River Report: Davidson River

* My good friend Eric is the American Whitewater StreamKeeper for the Davidson River.

Further upstream on Looking Glass Creek is Sliding Rock, a great place to take the kids or go down yourself!

Length of Run:

5 miles

Rating of Difficulty:

Class I-II

River Level:

We've run it at 1.3ft, 1.4ft, and 3.3ft.

Click here for current USGS river levels

Scenery:

Location:

Located on highway 276 in Pisgah Forest, NC near Brevard.

Directions to Put in:

From Brevard: Take U.S 276 along the Davidson River north past the ranger station for 3 miles. Turn left on Forest Service Road 475, which takes you to the fish hatchery. We found the best place to put in is the 2nd overlook/pulloff on the left. There is a nice sandy beach right there with easy access to the river.

Directions to Take out:

From Brevard: Take U.S 276 along the Davidson River. Go maybe a mile or so, and you will see a sign for Sycamore Flats on the left. There is plenty of parking there, picnic tables, bathrooms,etc. Seems to be a fairly safe place to park, as we usually see a park ranger there checking fishing licenses.

You can add on about another mile of river running if you take-out around the US 276 / US 76 Bridge before entering the National Forest.

Description & Trip Log:

March 2004
Got a run at 1.3 in. Not too bad but very scrapy, and you get very sick of unsticking yourself... although exercise buffs might love this run :)

March 2004
Ran the river at 3.3, it was bad ass! Of course eddies are few and far between, and the river is mega pushy, but mega fun. We are definitely looking to run this river at anything over 3!!!

April 25, 2004
Well, running the river at 1.4 is kind of a drag... literally. With the band of rain that came through last nite, we figured to catch atleast a 2+ run. It was a dissapointing run, especially after running it at 3+ last time, way more action. As always, no major obstacles, but there are a few somewhat decent class 2's to be concerned with. The big tree clog was just barely passable on the right. All in all, not a bad run.

April 30, 2004
We have updated the American Whitewater StreamKeeper page to reflect a new minimum suggested level to run the lower section of the Davidson River. The new level is 1.5, up from 1.0. We checked the river out at .96 and there are many sections that you simply cannot kayak at this level. All you will do is tear your boat up and wear your hips out from hopping 50ft sections at a time. (or portage)