Since I was driving to the Shenandoah National Park entrance at Elkton last weekend, I headed through Stanley to get to US 340 South. Just after the turn onto the highway, there is a little boat landing on the Shenandoah River, one of many in Page County.
Here the river takes a 180 degree turn as it hits a ridge, which diverts it around River Bend Ranch, which is where my family had a reunion in August. There is also a drop of one or two feet over the course of this mile or so, and a small rapid - nothing noteworthy - sometimes appears during low water. It makes a pleasant sound when you walk around the landing.
Newport is not to be confused with the much larger Newport News. This is a borough in Page County, with the major landmark of a little store on the highway, and a campsite where there are trailers and RVs year round. I hear there is a good dominoes game in the store on Sunday morning, and the store is the check in for the campground across the street.
Also, Catherine Furnace, a historical feature in the GWNF, is located just on the outskirts of town, only a half mile or so into the forest.
If I do get a kayak or canoe, and I plan to at some point, this seems like as good a place as any to start a float.
2 comments:
Good fishing from the Newport Boat Landing all the way to the landing underneath the 211 bridge (Whitehouse Landing). About a 2-3 hour float trip.
posumcop
That's the stretch that curves around River's Bend Ranch, which the family visited in this post: http://hawksbillcabin.blogspot.com/2009/08/little-get-together-at-ranch.html . I figured the fishing must be good there - while we were down by the riverside there we spotted two boats fishing. You also always see a bunch of folks just off of the Bus 340 bridge in Alma to the right.
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