Old Dominion Kayaks - James River Trips

Springwood to Snowden - Sept. 19th - 20th 2009

Trip length: 30.9 miles
Kayaks taken:
Brian - Stealth 12
Tom - X-13
Jason - X Factor

To anyone taking out or launching at Springwood: You need to have some sort of kayak cart to carry your boat up or down at this landing. The parking lot is a ways above the river and the path to the river is steep and gravel. If you don't have a cart, you'll need friends and you may have to go up and down several times. Old Dominion Kayaks recommends the C-Tug for it's rugged durability, large knobby tires and ability to breakdown and store in your kayak. Check it out here, and don't forget to scroll down and watch the video demonstrating its features.


Approaching the hill at Springwood		Coming slowly down the hill

Once again, we went with the big boats because of all the gear we needed to bring for the overnight trip. We've been on several trips now, and the boats that we rode in on this trip are becoming our favorites. Jason likes the stability and hauling capacity of the X Factor, Tom likes the speed of the X-13, and Brian likes the stability and speed found in the Stealth 12. This trip wasn't really any better for fishing than the Irongate to Springwood trip, it may have been a little worse actually. But you don't need to catch fish when you're surrounded by the beauty of a river coursing its way through the mountains. As close to fall as we were, some trees were starting to turn colors and dead leaves were floating down the river with us. Once again, spectacular mountain scenery. We wish we could have come back in a few weeks when most of the leaves had turned color, but it probably would have been too cold to do the kind of trip we did.

This trip was a little bit chillier and we were punished by the freezing wind about 7 miles or so above Snowden, with all of the rapids around Balcony Falls ahead of us. Just below where the Maury river merges with the James, we got a chance to see something we had never seen on the river before, a group of otters feeding. We enjoyed paddling around them and watching them watch us. After we left the otters, the wind had died down and we warmed up just in time for Balcony Falls. It's a good thing too, because we didn't stand a chance of staying dry through all the rock gardens and rapids. Once we got to the main rapid, after a little bit of scouting, Brian and Tom decided to take the long way around the class III rapid. Jason watched a group before him go through the rapids and decided that if they could do it, he could too. So he pointed the X Factor straight towards the top of the rapid and with a little bit of guiding from the party that just went through, splashed his way to the bottom of the rapid. He got soaked in the violent water, but was happy to have run the rapid and stayed upright. After the main rapid, there was probably another mile or so worth of rapids and rocks to steer around and get hung up on. Finally we made it to the bottom of the rapids where Brian wiped out on the very last rapid, on what was a tricky rock that was hidden underwater. Even though he got dumped, he had Styrofoam on his poles and everything else was lashed to the boat, so he didn't lose anything. Surprisingly, through all the rapids we had just been through, that was the only incident. From there to the takeout at Snowden, it was like paddling in a lake, as we plied our way through the waters backed up by the hydroelectric dam at Snowden. It was much more peaceful than the previous few miles, and we slowly winded down while watching some kids jump off the Appalachian Trail bridge into the river.

This is one of the few fish we managed to catch over the weekend. Here Tom displays perhaps the best fish he caught. Oh well, better luck next time.

Fishing in front of a little mountain town

Brian and Jason fish next to this small mountain town. Keep fishin' in vain, boys.

This is our "More bars in more places" moment on the river. Should AT & T be paying us for this plug?

During lunch we had some visitors looking for handouts. Not very shy for mallards, must've been fed before.

About to pass under one of the many bridges we've been under while on the river. Jason tries to make sure he's the first to pass under each one.

Here we're passing what appears to be a strip mine, one of the few unsightly things we've seen along the river.

We couldn't get a real good picture of the otters. It was more entertaining to watch them than to try and get a good shot of them. There were 4 or 5 of them swimming and feeding together.

This picture is to give you an idea of just how rocky it is in the Balcony Falls area. It makes us very glad that we went when we did and not when the water was higher.

This picture was taken after we got off the river, and is from the road that winds through the mountains above the river. In the background is Balcony Falls.