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Rapid WV Class II

"Piney Swamp Run"

Potomac, North Branch - 4. Barnum, WV to Bloomington, MD (WV)

Monitor this Rapid
Gauge Conditions
North Branch Potomac River at Barnum, WV Upstream Primary
Runnable: 400.5 – 2,500.0 CFS

Data from American Whitewater & USGS
Description

In 1996, when the Piney Swamp Run watershed was being logged and surface mined, there was a summer thunderstorm that blew out the creek and created a huge delta of rocks and silt that blocked the center and right of the N. Br. Potomac. This created a (then) new rapid which has been named for the creek. For about a decade after the rapid was formed, there was a pretty good long standing surfing wave here, but lately the channel has been widening and the wave lost its downstream curler, so that surfers slide off the river right side. The delta continues downstream becoming a shoal. The shoal blocks the center of the river and the river left side is blocked by strainers, but there is a line through the shoal generally river right.

Location
Type
Rapid
Difficulty
Class II
Mile Marker
5.2 mi
Directions
Navigate
View Full Run
4. Barnum, WV to Bloomington, MD
Potomac, North Branch
II-III 6.2 mi
Current Conditions
5-Day Forecast
Whitewater data from
American Whitewater