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Paddlers approach the “Stair
Steps” on the Mayo River in Rockingham County, NC near the
end of the float trip planned for the Dan River Basin
Association’s July 2 outing. |
A favorite Dan River
Basin Association “First Saturday Outing” ia a 3.5-mile float on the
North Mayo River. A past trip, led by veteran Rockingham County
paddler Sammy Allred is described below. Paddlers put in at Moore’s
Mill Road Bridge in Henry County, Virginia and take out at Mayo
Beach Upper Access under Anglin Mill Road Bridge in Rockingham
County, North Carolina.
“The first part of
the trip is quiet and peaceful,” said Allred, who has paddled this
section many times. “But before the trip is over, you’ll be too busy
running rapids to look for wildlife,” he added.
Groups paddling this
section often pause at “Lunch Stop Rapid,” a ledge about halfway
into the trip with a three-foot drop that usually offers three
choices of channel.
Close to the end of
the section, below the confluence of the North and South branches of
the Mayo, the “Stair Steps” are a series of ledges that call for
either careful reading of the river, quick responses and energetic
paddling or close following of the line chosen by the experienced
lead boater.
Along the way,
boaters will have opportunities to practice “surfing,” maneuvering
in churning eddies.
The “official”
take-out for the trip is river left under Anglin Mill Road Bridge.
Novice paddlers will have the option of running the “Boiling Hole”
and “The Blender” (aka the “S-turn—it’s really a “C-turn”) or
watching the more experienced boaters run these Class 3 rapids.
Both the north and
south branches of the Mayo rise in Patrick County, Virginia, as do
the Dan and Smith rivers. Two other tributaries of the Dan, the
Sandy and the Banister, rise in Pittsylvania County. The Hyco rises
in Caswell County and flows through northern Person County before
joining the Dan at Kerr Reservoir (“Buggs Island Lake”). |
