Paint Creek (Fayette County ,
WV
Updates
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Winter 03.05.05 Update
Summer 08.27.05 Update
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Guide to Paint Creek
Pax to Mossy to Mahan, WV – Upper, Middle,
Lower
Paint Creek is seldom run because people read the WV guidebook which makes it
sound like the most polluted stream anywhere. Well the guidebook has not
been updated for quite some time and since then Paint Creek Watershed
Association has done a lot to reclaim the creek. There are still some
remnants of the old coal mining operations, but it is far better than it is
described. With that said, Paint Creek still needs some more help.
At low water there is some iron rebar in the creek that needs to be
removed. MUWC plans (in the summer, at a bone dry level) to attempt to
bust or cut some of it out. There are a few strainers on the Upper and Lower
section that need to be removed as well.
Info about the Gauge:
The gauge for the section is at a low water bridge which is just below the bridge at Mossy (exit 60 off I-64). If it is to the top of the upstream edge then the Middle and Lower Sections are runnable including the 6 ft waterfall. My guess is the Upper needs about 6 inches over the bridge for a run. There is now an online gauge that is an indicator of the next stream due west. From my observations, it is pretty close. When we ran Upper, it was reading 13.0 ft and rising on the Clear Fork at Whitesville, WV. If the gauge is spiking there may be a good bit of water but if it is near the minimum for the online gauge, it's usually still running.
Gauge: (Exit 60 Mossy I64/77 – go towards Exxon, cross bridge, go left, ~1 mile there is a low water bridge crossing Paint on the left at a mail box)
Upper Paint
minimum13ft and up
on Clear Fork Gauge or 6 inches
Middle and
Lower Paint minimum
~12+ on Clear Fork Gauge or -2 inches (2 inches from the top of upstream side of
Upper Paint Creek: II-IV
Shuttle: The put in is at
The Run: 4.6 miles to the Mossy exit. There is basically 2 miles of good whitewater and then flat to the take out. This flat water can be easily avoided by setting your shuttle as the river gets back to the road at one of the fishermen pull-offs that you will see when going up to the put-in. You can basically run the 2 good miles and then get out and run it again if you wanted. The steepest part begins just as the river leaves the road and drops into the gorge. There will be a few small rapids, then a house on river right with no trespassing/ no fishing signs posted will signal the best rapids are coming. Just past the house is the Stone House Rapid. It is boat-scoutable but there is a strainer down at the bottom that requires care. The rest of the drops are similar stair-stepping ledges. We did see a couple of sieves to stay away from but they were easily noticed. There were a few shelf rock type undercuts at the bottoms of a couple of the drops. The scenery will get wonderful with huge rock walls on both sides. The Falls of Plum Creek coming on river right (pictures below) and this mile drops about 80 ft. When you start to see the road again you're to the flat water and the rest is class II little stuff. See below for pictures.
Middle Paint
Creek: II-III+
Shuttle: Put in downstream of mentioned low-water bridge where the gauge is at the double bridge. The takeout will be at the big tubes on down the road at the old coal mines.
The Run: 4 miles to the coal yard. The run is simple boat-scoutable ledges with good scenery when you are farther from civilization. The drops are not as steep as the Upper section. The best drop is Dreaded Drop it can be recognized from upstream towards the end of the run by being the longest rapid on this section. We ran it center and then skirted to the right of the bottom hole but there is also a left side boof line of the bottom hole at decent water levels. Take out on the right before the tubes because they tend to be clogged up with wood. One of the tubes was open and there is a video below of the boof out of it. See below for pictures.
Lower Paint Creek: II-IV
Shuttle: Put in below tubes and takeout can be anywhere down to 15 mile Creek. 15 Mile Creek rapid can be seen from the bend I-64/77 where you can see a boulder drop rapid. From the tubes to 15 mile Creek is 6.5 miles. Many times it is good to run both the Middle and the Lower together which makes for a nice day.
The Run: Fun continuous rapids. The Falls is shallow so just boof it a little and land flat. There is one place of concern below the falls. It is not far below the next bridge. There will be a middle river boulder and water going right off it goes up a pillow and drops into a hole. There is a sieve to the right of the pillow so just make sure you ride the pillow over back to the center of the river and not to the extreme river right where the sieve is. Going left of the whole thing is an option as well (just keep your eyes peeled). After the Mad Mile below the Falls from Bridge to Bridge the stream levels off a bit. See below for pictures.
