Virginia Rivers

Overview:

The Hughes begins in Shenandoah National Park in Weakley Hollow, Nicholson Hollows, and smaller drainages in the vicinity of Old Rag, Robertson Moutain, Hot Short Mountain, and Hazel Mountain.  It is a popular trout fishery with excellent water quality.  The Hughes valley west of Route 231 is one of the prettiest places in Virginia.  Halfway between Route 231 and Route 522 the Hazel River joins the Hughes, and is called the Hazel until the Hazel’s confluence with the Rappahannock

Recommended Trips:

• Daytrip from Route 603 to Route 522
• Route 522 to Monumental Mills

Directions to Put Ins and Take Outs:

Route 603: The best putin is on 603 east of 231 just downstream of where Popham Run joins the Hughes. Park your car just upstream of a private concrete "high water" bridge.

Route 522: Between Boston and Griffinsburg in Culpeper County. Take out is on the east side of the road south of the river.

Sections of River to Run:

Route 603 to Route 522: This nine mile trip takes about half a day, and has easy class II whitewater for the first seven miles.  If the Rappahannock gauge at Remington has about 6 feet or the Rt 522 bridge gauge on the Hughes has 0.5 feet there is plenty of water.

The Rappahanock at Remington gauge was peaking around 6.3 when we went. And the 522 bridge gauge for the Hughes was around 5ft. This was a perfect water level for a canoe.

The 644 Low water bridge is a must scout! Its dangerous because it sneaks up on you after a bend, it's in fast water AND both banks are lined with briars. It was not a fun portage. I spotted it early but I'd scouted during the shuttle. Look for the green 'Leaving Culpeper/Entering Rappahanock County' sign as I was able to see that well before the bridge.

At this level there was only one river wide strainer that required portage and it was probably a mile downstream of 603. At higher or lower levels the strainer situation may be a little different. We ducked under some that would require portage at higher levels and cleared one by a couple inches that would be exposed at lower levels.

Rt 522 to Monumental Mills: For the roughly 13 miles between Rt 522 and Monumental Mills, the Hazel River continues to display the outstanding scenic characteristics that attract paddlers to the Hughes and Thornton. It has countless small riffles and ledges (nothing exceeding class 1), beautiful rocky bluffs, some accompanied by stands of hemlocks, and a profusion of wildlife. The paddler is likely to see pileated, downy, and red bellied woodpeckers, and possibly a flicker. There are many Coopers hawks, great blue herons, kingfishers, and ducks, as well as wrens and other small birds that flit along the shoreline. I saw two foxes and a herd of deer as well on a recent spring trip.

This trip takes approximately 5.5 hours if one is paddling most of the time; since this stream generally only has enough water after a rainy period in spring or winter one may want to paddle to stay warm. There is a bridge approximately 2/3 of the way through the trip, but unfortunately the lack of parking and access points precludes using it (Rt 738) as a take out. Near the end of the trip you will see a couple houses on the right and then reach a horizon line, which is a partially broken out dam. The landowner on the right side of the river has posted "No Trespassing" signs on dozens of rocks, trees, posts, and the remainder of the dam, precluding a safe portage on the topographically logical right hand side. Therefore one must portage on the left, lowering one's boat down the face of the dam (approximately 10 feet high), then climb down the dam (which is irregular, as it is constructed of rather small rocks) or climb down the rocky, steep left bank. At lower runnable levels there is no water going over the far left side of the dam; if you are floating down the Hazel and never come close to scraping on gravel bars this dam may have water going across the whole thing and the river left portage will be more dangerous. Note that the broken out portion of the middle of the dam appears to have a potentially terminal hydraulic, so do not run it at any water level. The landowner on the right monitored our portage to ensure we didn't trespass, and did not return a wave. Then he followed us along the river bank in his truck. At the edge of his property he has a large plywood sign decrying the United Nations, so perhaps he was concerned we were part of a foreign envoy investigating Culpeper County. Another sign on his property expressed his opposition to abortion, and left me hoping that at some point he will grant some of that same concern for the safety of his neighbors who paddle the Hazel and have to portage down the face of his dam. While it is not too unusual to find the occasional paranoid misanthrope who has retreated to a fortress in the country, this individual is by far the most extreme example I have encountered in Virginia, and is a black mark on the Piedmont and the Commonwealth.

After passing by this fellow's property you will pass under a bridge right before the Thornton/Hazel confluence (no access), then ferry across the Thornton to take out on river left right above a low water bridge that is likely to be a drowning hazard at runnable levels for the Thornton or Hazel. Despite one unpleasant landowner and portage this section of the Hazel is an unexpectedly scenic trip, one of which few paddlers are aware. If you have already paddled the classic Thornton and Hughes runs, this section of the Hazel (as well as the Rock Mills to Monumental Mills section of the Thornton) are well worth a trip, and are less than an hour and a half from the inner suburbs of Northern Virginia. If the gauge at Rixleyville is 500 cfs or 4 feet, or if the bridge gauge at Rt 522 is over 0, then there is enough water to avoid all but an occasional light scrape on a gravel bar.