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This is an easy drive up and park at an observation area. Terrain, is flat so this rates a 1 for difficulty and a 1 for Terrain
The Kanawha River (pronounced ka-NAW-ah or kuh-NAW and earlier, kuh-NOIE) is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately 97 mi (156 km) long. The largest inland waterway in West Virginia, it has formed a significant industrial region of the state since the middle of the 19th century.
It is formed at the town of Gauley Bridge in northwestern Fayette County, approximately 35 mi (56 km) SE of Charleston, by the confluence of the New and Gauley rivers. It flows generally northwest, in a winding course on the unglaciated Allegheny Plateau, through Fayette, Kanawha, Putnam and Mason Counties, past the cities of Charleston and St. Albans and numerous smaller communities. It joins the Ohio at Point Pleasant.
The river valley contains significant deposits of coal and natural gas. In colonial times, the wildly fluctuating level of the river prevented its use for transportation. The removal of boulders and snags on the lower river in the 1840s allowed navigation, extended after the construction of locks and dams starting in 1875. The river is now navigable to Deepwater, an unincorporated community about 20 miles upriver from Charleston. A thriving chemical industry along its banks provides a significant part of the economy of West Virginia.
Kanawha Falls, located in Fayette County, West Virginia is about 2 miles below the terminus of the New River Gorge. On the south side of the Kanawha River, at the Kanawha Falls, is Van Bibbers Rock, a large boulder from which, Reuben Van Bibbers leaped into the waters to escape the Indians in pursuit.
The Geological Formation of a Waterfall
Typically, a river or a stream in this case, flows over a large step in the rocks which may have been formed by a fault line. Over a period of years, the edges of this shelf will gradually break away and the waterfall will steadily retreat upstream, creating a gorge of recession. Often, the rock stratum just below the more resistant shelf will be of a softer type, meaning undercutting, due to splashback, will occur here to form a shallow cave-like formation known as a rock shelter or plunge pool under and behind the waterfall. Eventually, the outcropping, more resistant cap rock will collapse under pressure to add blocks of rock to the base of the waterfall. These blocks of rock are then broken down into smaller boulders by attrition as they collide with each other, and they also erode the base of the waterfall by abrasion, creating a deep plunge pool.
Classification of Waterfalls...
Block
A waterfall in a Block form occurs over a wide breadth of the stream. The waterfall must be wider than it is tall. A waterfall with this form does not have to be a solid sheet of water across it's entire width.
Cascade
A waterfall of a Cascade form descends over, gradually sloping rocks, a series of small steps in quick succession, or a rugged sloping surface of some kind. Cascades can be both gradual and steep.
Curtain
Curtain waterfalls occur along a wide breadth of stream where the falls must be taller than it is wide. A waterfall of this form often becomes narrower in low discharge periods.
Fan
Waterfalls of a Fan form occur when the breadth of the water in the waterfall increases during it's decent, causing the base of the falls to appear much wider than the top of the falls.
Horsetail
Horsetail waterfalls are characterized by the constant or semi-constant contact the water maintains with the bedrock as it falls. Horsetail waterfalls can be almost vertical, as well as very gradual.
Plunge
The classic and overly cliched waterfall form, where the water drops vertically, losing most, or all contact with the rock face. This waterfall form has also been referred to as a "Cataract" and a "Vertical" form waterfall.
Punchbowl
Punchbowl waterfalls, coined from the famous Punch Bowl Falls in Oregon, occur where the stream is constricted to a narrow breadth and is forcefully shot outward and downward into a large pool.
Segmented
Segmented waterfalls occur where the stream is broken into two or more channels before descending over the cliff, causing multiple falls to occur side by side.
Slide
Similar to a cascade, a Slide type waterfall descends a smooth, gradual bedrock surface. Slide waterfalls maintain constant contact with the bedrock, and are often associated with the granitic family of bedrocks.
Tiered
Tiered waterfalls are characterized by multiple distinct drops in relatively close succession to one another. Whether or not a waterfall with two visible drops counts as a tiered waterfall is up to the beholder.
Water Levels of the Kanawha Falls
Flood Categories (in feet)
Major Flood Stage: 35
Moderate Flood Stage: 30
Flood Stage: 27
Action Stage: 25
Historical Crests
(1) 37.80 ft on 09/14/1978
(2) 27.37 ft on 04/04/1977
(3) 21.60 ft on 01/29/1957
(4) 20.63 ft on 01/19/1996
(5) 20.62 ft on 02/26/1972
(6) 19.41 ft on 04/05/1977
(7) 19.00 ft on 03/25/1935
(8) 18.89 ft on 05/07/1984
(9) 18.54 ft on 12/31/1969
(10) 18.30 ft on 03/24/1993
Email me the answers to these Questions and I will send confirmation to log your find.
Logging Questions
1. The Kanawha Falls is what type of fall?
2. How wide would you estimate the width of the falls. a) 1/10 b) 1/4 c) 1/3 d) 1/2 Mile
3. What would you estimate the height of the falls.
a) 10' b) 20' c) 30' d)40'
4. What is the highest recorded flood stage ever recorded at the falls? How many times have the falls actually exceeded floodstage?
5. Take a picture of you and your gps with the falls in the background
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
[Use the information given in the description to help you with your answers.]