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bowwow
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North Fork
Does anyone know if you can take a runabout boat up the north fork all the way to Laurel Dam?
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MarineAssist
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Just as a point of clarification here....
There is no "North Fork".
There is the "Cumberland River" and there is the "Big South Fork River", which both meet at Burnside.
Both of these bodies of water are technically "Lake Cumberland", because the influence from the dam affects their waters all the way to Laurel Dam and
to almost the TN line.
You can get a small boat to the Laurel spillway IF the lake is up to summer pool, or close to it.
KDFWR907 could tell you for sure at what levels and such it can be done, as he patrols up that way a lot.
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Tom
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THAT's a long trip....
Try driving it first. I've never made it by boat but have driven to the access points along the way. Just from Burnside or Waitsboro, it's better than
20 miles to Buck Creek. And that's long and boring...
Get-R-Wet
in
Pulaski County!!!
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Tom
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| Quote: | Originally posted by MarineAssist
Just as a point of clarification here....
There is no "North Fork".
There is the "Cumberland River" and there is the "Big South Fork River", which both meet at Burnside.
Both of these bodies of water are technically "Lake Cumberland", because the influence from the dam affects their waters all the way to Laurel Dam and
to almost the TN line.
You can get a small boat to the Laurel spillway IF the lake is up to summer pool, or close to it.
KDFWR907 could tell you for sure at what levels and such it can be done, as he patrols up that way a lot. |
Ummmm... I believe there might be an arguement there. Whats known as the South Fork is actually the South Fork of the Cumberland River Basin. Where
the North Fork is the northern portion of the Cumberland river or what you might think of as "The Cumberland River".
Click here for the scoop on "The South Fork" (of the Cumberland river)
And Click here for the scoop on the "North Fork"
At any rate... It's beeee-u-tee-full country. Sept for them streight up and down rock walls when your actually on the river. But the bluffs make up
for it.
Get-R-Wet
in
Pulaski County!!!
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Scooter
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To further clarify... There's three general options when you leave Burnside. Main lake, North Fork, South Fork. On the dock, if someone asks
which direction you're going, they expect to hear one of the three. Clear, simple, and easy to say with slurred speach.
No... You can't get there even at normal pool. At high water and good flow, (730 give or take) there's been SeaDoos at the falls. At 720 Dog
Slaughter Falls is the end of the road (on a SeaDoo). It's an awesome trip, but I dont think I'd be too keen on taking a runabout past Beaver Creek
(yes, there's two) or the mouth of the Rockcastle right now. You can get into some truck size boulders just out of sight. There's some good images
on Google Earth. 2008 and 2010 sets are clear enough to see the shoals.
Another little detail is spotty cell communication, and radios don't seem to punch out of the gorge well at all. It's best to run in pairs.
SHO
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WaterWings
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Below is a quote from cumberline. I remember him correcting me once when I called it the North Fork in a post.
I also belive the Rockcastle River runs into the Cumberland at the old London Dock location.
| Quote: | Originally posted by cumberline
Omega was damaged and the repair delayed its usefulness.
Again, there is no "North Fork" of the Cumberland River. It is the Cumberland River which goes generally east, not north. The Big
South Fork is a tributary river which goes almost directly south into Tennessee. |
WHATEVER floats your boat Dude!
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xburnside
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| Quote: | Originally posted by cumberline
Again, there is no "North Fork" of the Cumberland River. It is the Cumberland River which goes generally east, not north. The Big
South Fork is a tributary river which goes almost directly south into Tennessee. |
I agree WW, but Scooter is right about folks referring 2 it as North Fork...good memories of our annual Seadoo trips w/ Scooter & a bunch of 'old men'
from Burnside back the Cumberland River to Buck Creek, London Dock, the signs below Laurel that said 'beware of fast rising water'
and boulders as big as trucks!
dam glad it floats our boats
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MarineAssist
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Tom
| Quote: | Originally posted by MarineAssist
Just as a point of clarification here....
There is no "North Fork".
There is the "Cumberland River" and there is the "Big South Fork River", which both meet at Burnside.
Both of these bodies of water are technically "Lake Cumberland", because the influence from the dam affects their waters all the way to Laurel Dam and
to almost the TN line.
