TR - Camp Creek and Brush Creek

[Rob Parker]

Date: Sat Sep 29, 2018
River: Camp Creek and unknown section of Brush Creek
Level: who knows
Coordinator: Tony Daniel
Participants: Tony, Mike Beswick, Rob Parker
Comments:
We will not be outdone Dustin, Kayla, and Carson! We matched your two creeks today.

Tony, Mike, and I met at the Camp Creek exit at 11am. We drove to look at Camp Creek Falls as a possible run. Needed more padding. We returned to the Camp Creek exit off I-77 and set shuttle for a takeout at the Eads Mill Bridge where the Bluestone run starts.

The run was really good. Nothing especially challenging but continuous the whole way. I'd recommend this for a basic intro to creeking. No surprises or issues. The major features are three drops, all of which are 2+ or so. Good fun. Alll three of us arrived at the takeout without any stories.

We did some more scouting, this time of Brush Creek, including a walk down to Brush Creek Falls. The falls are really juicy, so huck away if you want a serious photo for your WVWA profile. We passed.

Instead, we set up for about a 3-mile run on Brush Creek that ends where you park for the short walk to Brush Creek Falls. This was totally exploratory. It isn't on AW, and none of us had run it. We tried to look from the road but most wasn't visible. It turned out great, and we all had a blast. The first section is continuous class 2+ creek style. There are eddies to rest if you want.

Then, things amp up. There is a rapid that is longish and, as we discovered by surprise, ends with a class 4-ish drop. It's short but high energy. I was out front at that stage and ran straight through. Mike and Tony smartly eddied out above. It looked fun, I was alive, and the portage was unpleasant. So, they ran it smoothly. From there onward, the creek felt class 3. Maybe like Paint Creek.

We all highly recommend this stretch. Tony noted a water level on the bridge at the Brush Creek parking area. It's worth remembering that Tony, whatever it was, and doing this stretch again. We had a lot of fun. It would be fine, even better, with 15-20% more water, but it would be challenging (but still really fun) if there was a lot more.

[Dustin Johnson]

Nice trip report Rob! Brush Creek is on my list. Sounds like you all had a really good day also.

[Tony Daniel]

turns out Rob and Mike that the stretch of brush creek that we did is indeed described in the canoeing and kayaking west virginia guidebook. I don't know how I missed it but I did...I got curious so looked again... a paragraph and half description...The class 4 is called Brillo Falls, "this sloping 8 foot drop can be pretty mean and may need to be carried." The drop reminded me of Flusher on Piney but felt bigger with the lead in and hole at the bottom..

There is A1 spray painted on the river right upstream side of the bridge at the brush creek falls pavillion (our takeout). Our water level was about an inch below the bottom of the 1.

Camp creek was just a wee bit higher than my only other run (winter with Jon S and SwimJim). I thought it made the trip a wee bit easier with more rocks covered.. Before meeting Rob and Mike I boated down to our meeting spot on camp creek. I Went from Mash Fork Campground (Camp Creek State Park) to Camp Creek Baptist Church. Carried twice around wood, class II with the current piling into the banks and brush. Probably not worth doing that upper stretch of camp creek unless camping in the park.


With camp creek and brush creek in close proximity to each other and I77- it's pretty easy to get both creeks done in one day. I should stress that we were on the "easy" stretch of brush creek but the class IV drop would have been very difficult to carry. Even scouting would require scrambling..,don't condone running blind horizon lines without scouting but it was a lot of fun and ended well for us. Always good to have a probe or two out in front to see if they reappear downstream.

[Rob Parker]

Here is a photo of the Brillo Falls drop mentioned in this thread (found by Mike B). AW's Brush Creek information unfortunately does not discuss the run we did (ending at Brush Creek Falls Pavilion) separately from the run starting at Brush Creek Falls Pavilion that includes the major league waterfall.

www.americanwhitewater.org/content/Photo/detail/photoid/18346/

[Tony Daniel]

photo has a bit more water than we had, more filled in, a lot less rock showing, and our lines were further river left (right side of photo) , thanks for sharing, nice to compare

[Mike Beswick]

After this run I think Tony may need to forfeit his captaincy as chair of the "weeny boater club". Tony, you styled the run. I'm nominating you to chair the newly formed exploratory creeking division of the WVWA

[Woody Davis]

That pic of Brillo Falls "whoa"

Sounds like a cool trip and nice report