Cane Creek,
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Fall Creek Falls State Park to Highway 30
Class IV-V
7 Miles
Avg Gradient 94 fpm
Max Gradient 252 fpm
Cane Creek
Cane CreekPhoto of Ben Northcutt by Alex Harvey
Gauge Information
River Description
Fall Creek Falls State Park.
From Boatertalk, 12-2-02:
Put in: Cable trail from Cane Creek Falls Nature Center and Overlook
Wear your helmet, and 5.10's - very steep.
Take Out: Hwy 30 bridge at 285 jct.
Paddle up at put-in for best view of 80'+er in TN
Rapids include:
Pine Tree Falls,
Crack-slot,
Twin Towers (this hole flanked by huge rocks the site of many disasters),
Corner Pocket (hole on left),
Airplane turn,
Hallway Falls,
Rear Entry (now snuck left)
Miles of class 2-3 then 1-2 follow, can be scrapy, always long.
When the river splits 4 ways, pick R or L channel - still brushy but deeper
watch for logs
Daniel Talley adds Wrom: PNKMBIPBAR
Thursday night it had rained a dab, only around an inch in these parts and not quite enough to get
stuff goin to par. Richland Creek was running, but I wanted something new. Being disappointed in
the situation, I strapped the boat on top of the car and headed west to Fall Creek Falls. For years
I've been wanting to run Cane Creek, and being a semi-large watershed I figured it would have some
water. It did, not much but enough was there for some sunny November fun.
From the falls to the confluence of Fall Creek was a blast. Several IV+ made for some good fun, and
I'm sure at higher levels class V would not be an overstatement for some of them. It had some of
the best boulder garden drops I've seen, constant s-turns back to back with great climaxes at the
end.
After Fall Creek, it flattened out for a good 3/4 mile with an occassional class III. Then I came
upon around three or four excellent drops, you know, those that have three or four slots to choose
from, and only one of them not having a sieve with a tree in it. The trees were pretty bad in this
1 mile stretch, having to get out two or three times.
The rest of the run I just sat back, enjoying the scenery on many many class-II shoal rapids. All
was well, aside from the overwhelming feeling that I was running out of water. I thought to myself,
surely I haven't outrun the water, as I crossed through several large pools, almost
mini-lakes.
Suddenly, I couldn't quite see the exit to the pool. Luckly I found a small exit, but yes, I was
running out of water. The next thing I know, the water becomes very silty with an aqua color and I
run this little wave train straight into a cliff. The cliff has three or four vertical slots where
the water was entering. Over to the right was a 6-ft whirlpool, nothing violent, but interesting
nonetheless. Getting next to the cliff, the air pressure made for an interesting sound.
Over to the left was the dry riverbed that I walked for 100 yards or so and luckily found a road
that eventually led to hwy 30. 45 minutes later a nice nursery owner took me back to my car.
Interesting day. Maybe next time I'll wait until later in the season when that cave fills up and I
can paddle happily to the bridge.
Anyone else had similar experiences with this run or nearby watersheds? and two, is there a gauge
in the park?
-daniel
Clay Wright helped out with:
Paddle behind falls at low levels - no, haven't run em.
Logs plague this run, but several class 4 and 5 rapids in virgin forest canyon. Watch for "Twin
Towers" - named for the World Trade Center similarities. Was for the 2 big rocks flanking the drop.
Now for the Big f*&$in hole. Set rope river right.
3 mile paddle out through scrapey-scenic class 1-2. Under 0'', much flow disappears.
StreamTeam Status: Verified
Last Updated: 2006-04-06 17:34:19
Editors
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User Comments
good medium. More important is red take-out gage: -2'' minimum or you'll hike down a few islands.
