Help FOC raise $20,000 for Whitewater Access Maintenance in the Cheat Canyon and Cheat Narrows!
Annually, FOC raises funds to maintain safe access to the Cheat Canyon and Big Sandy take-out in Jenkinsburg, the Rockville area access road and parking lot, and now the Cheat Narrows “Caves” Put-In and Cheat River Trailhead public takeout.
$100 Renews your FOC Membership
$300 gets you 2024 Cheat Fest VIP status
We need YOUR SUPPORT to sustain these public access points. Please help if you can. Every donation makes a difference.
FOC has some good news for Whitewater Access on Big Sandy Creek. While it’s not the replacement of the Rockville bridge, it is an important improvement to the FOC Rockville public access point on the Lower Big Sandy. In 2023, FOC worked with Gribbles Excavating to repair the damaged access road, expand the parking lot, and freshen up the site with loads of stone. It is almost unrecognizable from its former self!
History of FOC Whitewater Access Campaign
For the past 18 years, Friends of the Cheat has developed and maintained access to the Cheat Canyon and Big Sandy Rivers in Albright, Rockville, and Jenkinsburg through our Whitewater Access program.
In 2006, Friends of the Cheat partnered with American Whitewater to lease the Jenkinsburg Access for 25 Years. We then raised $25,000 and arranged for a $15,000 match from the West Virginia DEP. We are now working closely with the West Virginia Land Trust, which took ownership of the land last Fall. In 2007, FOC partnered with Chesapeake Energy, who donated the land that was to become the Rockville Access on the Big Sandy. After a land swap with Allegheny Wood Products, the parking lot was improved.
In 2009, FOC began a decade-long project to stabilize and maintain the Rockville and Jenkinsburg Shuttle Roads. With state highway budgets cut to the bone, roads like this are simply ignored. The Whitewater Access Campaign is a long-term project We’ve raised over $160,000 to improve parking and maintain the roads used by river runners and hikers thanks to the generosity of hundreds of Cheat River Lovers just like you!
The Rockville Bridge remains closed after being shut down by DOH in August of 2020. Paddlers can use the road on the Valley Point side to reach the river left access point – but fair warning – the road is in bad shape and only high clearance vehicles clearing should attempt it. The put-in there is on private property, so please respect the landowners and don’t park in front of the house at the bottom left. The river right access from the Pisgah side (ideal for the Upper Big Sandy) is in better condition, and goes straight to the newly improved FOC access point.
In 2020, the West Virginia Land Trust (WVLT) acquired the Jenkinsburg Recreation Area, securing and protecting it for future river and trail public access. FOC will continue to manage the area in partnership with WVLT – and assist in future improvements.