You’re invited! Draper Landing to Berry Hill Float June 4 Join in DRBA’s seven-mile float on the Dan River from Eden’s Draper Landing Access to Berry Hill Bridge on June 4, coordinated by Will Truslow, DRBA’s past president. Meet at 10:00 a.m. at the access’s graveled parking lot beside the NC 700 Bridge to set the shuttle (GPS 36.4987, -79.6814). Three Rivers Outfitters of Eden, 336-627-6215 or www.3-R-O.com, will offer boat rentals and shuttle for the float, which will end on private property with the owner’s permission. In this river trip of Class I water, participants will navigate at least seven ledges and shoals with long-standing historic names found on old maps. Six of these have been made easier to navigate by structures such as sluice walls built in the nineteenth century by the Roanoke Navigation Company (founded 1812), a joint effort of Virginia and North Carolina, and by the US Army Corps of Engineers. The sluice walls concentrate the river’s water at shallow ledges, creating a narrow channel deep enough to float long, narrow batteaux, the commercial “semi-trailers” of early river travel.   Nearly a century before the river was improved for navigation, in 1728 a survey team led by Virginia’s William Byrd determined the “dividing line” between North Carolina and Virginia. Byrd named the Dan River for the river in northern Israel and gave names that still survive to many of the river’s tributaries. One was Cascade Creek, which enters from river left about halfway through the trip, so called “by reason of the multitude of waterfalls that are in it” some distance before it reaches the Dan.   Devil’s Jump Shoal, just downstream from Cascade Creek, is named for impressive mid-river rocks. On river right less than a mile downstream from Devil’s Jump is the confluence of the Dan with Tanyard Creek, named for the tannery owned by John Morehead, father of North Carolina Governor John Motley Morehead, who grew up nearby.   Between two old sluice walls of Tanyard Shoal, separated by nearly a half-mile of the Dan’s flow, is a place called on an 1823 survey “The Wreck,” according to William E. Trout III, author of the Dan River Atlas. “Why?” he asks, inviting future river mappers to solve the mystery. Other examples of intriguing nineteenth-century labels are Beasley’s Gallows Shoal Sluice and the well-preserved Hairston’s Fish Trap Sluice, likely modified from an Amerindian fish weir of 1000 years ago. The trip is part of the series of over 100 First Saturday Outings that have been offered by DRBA almost from its inception. Other interesting facts about the geology, history, and culture of this section of the river are found in Maps 42 – 45 of “An Insider’s Guide to the Dan River in North Carolina and Virginia,” available at www.danriver.org .

Participants in the outing are asked to provide boat, life jacket, lunch and water, to dress in layers of artificial (quick-drying) fabric and to sign a waiver.

Directions: To reach Draper Landing Access (GPS 36.4987, -79.6814) from the north or west, take NC 14 to NC 700 East. Travel on NC 700 about 4 miles through Eden to the bridge over the Dan River. After crossing the bridge, go 0.1 mile and turn left into the gravel driveway to the access. From the south take US 29 North, turning left (west) on NC 700. Just past Quesinberry Road, turn right into the gravel driveway to the access beside the NC 700 Bridge over the Dan. From the east take US 29 South, turning right (west) on NC 700, and proceed as described above.

More information: For trip information, contact trip coordinator Will Truslow, 336-547-1903, willtruslow@hotmail.com

336-627-6270 http://www.danriver.org

DRBA First Saturday Outing for May

DRBA Paddles the Dan in Stokes County

DRBA’s May 7 First Saturday Outing will be a 5-mile paddle trip on the Dan River in Stokes County from Snow Creek Access to Hemlock Golf Course Access coordinated by Will Truslow.   Meet at 10:00 a.m. at the Snow Creek Access, about 200 yards west of Dodgetown Road Bridge on Pitzer Road (GPS 36.4026, -80.1404), to unload boats and gear and set the shuttle. For boat rentals and shuttle, contact Three Rivers Outfitters, 336-627-6215 or 276-340-3983, www.3-r-o.com, or Dan River Company, 336-593-2628, www.danrivercompany.com. History and legend abound on this section of the river, which is characterized by high bluffs forested with hardwoods and stands of stately hemlock trees. Just upstream of the put-in is the frame of the Pitzer Steel Truss Bridge, dating from 1918. About half a mile below Snow Creek is Thompson’s Fish Dam, which has remnants of a rare wooden slat trap. According to “An Insider’s Guide to the Dan River,” a “heavy timber frame, about eight feet square, formed a grid of slats” to trap fish channeled into the trap by a vee-shaped low rock wall. At least two branches of the Great Wagon Road forded the river at shoals on this section, and caves are said to have been used by Confederate draft dodgers. Rock formations and uncommon Carolina hemlock stands have received recognition as the Dan River Cliffs natural heritage area. According to Truslow, “This section of the Dan has the last of the really high bluffs before the river winds on into the Piedmont. Some are about 150 feet high.”  The most spectacular is Davis Bluff, a dramatic rock face on river left where huge boulders lie in the water at the base of the cliff. Legend says that a member of the Davis family fell to his death from the road on top. To this day, the cliff is known as Mount Horrible. The Dan River in this section is rated mostly as Class 1, but the remains of a former Duke Power dam, dynamited in 1975, create a sometimes challenging Class 2 rapid. Fortunately, it is located within sight of the take-out ramp at Hemlock Golf Course. Meet at 10:00 at the Snow Creek Access on Pitzer Road. Arrange to supply boat, paddles, life jackets, water and lunch; wear water-shedding artificial fabric or wool (not cotton, and certainly not blue jeans); and provide a back-up change of clothing. All participants will be asked to sign a waiver. Directions: At the intersection of NC 8 and NC 89 about 3 miles south of Danbury, NC, turn northeast onto Dodgetown Road. Drive about 4 miles and cross the Dan River. Immediately turn left onto Pitzer Road. Snow Creek Access is on the left in about 200 yards. Driving south from Virginia on US 220, turn west on NC 770 to Sandy Ridge. Turn south on NC 704 to Prestonville. Turn south on NC 772 toDodgetown. Turn right onto Dodgetown Road and drive about 4 miles. Just before crossing the Dan River, turn right onto Pitzer Road. Snow Creek Access is on the left in about 200 yards. More Information: Will Truslow, 336-547-1903, willtruslow@hotmail.com

