CANCELLED! FSO US 311 to Pine Hall
June 2, 2018
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
CANCELLED! Due to high water. Safety is always our first concern.
Hope to see you next month!
The Dan River Basin Association (DRBA) invites you to participate in a float on a 5-mile section of the Dan River in Stokes County on Saturday, June 2. Meeting at 10:00 a.m. at the US 311 Bridge over the Dan River near Walnut Cove, participants will unload boats and gear and set the shuttle to the Pine Hall Road Bridge. This will be the first time DRBA has selected this section of the river for a First Saturday Outing.
Coordinator for the float is Will Truslow, an experienced kayaker, outing coordinator, and former DRBA president. Boats and gear may be rented from Three Rivers Outfitters, 336-627-6215, www.3-r-o.com. DRBA is grateful to the private landowner who has granted permission for us to access the river through his property.
Truslow comments, “This section is more or less the start of the river having ten- to twelve- foot banks on each side, with fewer of the large cliffs coming down to the water's edge. The banks are tree lined, giving shade, and with hardly any structures to be seen, one enjoys a sense of quiet solitude."
The Dan River retains colorful historic names throughout its length, and this stretch is no exception. A short distance upstream of the put-in is Hairston’s Ford Shoal, a crossing of the Great Wagon Road, an old Indian trading path that was used by eighteenth-century migrants moving into North Carolina from the mid-Atlantic colonies. About half a mile into the trip, the river bends around the site of Upper Sauratown, a village of the Saura Indians occupied from the 1400s to the early 1700s. The village site, located on river right, is bordered by Carmichael’s Creek and Town Fork Creek that enter the Dan on river right, over a mile and a half apart.
The Norfolk Southern Railroad runs alongside the river just below Town Fork Creek and crosses the Dan a mile later on a steel truss bridge built in 1944, which replaces an 1891 bridge. Before reaching the railroad bridge, paddlers will pass Granny Angel’s Shoal, an island and ford that still contains a rare wooden slat trap from 1879. Passage is to the right of the island.
A spur of the railroad was built to serve the early twentieth-century Pine Hall Pipe Company that mined local red clay to make terracotta pipes used in municipal waterworks. The company, now named Pine Hall Brick Company and located in Madison, manufactures brick pavers, face brick, and special shape brick.
Participants in the float are asked to bring boat and paddles, life jacket for each boater, lunch and water, to dress in layers of artificial (quick-drying) fabric, and to sign a waiver.
To reach the US 311 Bridge (GPS 36.3266, -80.0958) from Madison, drive on US 311 South about 9 miles to the bridge.
From Walnut Cove, drive on US 311 North about 4 miles to the bridge.
Outings and meetings of the Dan River Basin Association are open to the public without charge.
For more information, contact Will Truslow, willtruslow@hotmail.com , 336-547-1903.
For membership information, visit www.danriver.org.
