My brother and another friend decided to spend 3 days on the south fork of the Shenandoah river. We started at mile 1 near Luray and ended at mile 44 near Front Royal. This was our first trip using hammocks with no bail out plan (car or house close by).
Day 1: We didn't need to get an early start because we were only going about 12 miles, so we put in around lunch time. Even though it was August, the water levels were high enough that we could clear, or scoot over any shallow areas in the river. We had great weather and reached our camping area in George Washington National Forest by 6:30. We hung our hammocks right beside some small rapids in the river, fished a little bit and made some dinner. No rain was forecasted so my brother and I pitched our tarps in porch mode. Our friend was brave and let us talk him into the hammock thing, so this was to be his first night.
Day 2: We slept well and had a nice leisurely morning and pushed off the bank around 10. We had to go 19 miles to get to the Shenandoah river state park. It was going to be the longest day of the trip. It started off nice. We were catching a lot of smallmouth bass and just enjoying the float. A rain shower caught up with us around lunchtime so we pulled over under some trees to wait it out and eat. This is when the real fun begins...our canoe isn't built for whitewater, but my brother and I have successfully navigated class II and III water in the past with little issues. This 43 mile stretch of river has one class II rapids so we didn't foresee any issues. We got to said rapids and didn't stand a chance! We were swimming within the first 10 feet. I could write a whole thread on that experience, but just know that it was a complete goat-rope. I'm sure the folks on the bank were enjoying the show. What we didn't account for was all the extra weight. In the past we had only done day trips, so the canoe was much more stable. We had packed our insulation and hammocks in dry bags and our clothes were in a trash compactor bag. I think we packed our dry bags too full and didn't get them rolled enough times because our insulation and hammocks got soaked! Our clothes were dry though. Made me an instant believer in the trash compactor bag. We regrouped and headed on down the river. We barely reached the SP before another storm hit, "rehydrating" some of our stuff. We found a suitable camping spot and were able to dry our stuff out enough to sleep comfortably...through some more storms I might add.
Day 3: We got off by 9:00 and we were ready to get back to civilization. All the events from the previous day had taken their toll. It was an uneventful beautiful day on the river. We made it back in time to get lunch at the local pizza joint.
All in all a great trip. Our gear performed perfectly, minus the dry bags. I was using a DIY tablecloth hammock with whoopies/tree straps, DIY shower curtain tarp, DIY fronkey style bugnet, KAQ Jarbridge, and sleeping bag. My brother was using a ENO SN with UCRs/tree straps, another fronkey style bugnet, KAQ Jarbridge, sleeping bag and a silnylon tarp (can't remember the specifics). Our friend was using a ENO DN with ratchet straps, a ccd walmart pad, some bugnetting just wrapped over his ridgeline and tucked in around him, and a walmart poly tarp. He was a trooper and I think if we can get him some better stuff, he will be 100% converted.
I highly recommend doing this if you get the chance. There are plenty of outfitters along the river that can rent you a canoe. You'll need 2 vehicles for it though because I don't know of a shuttle between Front Royal and Luray.
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