Back to the River !

April 2, 2011 Back to the River! Back to the River! April 2 Outing on Smith River from Bassett to Great Road Access DRBA’s First Saturday Outing on April 2, 2011 will celebrate springtime with a return to the water—a 5.2-mile float on the Smith River in Henry County from the Bassett Access to the newly opened Great Road Access. Charlie Williams, expert paddler and Outings Committee Chair, will coordinate the trip. Participants are asked to meet at 10:00 a.m. at the Bassett Canoe Access, 271 Trent Hill Drive, Bassett, VA (GPS 36.76992,-80.00147) to unload boats and gear and set the shuttle. For boat rentals and shuttle, contact Smith River Adventure Outfitters, 276-252-0701, www.smithriveradventureoutfitters.com or Three Rivers Outfitters, 336-627-6215, 276-340-3983, www.3-r-o.com. Constructed through a partnership of DRBA and Henry County, both the Bassett and Great Road accesses are part of the Smith River Trail System, a growing network of blueways and greenways designed to connect riverside communities through Henry County, VA, downstream to Eden, NC.  The Bassett Canoe Access, opened in 2006, is located at the now dormant J. D. Bassett Chair Factory, which “stands as a silent testament to an historic furniture industry that once supplied America,” according to “An Insider’s Guide to the Smith River.”  As the Smith runs through the town of about 1,300 residents, remnants of the past remind paddlers of the river’s history. In the 19th century, Smith’s River Navigation Company built rock wing dams and sluices to enable long, narrow batteaux to haul iron and grain to market in Danville. Although commercial navigation on the river was short-lived, the company’s wing dams survived and were modified by twentieth-century riverside industries for water intakes. Shortly below the put-in, paddlers will pass the “Leaning Tower of Bassett,” one of these later structures. On river left, the Norfolk Southern Railway line parallels the river the full length of the float, serving past and present factories in this important industrial center. About a mile into the trip, on river right is Bassett Historical Center, which houses a wealth of local historical and genealogical materials used by patrons from around the world. Just downstream is the third of six bridges that span this section of the river. A short distance below the fifth bridge is Blackberry Creek, entering from river right. The Great Wagon Road crossed the Smith River nearby, providing a route for settlers migrating through the region in days gone by. From Blackberry Creek for a half mile is “The Hayfields,” where the river is shallow and “trout fishing is best accomplished by wading,” according to DRBA staff member and avid trout fisherman Brian Williams, who wrote the Smith River guide. Trout thrive throughout this portion of the river. The take-out is at the Great Road Access, the Smith River’s newest river access point, which opened in September, 2010. Solutia Performance Films granted easements for the access and for an adjacent 500-foot-long trail. Plant manager Joe Stultz says, “This is our way of giving back to the community.”  Participants in the outing are asked to meet at 10:00 at the Bassett Canoe Access. They should arrange to supply boat, paddles, life jackets, water and lunch; wear water-shedding artificial fabric or wool (not cotton, and certainly not blue jeans); and provide a back-up change of clothing. Since the river may be shallow in places, wear shoes appropriate for wading. All participants will be asked to sign a waiver.          Directions: From US 220 north of Martinsville, take the VA 57 West/Fairystone Park Highway exit towards Stanleytown/Bassett. After about 3.4 miles, turn left at Fairystone Parkway/Lenoir Street. After about a mile, take the second right onto Lenoir Street/Trent Hill Drive. The Bassett Canoe Access will be on the left beside the factory building, at 271 Trent Hill Drive. More Information: Charlie Williams, 336-337-8843, chawilliams59@yahoo.com