First Raven Fork Run

I’ve been waiting quite sometime to make it over to the Raven Fork, so the long drive over to the river was filled with much anticipation. The weather was perfect for a December run.
The fun begins on the shuttle ride up. The road is a pretty full on; it’s a 4x4 road filled with precarious rocks and deep ruts. It ends deep up in the Raven Fork Gorge blanketed by rhododendron with the river waiting below. The hike in isn’t too grueling but it does end in a short scramble upstream to reach the put in at Lord of the Rings section.

We sat, taking a short break at The Lord of the Rings section. The section offers a nice warm up, and is filled with a few great boofs before you get to the Anaconda.

The gradient picks up at Anaconda to some of the steepest in the Southeast. From here, the action keeps up with great boofs, big slides, and a few portages. The gradient stays consistently high until portaging Mangler and after this, its time to relax as the river just turns to easy boogie down to the take out. We had a great crew composed of Fergus Coffey, Adam Seacrest, Chris Gragtmans, and myself. Unfortunately, Adam cracked his boat shortly after we put on and had to hike out. Besides this, we all had great lines and a whole lot of fun.
The run dishes out some of the biggest and best rapids in the Southeast. It is certain to have you eagerly awaiting your next trip. A big thanks to Chris Gragtmans and Fergus Coffey for showing me down my first time! Also thanks to Fergus for the photos!
-Sam