Left Hand Prong
(North Fork of Illinois Bayou)
Rating: Classification II-IV
Location:
Pope County, USGS-Sand Gap Quad.Put-in: Take Hwy 16 East from Pelsor ~1.5 miles and take an old logging road to the right (South). Follow the road as far as possible and drag down the hill the confluence of the first two forks. (Elevation 1500)
Reach the take-out at the Victor bridge over the North Fork of the Illinois Bayou by taking Victor Road from Hwy 7 near the Freeman Springs Cemetery.
Gradient:
~140 ft/mile AVG on LHP, 300 ft/mile Max.Length:
2 miles on LHP, plus 6.5 miles on North Fork of Illinois Bayou.Season:
Local FLOOD (Fall through Spring)Gauge:
Gage at Richland Campground should to be above 6 or headed that way.Look for 1.5" or more rain at the Deer and Ben Hur rain gages, at the
Hazards:
Undercut ledges and rocks, overhanging branches, strainers, waterfalls.Description:
First known descent was November 1, 1996.By Cowper Chadbourn, Chris Anderson, Robin Booth, Walter & Gayle Felton (OC-2), Lane Gorman, Lance Jones, Nate Kline and Robert Orr.
The creek starts out small until joining with the Right Hand Prong and Cedar Creek. Most drops are tight continuous class II-III in nature but a few IVs are scattered in for good measure. Scenery is very excellent!
Shortly below the put-in is a tight complex slot drop with some pin potential. About 0.5 miles downstream is a poorly padded 5-6 ft ledge with a piton rock waiting. A hard landing is likely even with a good boof.
Highlight of the creek comes shortly when the creek narrows to 3-4 feet on a shallow bedrock slide. The slide ends in an 8-ft drop known as "The Spout" into a horseshoe shaped pool.
The Right Hand Prong doubles the flow and some fun shoals and slides await near the confluence with Cedar Creek. There is a 4wd road to the right at Boyd Cemetery, if needed. But fun class II-III water with lots of surfing lasts for the next 3 miles to the Victor bridge.
Like other micro-volume creeks, meaningful ratings are difficult to establish on the accepted International scale. At lower levels, the creek may seem like a very technical Class III, with much rock bashing, scraping, and some portages. At higher levels, several rapids are expected to become solid Class V.
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