(end Guide summary)
Upper Paint Creek, II-IV average 30 fpm / max 80 fpm AW River Reach
Had a chance to paddle Upper Paint Creek finally and it (especially the Stone House Gorge section) is even prettier than the lower sections. We were concerned about strainers we'd heard about but didn't find anything really bad except for a long stretch of flatwater at the end! The strainers were readable from upstream, but their presence warrants caution. Hopefully we will get these cut out this summer to open the great little run
The ride to Paint Creek... MUWC Reprezent.
(photo
credit - Chris Barry traveling at 70 mph)
Strainers and undercuts and drops, oh
my!
Rapids upstream of 
.... and on
we go.....
.... ? rapids
...same as above without
obstruction....
Gorge-ous
scenery.....
...and the
takeout.....
Middle Paint Creek, II-III+ 60 fpm AW River Reach
This section has a lot of the qualities of the
Birch and Cherry, but we have only run it at low water and high water would
probably get bigger because the gradient is there. The best put-in is
downstream of Mossy, about a mile, at a bridge that is being worked on.
The section starts out really mild with some little shoals. As it necks
down there are some nice little II-III ledges and small slides.
Pretty Little Ledge with rock cliff overhead on Middle Paint
Video of Dreaded Drop Slide towards the end of the run about 4 miles down.
Dreaded Drop is the largest drop of the Middle Section, but it is boat-scoutable from the river left eddy. It has a few
shallow holes and a larger hole at the bottom. We ran down the left and
then worked back to the right to clip the bottom of the hole. This would
be a good drop for people learning how to maneuver through a rapid that does
not have a straight ahead line
Interesting rock shelf that Heath paddled up under.
At the end of the Middle Section there are some culvert tubes. It is a
good idea to get to the right and take out on the little landing area and don't
go near the tubes until you can check them out. Chris and I moved one
strainer and I boofed out of the tube. Here is the video:Tube Boof.
Lower Paint Creek Section, II-IV 55 fpm ("Mad mile" = 95fpm) AW River Reach
Lower Paint has more gradient than the Middle and Upper. The Lower
Section starts at the culvert tubes and can be run down to 15 mile creek which
is the rapid that can be seen from the interstate 64/77 while you are going
around a turn. It is not too far from the culvert to the 6 ft water
fall. There will be a slide on river right that ends in a nice little
surf wave and the eddy on the left is the last good eddy before the entrance to
the falls. The surf wave at the bottom of that slide was fun. The
waterfall can easily be scouted from the road while you are running shuttle (which I forgot to mention is a really easy
shuttle). The falls seems to be turned at a bit of an angle to the
river. As you are coming down you look for the wave hole and shallow
slide at the top. You can shoot straight through the wavehole,
but try to land flat because it is not very deep there. We ran it twice
and I slid down the slide and then angled left to get to the tongue as I
started in I boofed on my left side to angle back
right. There is a sharp rock that looks like it would be a problem but it
was not hard to stay away from.
Here is a
video of Chris and I running the 6 ft waterfall on Paint Creek (shot
by Jim Bobbit)
It is important to watch for metal rebar underneath the interstate overpasses!
Just below the waterfall there is a small bridge. Seldon
Linkous calls this the Mad Mile. It contains
about 10 closely spaced drops and the most
gradient of the run (95 fpm). There were some nice little boofs and fun eddies to hop around. Chris and I found
another nice little play hole in this section as
well. Be on the lookout for wood because this section is the narrowest
part of the creek.
There is one more drop where some care is needed. There will be the
remains of a bridge on river right. Just downstream there is a ledge hole
that Seldon called "The Claw" because he
has seen it hold on to a few people not paying attention. When Chris and
I scouted it we noticed it was really deep. It is just a 2 foot ledge
drop. The best line is a tongue leaving it about a boat width off the
left bank.
"The Claw" Ledge
Paint Creek is a fun little run that is only about 40 minutes from Charleston
or about 20 minutes from Beckley. If local area rivers are too high then
take a look at Paint. You can scout while driving most of the entire
lower section. MUWC plans to continue reclaiming and cleaning up Paint Creek.
03.09.05 Update - Did some more scouting after we ran the Upper section today.
Any heroes? 300 ft slide into a tube off a strip mine with a committed 15 foot boof at the bottom
