drop.

Parking Ticket (II)- Drop below the bridge on the Person County Side. No parking signs posted in this section of road next to the river.

County Line (II)- Last drop before crossing into Durham County. The rest of the run is mostly flat with the occasional drop scattered till Red Mountain Road.

Red Mountain Splash (II+)- Single drop where Deep Creek comes into Upper Flat a bit above Red Mountain Rd.

Upper Tar River

No known named rapids. I’m suggesting the below.

Unknown-Suggested Name:

Belltown Curler (II)- Largest Rapid on this section of Tar River. After a few small ledges and waves by the middle bridge pier at Belltown Rd bridge, water slopes down an island and then curls against the middle pier creating a curling wave to flair boof.

Half a Dam (II-)- A dam covers river left and is open on the right side. Some small waves to surf if staging from the eddy behind the wall.

I am open to suggestions on revising names that I’ve given. If there are existing names for these, I am in favor of using what has traditionally been used over my suggested names. Please let me know. I would like to include these in the published information on American Whitewater as long as no one objects.

There are other local rivers, such as the Eno, for which I have little experience. It would be great if club members would contribute to rapid names.  A Paddler’s Guide to Eastern North Carolina by Bob Benner and Tom McCloud has many rapid names on the Eno but I have only paddled one section of this river, so I  chose not to include them in the writing.

 It is worth pointing out many rivers on American Whitewater are well documented. The Cape Fear, for example, is very up to date and while I haven’t done many trips on it, I feel confident that I could use AW’s info to safely make a trip down. Kudos to William Holman for the writeup. The same can be said for most of the write ups for the Haw River, which I find sufficient to help people navigate those sections. I’m not aware of who to credit, but they should give themselves a pat on the back.

Part of my aim in this exercise (beyond my normal nerdiness), is to generate excitement for what we have locally. Another reason is to be better armed when access rights issues come up. There was a recent effort with Senate Bill 220 to prevent paddlers from parking on a public road and accessing a river. Only official public access points could be legally used. While the bill has met substantial resistance and our rights to public waterways appear to be secure (fingers crossed), it seems certain legislators, Property Owner’s Associations and other parties are paying more attention to where we paddle and how this affects private property owners of the adjacent land. Their efforts seem to be moving towards restricting access rather than expanding it. I feel it will be much more helpful if we have a knowledgeable, active community when it comes to river information, trip reports and meaningful updates on the rivers we paddle.

For example, last year on the upper part of the Watauga River and its tributary, Boone Fork, the Twin Rivers Property Association tried to limit access to both paddlers and anglers within the neighborhood property lines. While the litigation of this access is ongoing, part of American Whitewater’s argument involved establishing the two rivers as places that are regularly paddled. This included gathering photos and videos of paddlers running the two sections as evidence presented for the case.

I have two goals with this rapid naming effort: to encourage paddling in more places locally and to motivate other paddlers to contribute trip reports, photos, videos, updates to show we are a community of active paddlers using many of our area’s rivers.

The current AW maps and river beta for our area are outdated. Some rivers have no meaningful information added in the last decade. I don’t mention this to make anyone feel negligent. The AW website can be buggy. We paddle for fun. Posting information on the internet through multiple platforms can be a hassle. I mention this because if I were a politician, policy maker or someone else with no special interest in paddling, I would just do a Google search or look on Facebook to see how popular a specific area is within a community. Our current online presence is mostly centered around the Haw River, which is understandable given how exciting and accessible it is. However, there are other rivers in our area that are fun and valuable and don’t get much visible attention. My hope is we have more information available on these rivers and can point policy makers to websites such as AW or CCC to see our activity on them.  The publicity can bring attention to rivers in a positive way and add better understanding of river features than currently exists.

 My fear is that without visible online activity, policy makers might think that restricting or removing access to a river we enjoy will be regarded as inconsequential. Adding rapid names is a small way of combating this. I feel it’s harder to kill something with a name than without one. This naming effort is  a way of adding to the conversation without inflaming people of different policy views. If anyone is not in agreement with my suggested rapid names, there is no harm. Folks can continue to paddle rapids without names. If it is helpful, it’s easy to contribute at no real cost. I believe naming rapids can bring excitement and attention and help paddlers not familiar with the rivers we paddle.