Locust Fork of the Warrior

Locust Fork of the Warrior

Trip Report

Level: Medium Low
Flow: 2.8’ steady
Gauge: Locust at Cleveland
Clarity: Mostly Clear
Weather: Near 60 - Cloudy skies, Fog
Section: U.S. 231-Rt.160 ( 7 miles)

The Locust Fork of the Warrior is one of the more popular and dependable whitewater runs in north-central, Alabama. It is located 45 minutes northwest of Birmingham up HW 79. The stream begins atop Sand Mountain, and has a rather large watershed before dropping quite a bit in elevation near Cleveland. It is mainly a class II whitewater run, but at higher levels above 3.0’ - transitions to class III. The scenery is very nice with impressive bluffs. There is a little trash and debris along the high watermark, but overall it’s a pretty place. There are some very sizable homes along the river, mainly atop the bluffs. And, you also get a chance to see Swann Covered Bridge.
















After leaving Mobile a little later than usual, Curtis and arrived at the Locust Fork of the Warrior early in the afternoon. We took the boats off the truck and I stayed at the put-in to finish rigging out my floatation. Curtis drove my truck and our new shuttle vehicle in the truck bed down to the take out. I took my time moving the canoes well away from a stinky dead coyote that I failed to notice while unloading. I had hardly finish blowing up my air bags when Curtis comes roaring in on the TFR moped. The shuttle took all of 20 minutes.

With everything locked up, we hit the river at a nice introductory level of 2.8’. The river looked really good from the beginning and you could tell we were in for a good ride.There are several class II rapids… We talked to a kayaker at the put in and he told us what to expect. House Rock is the first with an easily avoided undercut bolder on river left.

















Tilt-a-whirl is next, followed by S-turn. These are all class II’s and scouting was not required on Sunday. We did stop at the island to scout out “Double Trouble” which was essentially a long II+ at this level.































The rapids are spaced out nicely by recovery pools. Neither one of us had any real difficulty in any of the rapids above Swann Covered Bridge. Though the most challenging rapid on the run is “Double Trouble”, the one that looks the most impressive is named Powell Falls. It’s an eight foot drop that is more of a slide, than a true waterfall.
















Curtis hit it a little off line to the right and flipped at the base. The recovery pool is very forgiving. I made a clean run. This was nice feeling after swimming Weoka Falls at a very high level last spring. We also had some big fun in a stick play spot just before the take out. The take out is steep, and we were both pretty well spent by the time we got our big long boats loaded up.