You can get a small boat to the Laurel spillway IF the lake is up to summer pool, or close to it.
KDFWR907 could tell you for sure at what levels and such it can be done, as he patrols up that way a lot. |
Ummmm... I believe there might be an arguement there. Whats known as the South Fork is actually the South Fork of the Cumberland River Basin. Where
the North Fork is the northern portion of the Cumberland river or what you might think of as "The Cumberland River".
Click here for the scoop on "The South Fork" (of the Cumberland river)
And Click here for the scoop on the "North Fork"
At any rate... It's beeee-u-tee-full country. Sept for them streight up and down rock walls when your actually on the river. But the bluffs make up
for it. |
Sorry Tom, but this is one of those cases where what people *think* something is called is not actually the way it is.
All one has to do is look at a map of the area (and be corrected by Cumberline once) to know the sdifference.
Either way, when someone calls and tells me they are broken down in the *North Fork* I know where they mean, but I try and use correct terms when
someone asks, otherwise it all stays confused.
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quickiemonster
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In case you all wondered about it there is no Lexington Fire Department even if their trucks still say that some 40 years after the fact. But like the
Cumberland River, what difference does it make? Words are for communicating and everyone knows what they are talking about when they say north fork.
If you tell the truth, you don\'t have to remember anything.
Mark Twain
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MarineAssist
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I am sorry I even brought it up, but just so you know, I will now be calling Fishing Creek EAST FORK, because it makes the same amount of sense.
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NautiNuff
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Before the lake draw down, I left Burnside Marina one Sunday morning and went to London Dock. The Lake level was around 720 and I found the trip to be
very enjoyable. I too thought of pushing further but ran out of water under the boat less than a mile up river from London dock.
My suggestion is to wait till the Dam is repared and the lake levels returned to normal. I would suggest a fall of the year trip because you might
have a debris problem early in the boating season. I see a potential for problems if we got a storm that dropped alot of rain. With that area being
kinda narrow and a quick level rise, no telling what would be washed down stream. You have the potential of anything from a mammoth Tree to hot water
heaters floating around.
If ever we have a high lake level in the fall 730+ I would say it could be possible to make it to the spillway, but that is an educated guess on my
part and not from experience.
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Scooter
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Lets not dumb down local knowlege. Can we agree that North Fork is a location name instead of a map name? I'd hate to forget where Sunday Cove, The
Hook, The Wall, and Long Beach are.
SHO
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xburnside
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Don't go this far in runabout...seadoo maybe
dam glad it floats our boats
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Captain Bob
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Another view of the River below the Falls. (Photo by Cumberline)
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Captain Bob
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And the Cumberland Falls at near full flow. At normal pool, it is 125 feet across and 68 feet high. You can barely make out the people standing near
the edge of the Falls (left in this photo). Not sure if today's visitors can get this close now. (Photo by Cumberline)
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Six Pack Summer
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You could not go from the old London Dock to Laurel Dam in a boat. Maybe kurtincincy would want to try it in that dinghy he wanted to take across Lake
Cumberland. Not sure I would want to be up in that stretch of the river when
they started generating and releasing water from the dam. That would be the definition of whitewater.
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Scooter
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CB.. We went to the falls about two months ago. You're exactly right that the chains have been moved back away from the edge on "falls level", but I
was pleased to find that closest lower observation point had been referbed and was open. Overall the park was in beautiful condition. The food at
the lodge was great too.
