Tearcoat Creek
Tearcoat Creek(officiallyTear Coat Creek,per 1931 federalBoard on Geographic Namesdecision[1]) is an 18.3-mile-long (29.5 km)[2]free-flowingtributarystreamof theNorth River,itself a tributary of theCacapon River,making it a part of thePotomac RiverandChesapeake Baywatersheds. The creek is located in centralHampshire County,West Virginia.Its name is believed to have been derived from the tearing of the coats ofBritishsoldiers by low-hanging branches as they forded the stream during either theFrench and Indianor theAmerican RevolutionaryWars.
Tearcoat Creek is popular withwhitewaterrafters who frequent the 3.9-mile (6.3 km) stretch of stream between theNorthwestern Turnpike(U.S. Route 50) atPleasant Daleand its mouth on the North River. The creek's Class II-III rapids are mostly on blind turns in the forested gorge near its mouth. Tearcoat Creek can be accessed by rafters from Tear Coat Road (CR 50/17), which is parallel to the stream from US 50.
Headwaters & course
[edit]The stream's source lies nearRuckmanwhere it flows northeast along the western flanks of Short Mountain (2,864 feet) parallel to Augusta-Ford Hill Road (CR 7). At Ford Hill (1,421 feet), Tearcoat Creek is joined by Mack Road (CR 7/5) and continues on its northeastern course. Through this stretch south ofAugusta,Tearcoat merges with a number of smaller cattle watering streams increasing it in size. After parting from Mack Road, the creek meanders through a winding gorge to the west of Dunmore Ridge (1,401 feet). South of US 50, Tearcoat Creek is joined by its two largest named tributary streams: first Turkeyfoot Run and then Bearwallow Creek. Shortly after its confluence withBearwallow Creek,it passes under the US 50 bridge at Pleasant Dale continuing northeast through another winding forested gorge. It is the stretch within this gorge that Tearcoat Creek, at times, is deep enough and contains enough water flow for Class II-III rapids. From the gorge, the creek turns east and converges with the North River north ofHanging Rock.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Tear Coat Creek
- ^U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data.The National Map,accessed August 15, 2011