photo by Mefford Williams
Saturday Johnnie, Whitney, Mefford, Shana and I went down to Overflow creek. Which is the headwaters of the Chattooga river. Its one of my favorite runs because I grew up camping and paddling in the Chattooga area and Overflow is a place I have gone since I was a little kid hiking with camp groups and later where I started really pushing my paddling.
The flow was low for our trip. It was about .85 when we put in which makes the first little bit very scrapey but after "3 Forks" its still really fun. 3 Forks is where two large tributaries kick in a bunch more water.
The rapid that most people know or have seen is Singley's Falls. Its really cool to think about the guys in the 70s running 13-14 foot long glass boats down this river and yet it is still a classic. It really is a must do in the southeast. But you have to be around when its raining. This is Singley's.
photo by Mefford Williams
Overflow is an awesome run for folks that are starting to get confident as creekers or need to brush off the cobwebs when it is at a lower flow. When it gets high it can kick your ass if you aren't paying attention.
These photos are of Gravity which is a rapid I have always liked because its very technical, and tight. At low flow you have to be able to boof well and land under control.
photo by Mefford Williams
At the low flow we were paddling the center line was pretty much the only way to run it. Little one foot drop, land flat, then 5 footer must land flat, then 6 footer, all in about 15 feet of river length.
I wish I had photos of all the rapids because there really is a great variety of stuff. I have this shot of the bottom drop of Pinball, but there are alot of other rapids and it is one of the most beautiful runs you can do in the southeast. If you are in the area and it is raining you should definitely do it.
photo by Mefford Williams
So then on Sunday I went over to the Tallulah. It was windy as hell and a little cold, but once we dropped into the gorge it was perfect. I paddled with Kevin Colburn on the sweep run of the gorge.
Our Job was to make sure that everyone made it off the river safely before they shut down the down for the weekend. Its a really nice time to run the river because we were the only ones on the river practically.
Sunday is the higher water day which I like because it pads out everything a little better also. There is video below the photos.
Oceana still scares the hell out me because you really don't have much control once you get on that slide. You are just sliding for life. All you can do is control angle. So where you set up and enter the rapid and with how much speed makes all the difference. Then its a hundred feet of wondering if you did it right then dissappear into the water exploding off the Thing. Then try to keep the angle straight when you can't see so you don't get stopped in the hole which is pretty throbby at the sunday level.
This video shows most of the main rapids.
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