Rockcastle 900cfs

[ja mon]

An Adventure for a first time paddle. Beech narrows an easy left at 900cfs. Their were waves above beech narrows for surf. Plenty of eddie line for squirts. even on the slower water good eddie lines for play. Waves fliped me end over end in my zg. safe roles after. killer hike from bee rock contemplating paddling up river or hike from put in next time.

[ja mon]

Forgot to mention the place is gorgeous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! good for day hike or backpacking , nice primitive campground. also we ran into rec boaters doing a 30 mile overnighter. It has potential for a camp and float.

[Doug_Davis]

Great info Adam! I definitely want to get out there and run it this spring before the water level drops to low. Everyone always says how gorgeous it is.

So any good narrow little rapids for doing some SWR training on, maybe right near parking or the campground? and how long was the drive?

[ja mon]

The drive from louisville is roughly 2:45 . I think the best way to do this run is to hike in from the two miles west 0n 192 from bee rock. we hiked from the take out at bee rock camp and its a long but very scenic hike. I missed what spalding had posted about 25 minute hike. read his write up at AW. Actually I just didnt comprehend that well and wanted to do some discovery for adventures sack. AS far as swift water rescue training, I think its great for that or any training with trails on either side of the river. Bee Rock is Primitive. People from Cinci do have swift water rescue training on it. So it must work for them. anyway its an awsome place to just be.

[ja mon]

This saturday we took the 503 trail which takes you on an easy down hill hike you can slide your boat with a leash like walking a big dog who has to pee. Anyway we got to the river and hiked up stream to beach narrows it was another rapid I hadnt seen before. Below beaach narrows is alot of flat water which I hadnt been on before. By this time I deduced I had never been on beech narrows nor by the looks of it probably will. What i thought was an easy left at beech narrows in my last report was really just the beginning of the lower narrows an easy rapid at 570 cfs. the rest of the route was as I remembered it only I saw it a lot better because I wasnt starring at the sky or under water. because of the different water level and not being able to see well past the drops I scouted out to get a good look from the rocks. Most everything didnt need scouting although it helped make the run smoother for me. Besides everyone should stay as long as possible on this stretch because its a really nice stretch of whitewater and if you bomb it youd be down with out truelly taking it all in. also you can ploay here its got good eddlie lines and a smily surf spot you can practice your side and back surfing just befor guys surprise which by the way does surprise you because you thing your done already. Theres also waves above the lower narrows. scratch what i said on the last trip report.

also the hike back to the car if you lock your gear up at highway 172 is about three miles from the bridge. we tried this because we didnt want to walk with the boats up hill, up 529 to 503 trail. I think it worked out pretty good.