Exciting Paddle with wife

Trip Overview

My wife and I put in at Hwy 601 (Bridle Creek) on the New river, west of Independence. The water level was at 4500 cfs so we knew that the water level was up. We had heard that there were some nice class II rapids on this stretch to the Independence boat ramp. We were on sit-on kayaks and surprised at how big the rapids actually were. It was exciting but also probably not recommended. The stretch between shoal creek and band branch had 3 sizable rapids. They were all at least a class II and though I am no expert, I would say at that water level, at least one may have been a 3. We were a bit lucky that we didn't flip the kayaks. Between Mountain island and the Baywood boat ramp was mostly just flat water with a couple of ripples to go through. We took out at Baywood. In total it was 22 miles and took us just under 7 hours. Overall it was an awesome trip but I would hesitate to do the first part of the trip at that water level in a sit-on kayak, again. Would definitely want to use helmets if I did it again.