My 50 Most Challenging Rivers
This list is of the 50 most difficult rivers I have run. The
list is completely based on the most difficult water level I have
run that particular river. For example the Big Sandy is rated very
high as the only time I ran it was in 1980 at a flood stage level
of around 8.0 feet and it is still etched in my memory as a super
intense run. On the flip side of that, the Green Narrows
most people would rate higher than 15th and even though we did it
in duckies, which is a feat in itself, we ran a very conservative
day with lots of safety and portaged the real heinous ones.
The Upper Gauley, my all time favorite is rated pretty low and is
based on a high water run, but as well as I know it there hasn't
been the fear factor I get of runs I am not familiar with.
Nothing has or hopefully will
not ever compare to the Nevis run we did in New Zealand in
1986. A report that I wrote of that run which was published
in the Bluegrass Wildwater Associations newsletter after the trip
is on this web site under Trip Reports.
No.
River
State/Country
1.
Nevis
New Zealand
2.
Bio Bio
Chile
3.
Upper Pacuare
Costa Rica
4.
Landsborough (upper)
New Zealand
5.
Bhote Khosi
Nepal
6.
Little Susitna
Alaska
7.
Big
Sandy
West Virginia
8.
Jatate
Mexico
9.
Pine Creek
Section-Arkansas
Colorado
10.
Zambezi
Zambia/Zimbabwwe
11.
Six Mile Creek
Alaska
12.
Wairoa
New Zealand
13.
Upper/Top-Cangrejal
Honduras
14.
Lower Meadow
West Virginia
15.
Russelfork
Virginia/Kentucky
16.
Green Narrows
North Carolina
17.
Bridge to Bridge-Quijos
Ecuador
18.
Naranjo-Chorro
Costa Rica
19.
Tallulah
Georgia
20.
Spring
Creek
North Carolina
21.
Upper Yough
Maryland
22.
Watauga North Carolina/Tennessee
23.
Upper Meadow
West Virginia
24.
Pigeon Dries
North Carolina
25.
Apurimac
Peru
26. Upper
Yaque
Dominican Republic
27.
Macal
Belize
28.
North Fork-French Broad
North Carolina
29.
Upper Gauley
West Virginia
30.
Reventazon-Pascua/Florida
Costa Rica
31.
Owyhee
Oregon
32.
South Fork,Canyon
Section-Payette
Idaho
33.
Chattooga (section IV)
Georgia/South Carolina
34.
Dries-New
West Virginia
35.
Hollin
Ecuador
36.
Cheoah
North Carolina
37.
Numbers-Arkansas
Colorado
38.
Big
Laurel
North Carolina
39.
Wilson
’s Creek
North Carolina
40.
Hell’s Corner Gorge-Klamath
Oregon/California
41.
Lower Gauley
West Virginia
42.
Daddy’s Creek
Tennessee
43.
Grand Canyon-Colorado
Arizona
44.
Tuolumne
California
45.
Selway
Idaho
46.
Crooked
Fork Creek
Tennessee
47.
Big Creek
North Carolina
48.
Willow
Alaska
49.
Doe
Tennessee
50.
Tygart
Gorge
West Virginia
51.
Rip Gorge-Penobscot
Maine
52.
Nolichucky
North Carolina/Tennessee
53.
Crab Orchard Creek
Tennessee
54.
Upper Tellico
Tennessee
55.
Royal Gorge-Arkansas
Colorado
56.
Granby
British Columbia
