Shenandoah - favorite run

August 14, 2016

On Sunday August 14, 2016, a group of 6 of us met at the Berry's Ferry boat ramp for Sunday Funday.  Hottest day of the year = best time to be on the river.

We had 1 SUP, 1 canoe and 4 kayaks with us.  This is probably my favorite run in the area for an all day paddle.

We started roughly just before noon and paddled over 9 miles in just under 6 hours.  I'm estimating because my tracker wasn't working properly and I didn't stop it for breaks.

About 1/3 of the way into the trip there is a spring fed waterfall/swimming hole on the left just past the 1st set of wires that cross over the river.  You can hear the waterfall from the main part of the river.  The waterfall/creek is called Spout Run and is ice cold compared to the river.  Very much needed after being out in the 100 degree heat.

As is the case each time I've been on this portion of the river, we saw a couple bald eagles.  We were able to get pretty close to them as they hung out in the trees on the side of the river.

Shenandoah to Watermelon Park

Saturday, August 8, 2015

We launched under the Route 50 bridge which is called Berry's Ferry.  Easy launch and no launch fee.

Our plan was to paddle to Lock's Mill boat ramp (about 10 miles) and meet some friends who were at Watermelon Park for camping and tubing.  We started about 10:30 am and paddled leisurely for 3 hours and 45 minutes to Lock's Mill in Berryville, VA.  According to the Fitness Tracker app, our avg. speed was 2.6 mph, with our fastest speed being 10 mph.  I didn't stop the tracker during our stops on the river so the speed stat is slightly skewed.

We first stopped at the Spout Run waterfall off to the left of the river about 3.5 miles in.  After the first set of wires that go over the river, start listening for the sound of the falls.  If you hit the 2nd set of wires you went too far.  The falls are tucked away but you can definitely hear them.  The water from Spout Run was almost painfully cold compared with the river water.  There is an awesome swimming hole back there too but other folks were diving off the waterfall so we just watched for a few minutes.

Along the way we saw a couple of adult bald eagles.  Such beautiful animals.  The trip is interesting, good tranquil spots mixed with small rapids that were deceivingly difficult to run.  The water level was just under 2 ft. at Millwood when we left.  I think much lower and we would have been walking our kayaks through some spots.

Our second stop was about 7 miles in.  We found a good swimming spot that is across the river from a large rock wall.  The water in the swimming spot was moving but not too fast and it was about chest high there.

Once we got to Lock's Mill, there were large groups of tubers that were dropped off from Watermelon Park.  We happened to paddle up to some friends and floated the last bit of river to our campsite at Watermelon Park.

I love this route and like to do it at least once a year.  10 miles in about 4 hours at a very leisurely pace.

River and Roots Festival

Friday June 26th-Sunday June 28th

We spent this weekend at Watermelon Park Campground in Berryville, VA on the Shenandoah River.  We were there for the River and Roots Music Festival which featured Split String Soup, Woodshedders, Furnace Mountain Band, Town Mountain and David Grisman's Sextet (among others).  Amazing weekend of music and friends.

We typically bring our kayaks for music festivals here but due to the weather forecast we opted to go the easy route and float instead of paddling.


It rained for about 18 hours straight, starting around midnight Friday, but on Sunday we were able to get in a float on the river.  We piled into the newly christened "H.M.S. River Hummer" for a relaxing 1.5-2 hour float.  The river was moving pretty fast after all that rain.

We put in at Locks Landing about a 5 min drive from Watermelon Park and floated to our campsite at the park.  Easy peasy.