USGS gauge in Ararat, North Carolina
The Ararat River flows from the foothills of the Blue Ridge in Ararat Virginia into North Carolina to its confluence with the Yadkin River three miles West of Pilot Mountain State Park on the Surry/Yadkin border. Along the way it passes through my hometown and just behind my house.
August 19,
2009
212cfs
1.2ft
A quick afternoon downpour gave us a bump of water to ride on our last Wednesday night paddle before school starts next week. I asked Jackson if he wanted to just relax at the house tonight or paddle and he quickly chose the river. Great night, only took one hour to get from the park to the house. Amy ran shuttle for us, dropping us off at the put-in and driving down to the river to pick us up behind the house.
August 12,
2009
250cfs
1.3ft
Jackson and I were joined by Dale, Brandon, Dave and Meg on a Wednesday evening paddle on the Ararat. It took us two hours to paddle the three miles between Riverside Park and Highway 52.
July 3, 2009
212cfs 1.21ft
Jackson and I spent a couple of fun hours on the river this morning. We paddled
the two miles from Riverside Park to our house. Things I heard the most were "I'm going to
see if I can get back up there and surf it" and "do you mind if I lead through
this one"
They are not finished reconstructing the river yet, but I wanted to check it out
since the scoops and bulldozers were taking a break for the 4th. It's not going
to look natural, but it's nice all the same. I told Jackson I was going to call
it the Instructional Channel. They channeled it in with boulders to create
narrow features, which were followed by deep circular pools. That pattern
repeated for most of the sections that were worked on. Some sections were left
natural, mostly the ones with the rounded granite boulders already in place.
Very few shallow shelves. Jackson enjoyed stopping to swim in the deep
sections. I think it's going to be a nice and convenient place for him to
practice, especially since we can take out right behind the house. I haven't
paddled it in years due to the number of strainers that were on it then. Those
are all gone now. It took us around two hours, but only because we played so
much on our way down.
October 18, 2006
Today's story is one of two extremes. A perfect start and a miserable ending. Sandwiched between two rainy days, we had a perfectly sunny 85F/29C Wednesday. My friend Jeff and I took full advantage of it by wrapping up work early, grabbing our boats and hitting the river. The weather was amazing. I had to take off my cold weather gear because it was so hot. After dropping my van off at Riverside Park, we were at the put-in on Riverside Drive, directly across from Crossingham Road, by 4pm. We made good time on the river, with just enough water leftover from Tuesday's rain to not drag. This run might have been short on woo-hoos, but was packed with ooohs and aaahs as the changing leaves were beautiful in the setting sun. Perfect day. (read the rest of the trip report here)
December 23, 2005
Six days after my first paddle on The
Ararat, Jeff and I decided to run it in our whitewater boats. We didn't
find as much water in the river this time though and our progress in many spots
were slowed as we tried to navigate over rock garden after rock garden..
The trip a week before fell three days after a good rain and I only rubbed the
river bottom once during the first three miles. I also paddled five miles
in 2.5 hours as opposed to the three miles we covered in 3 hours on this trip.
Low water aside, it was a beautiful day to be outside and on the river.
The water was perfectly clear and I was able to watch the trout swim right under
our kayaks. I saw one nice 12 inch trout near the put in, then a school of
thirty or so 8-10 inch fish further downstream. At the backup before
Linville Road, I floated over a school of at least a hundred 6-8 inch fish.
If I was more of a fisherman I could maybe tell you what the fish were, but it's
hard to tell when you are looking straight down at them. A grouse flew out
of the brush on the right river bank as Jeff glided past it.
We stopped at one of the more fun and
picturesque sections so that I could clear out a tree blocking the exit from a
small surf spot. (You can see the tree, now floating harmlessly, in
this picture.
)This not only ate up too much time as we wrestled with the tree, but Jeff also
got wet getting in and out of his boat. He was getting pretty cold as the
sun began to fall on our paddle to the falls next to the quarry. I was
really looking forward to running these rapids in the whitewater boat. We
had no time left to remove the tree blocking the river-left line, so I ran it
river right. I can't wait to catch these
falls when the water is up 6-12 inches. At this point we were running
really late. I had estimated that the trip would take us two hours.
We got started late and I only had two hours to kayak and get back to my house.
The trip took an hour longer than planned, so we were really booking it to try
and get off the water without being too late for my holiday dinner plans.
When we hit the wide patch of no water right before our take-out at Riverside
Park, Jeff and I just hopped out of our boats and drug them down the river.
So the day ended in typical fashion for Jeff and I; cold, tired, and late.
But I still had a fantastic day. And we now know the water level needed to
paddle the Ararat. Hopefully we'll get the water we need and run this
section again, because I enjoy this new found local run very much.
December 17, 2005
Just on the other side of a small patch of woods and a
large cornfield lies the Ararat River. I'm not sure why I hadn't paddled it
before. I didn't really know anything about it other than what you see as
the river pass through town. So today was primarily a scouting trip to see
if the river was worth running. Plus I just really wanted to get outside
and on
the water. I was on the river at eight am to paddle the four or
five miles from the Johnson Creek/Ararat River confluence to where the Ararat
passes behind my house. The temperature was 32F/0C at the put in, but
warmed to 40F/4C by the time I took out. I paddled solo, which meant
the Element instead of the GT. The first couple of miles north of town
reminded me of the Dan River as it passes through
Claudville.
It was a surprisingly fun paddle. The first mile I was just happy to be
outside and paddling. The second mile I was noticing how nice of a class
I/II run it turned out to be. The water level drops once you reach the city
, but north of
town I found plenty of water and no rock gardens. One nice little section
just north of the Linville Road backup was especially fun with huge boulders
creating a maze of lines to take. Once you reach Linville Road the water
backs up behind a rock pile-up next to the granite quarry. I had
assumed the backup was from a dam and was ecstatic to find an awesome set of
rapids instead. I debated portaging for probably ten minutes. I
figured I had about a twenty percent chance of making it through dry in the rec
boat. I knew that would mean a pretty cold swim, but as usual, I couldn't
pass it up.
A straight through line on river left was blocked by a tree, so I had to take a
more technical line on river right. You can't be but so technical in an
eleven foot boat though and the river and the rocks really did all the work for
me. The line I had mapped out didn't pan out, but the one that the boat
took me in worked much better and my big "Yeah, That's what I'm talking
about!!!" echoed through the granite quarry on the left bank. The rest of
the trip wasn't nearly as fun as the water level was lower and the river was
peppered with strainers and rock gardens. So next time I will probably
take out at Riverside Park rather than paddle all the way to my house.
Plus that little patch of woods seemed a lot bigger and denser when I tried to
drag my boat through it. And the portage across the corn field carrying a
boat and gear wasn't the most fun. On the other hand, it rocked to be able
to get out of the river, walk in my back door and get in a hot shower. I
think Jeff and I are going to be able to use the upper three miles of this run a
lot in our whitewater boats. I can't wait. (Note: I no longer
have to drag the boat through the woods because
a wide clear path has been made to
the cornfield. The portage is now as simple as walking across a field to
my house.)