SHO
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Buoy234
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Hmmmmmm, about 3-4 maybe 5 years ago, I took a Seadoo trip with 9-10 of my roudier friends from GH & SD all the way up North Fork (it really should be
called East Fork, whatever) and we came to another fork in the river where a dock used to be and a "dinner cruise" river boat was anchored all by
itself in about 4 feet of water. I just looked on Google Earth and the road ending at that fork is KY 3497. We took a short break and started up
again. The "north" fork from this junction was way to shallow so we continued on the easterly fork toward Laural for quite a while and it started
getting narrower and shallower. Most of the guys didnt want to go any farther but me and another guy I'll leave unnamed but first initial Mike from SD
who rides a red PWC, and named his boat after a tropical destination decided to go for it. So we when on about another mile or two. I have a depth
finder on my Seadoo so I lead the way zip zagging, dodging several underwater boulders and then we came to some giant ones and a dead end (for us)
because past a big boulder and around the next bend was rapids we could only hear and the PWC's would be impossible to portage on. So we climbed some
boulders as big as small cabins, took a couple pics and left to catch up with the rest of our crew. Well, my buddy, the one listed above gets on his
PWC first and heads out kinda in a hurry. I'm trying to catch up and although he's right in front of me, he can't hear me YELLING,
Mikkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkke don't go that way there's a big azz roc......... Well... have you even seen a brand new red PWC fly up airborne out of the
water, engine revved to the max and red fiberglas flakes coming out the back?? Yep, good ol'M wanted to lead so he got to, hahahahaha. Anyway,
besides a scraped bottom and a little red faced (not from to much drinking this time) every thing was OK and we all made it back alive. Well, almost.
One of the "other" guys that wouldnt go with us to the dangerous part, hit something out there in safe land and tore off his thruster cone, skid plate
and control cables. Nothing some duct tape and wire couldn't hold up until he hobbled back to SD.
Other then that, a lot of gas stops and some sore butts, we had a marvelous time and I for one can't wait to do it again, but maybe waiting on a
little more water would be better 
If I can find the pic and get it unloaded, Ill post it in a while.
Pay It Forward: Help others on the lake, tow safely or call professionals for help. You might need it someday too.
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Bluebird
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The remoteness of this area while being so close to a populated area is fascinating to me.
Buoy234's experience was good to read.
Squak or someone - please post a Google Map on the location Buoy234's adventure . (Ky 3497)
Hopefully this thread on the rivers at the East end of the lake will deliver more pictures and stories.
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Buoy234
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My buddy "M" thinks the pics he took of us on his cell phone was lost when it took a dump on him so the pics of us on the boulders may be lost
forever. But I did go to Google Earth and made this map and put red notes on it. The red stars show north bound out of Burnside, then east and to the
next fork where KY3497 ends at the water where the 2nd star is, and we took a break. The 3rd star, most easterly, is approximately where we had to
stop, blocked by hug boulders and only inches of water.
It looks like we weren't that far from Laural which you can see at the far left on the map.
I hope this explains where we were, I still don't know for sure
Pay It Forward: Help others on the lake, tow safely or call professionals for help. You might need it someday too.
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WaterWings
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Buoy234
My buddy "M" thinks the pics he took of us on his cell phone was lost when it took a dump on him so the pics of us on the boulders may be lost
forever. But I did go to Google Earth and made this map and put red notes on it. The red stars show north bound out of Burnside, then east and to the
next fork where KY3497 ends at the water where the 2nd star is, and we took a break. The 3rd star, most easterly, is approximately where we had to
stop, blocked by hug boulders and only inches of water.
It looks like we weren't that far from Laural which you can see at the far left on the map.
I hope this explains where we were, I still don't know for sure
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Thanks Bouy234 for the report. In the last several years I have been maybe 3 or 4 miles past the the power plant there at Burnside (I turned around at
the Omega Dock) but I have not made it to the point of your second star (where the two rivers meet and you took a break) which I think is the location
of the old London Boat Dock (since moved somewhere). I'm hoping to make a trip at least to that point this year sometime. Doubt if I will go past that
point though without a PWC since I will be in an outboard.
My Dad's family had a cabin not far from the London Dock and I've always wanted to get back there and take a look. Going to give it a shot this year
for sure.
WHATEVER floats your boat Dude!
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Watt Money
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Here are some pics I have from the area past old London Dock. It was in the fall so I'm guessing the water level was about 700'. I've posted these
before. The first one is a large boulder that we called Whale Rock.
We never really grow up; we only learn how to act in public.
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Watt Money
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Just after we passed the Whale Rock we came across Shelowtee after picking up kayaks.
We never really grow up; we only learn how to act in public.
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Watt Money
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We went on up the river till the depth finder was saying 5' and took this pic.
We never really grow up; we only learn how to act in public.
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Watt Money
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Took these next 2 on the way back, there were 3 bluffs in a row.
We never really grow up; we only learn how to act in public.
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