Description of the River Reach
Roanoke River Whitewater

At the Highway 48 bridge, the river is a single broad channel with slow-moving current. After about a mile, it divides into two main channels interconnected by numerous braids.

Most of the rapids between the two access points are class 0 to class 1. The final rapid is known as the Weldon Falls and is located just downstream of the US 301 bridge. This rapid is a solid class 2 at low flows, although depending on which of several runnable routes are taken, or under certain higher or transition flows, it can be 3. (View the scale of river difficulty.)

It is a favorite of whitewater paddlers who like to "ride the wave." The rapid can be portaged on either side by those who are not comfortable running it, or by those who want to carry back upstream and run the rapid multiple times.

The Weldon landing is just below the Weldon Falls, and many whitewater paddlers launch here to "park and play" at Weldon Falls.