Date: May 22-27, 2004
Location: Ellijay, GA
Attendees: Jason, Wendy, Jon, & Jess
We got pictures from two of the rapids. The first set is of us swimming Seven Foot Falls when our guide purposefully planted the back of raft in a hydraulic at the bottom of the fall. The last picture is Corkscrew which was voted as our favorite rapid of the day. These pictures are clickable for a full size version.
About the Chatooga River
The Chatooga River is the longest free flowing river in the Southeast. The river begins in mountainous North Carolina - the start of a fifty-mile journey that ends at Lake Tugaloo between Georgia and South Carolina. From its origin, it flows southward for ten miles in North Carolina, and then continues for forty miles as the state boundary between South Carolina and Georgia, dropping almost one-half mile in elevation.
On May 10, 1974, Congress designated the Chattooga a Wild and Scenic River. This protection is reserved for rivers possessing not only outstanding scenery but also recreation, wildlife, geologic, and cultural values. No motorized vehicles are permitted within a corridor about one-fourth mile wide on either side of the river. The River was also where the movie Deliverance was filmed
Section IV is a 7 mile section starting on the South Carolina side of the Chatooga River. This section of river is the steepest section of river currently being run on a commercial basis in the Southeast. The River flows quietly under the U.S. 76 Bridge, then around the bend it begins to drop rapidly. The rapids are closer together and far more treacherous than encountered in earlier sections. Two miles below U.S. 76 is Woodall Shoals, a massive rock extending from the South Carolina side which appears to block the channel . This is the most dangerous rapid on the River. Portaging around the first drop of this rapid is recommended as the river hydraulic often "captures" boats and people holding them for indefinite lengths of time.
The River below Woodall Shoals approaches the limit of open canoes, and only expert boaters should attempt this final portion. The River narrows to half its width before Seven Foot Falls. It contains numerous class 3-4 rapids before entering the most difficult section of the river - Five Falls. In a one quarter-mile gorge, the river drops more than seventy-five feet through the famed Five Falls: Entrance, Corkscrew, Crack-In-the-Rock, Jawbone, and Sock-Em Dog. Undercut rocks, hydraulics, and five rapids of varying high intensity (Class 4 to 5) make this area very dangerous. A short distance below Five Falls, the Chattooga River is stilled by the waters of Lake Tugaloo. Boaters must paddle two miles (or get towed) across the lake to the take-out boat landing.
Corkscrew