New Wood 1/2 mi in can be snuck via far left crack. New wood in Rear entry's right crack - get left
or get out. Edit
New red gage at takeout on r right: 0' today and
I'd say that's a good minimum to paddle out.<br
/>
<br />
Put-in: New red gage below swinging bridge
upstream of falls and dam (across bridge from
Cane Falls parking) - read 0' too. <br />
<br />
All logs avoidable. Walked 'Rear Entry' since left
sneak hard to enter. Remarkably more
channelized in runout. Pushed across the last
braided area (L then R) but otherwise bumped
through fine. One bad log within sight of
takeout<br />
Collins 1200, Calfkiller 950<br />
2x the water). If the shoal upstream of the bridge is scrapey, the last miles will be too. No log
portages required - remarkable clean. Rangers friendly. Calfkiller was 5.8, collins 3000, Caney
Fork 1.7
<a href=http://waterdata.usgs.gov/tn/nwis/uv?
03419800 target=_blank>http://waterdata.usgs.gov/
tn/nwis/uv?03419800</a><br />
<br />
Sounds like you should see 5.7 or above on Calfkiller
before heading to Cane
Falls to Piney Creek - 2.2 miles at 172 ft/mile
Steepest mile - 220 ft/mile from mile 0.3 to mile 1.3
steepest stretch - 250 ft/mile for 0.4 miles (second gorge)
Piney Creek to takeout - 4.8 miles at 42 ft/mile
Piney Creek to hikeout - 1 mile at 75 ft/mile
total length and gradient - 7 miles with 580 ft of drop
unparalleled, and the quality of the run is phenomenal. If you have the skills, you must put Cane
Creek on your to-do list. Here's the scoop
Cane Creek is a IV - V+ run with 3 distinct gorges. The first gorge is a solid IV - V+, with the
other two being IV - V. The gorges are all back-to-back-to-back class IV - IV+ rapids with an
occasional V thrown in for fun. Everything is tight and technical with very little room for error.
The rapids are mostly boulder gardens with ledgy drops and slots. Most of the drops can be boat
scouted if you are careful. However, there are a great number of drops where you just can't see
over the horizon line and scouting is a must. After a flood, rocks and wood shift around on this
run, so carefully picking your way down is always a must
Unfortunately, the fun doesn't last as long as I would like. The run is 7 miles long, 3-1/2 miles
being some of the best class IV - V creeking in the area. The rest being one of the longer class II
gravel bar infested paddle outs you'll have to endure.
The put-in is easy to find, if you know where to look. In Falls Creek Falls State Park, from the
Cane Creek Falls Nature Center and Overlook parking lot, hike back up the road to the stop sign,
hang a left. Once you cross over the Rockhouse Creek Bridge the Cable Trail is immediately on your
left. There's a large sign, so it's hard to miss. Take the trail to the bottom of the gorge. The
trail drops 70 feet in less than a quarter mile. The park service has placed a steel cable along
the cliff to help with our decent. The day my group did it, we set up a 3-rope belay system to get
the boats to the bottom. I would not do this run if it's been icy recently. The trail to the bottom
would be treacherous.
The take out is where Hwy 30 crosses over Cane Creek, near the junction with 285. There is a large
parking area on the downstream side of the bridge (on your right if you are coming from Falls Creek
Falls State Park.) The gage can be easily seen from the parking area on the river left bridge
support on the upstream side.
There is a suck hole near the take-out that a lot of the water disappears into if the water table
isn't up. The day I ran it, there had been enough rain to fill the aquifers, so this wasn't an
issue.
Now the fun stats.
Length: 7 miles
Average FPM: 94
Max FPM: 252 in the first mile
Greatest FPM: 410 in the 1/3 mile stretch below the confluence with Fall Creek.
Mile by mile FPM: 252, 157, 70, 73, 49, 25, 35
Recently the gravel bars have shifted in the river making the gage read differently, so here's my
take on the levels as of 1/16/04
Low: 2'1" - 2'2"
Medium Low 2'5"
I'm guessing 3' would probably be high. I personally wouldn't want to do it much more over 2'9" or
2'10" until I know the run better. Once you add a lot of push in this, thing start to get out of
control fast - well, at least for my taste.
2x the water). If the shoal upstream of the bridge is scrapey, the last miles will be too. No log
portages required - remarkable clean. Rangers friendly. Calfkiller was 5.8, collins 3000, Caney
Fork 1.7