Chattahoochee, |
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| Name | Range | Updated | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| CHATTAHOOCHEE RIVER AT GA 280, NEAR ATLANTA, GA | 500 - 2000 cfs | 01h04m | 1070 cfs (rc= 0.4 ) |
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The Wave is a park and play spot in metro Atlanta. It is also a slalom training area. There are usually slalom gates that have been hung over the rapid.
It is located at the Atlanta water works intake.
It is immediately upstream of both the Cobb and Fulton county sewage treatment plants. A breeze
to the southeast helps keep the smell to a reasonable level.
How Polluted is the River??
How to get there:
From the Atlanta Road exit on I-285 North, the wave is about 4 miles south, toward Atlanta, down
Atlanta Road. When you see and smell the sewage treatment plants, you are really close. Continue
across the river. Just upstream of the Atlanta Road bridge is where the water works intake is,
and the small dam that makes the wave.
As of 2008, the parking area on Atlanta Road was taken out for bridge construction.
What most people did before the road widening is park on the large pull-out on the East or Fulton
County side of the bridge where Atlanta Road crosses the river. There is a Rails to Trails bike
path that follows the river on the Fulton County side. Walk down the path beside the Atlanta Road
Bridge to the paved bike path and carry your boat upstream. Try to ignore the big pipes under
the path that say "Outflow".
Just past the Railroad Trestle the Bike path veers to the right. There will be a dirt fishermans
trail that veers off to the left, going down to the 'beach' where Nancy Creek enters the
Chattahoochee. From there its about a 100 foot flatwater paddle up to the playspot.
Warning 1: There have been many car break ins at the Atlanta Road parking area.
Warning 2: The water quality is off the scale polluted.
Another parking option is on Ridgewood Road near where it crosses Nancy Creek. From there paddle down Nancy Creek to the Hooch, and the Wave will be just upstream. Nancy Creek drains all of the nasty stuff in downtown Atlanta. The mud on the banks is deep, sticky, and unnaturally nasty.
Once upon a time you could drive into the Water Works intake parking lot and walk down the hill to the wave. These days, after the 1996 Olympics and since the 9-11 security concerns, that doesn't happen often unless you are connected.
The USGS gauge is a bit downstream of Atlanta Road, and gets the flow of Nancy Creek and some other side streams.
A good visual gauge is at the Hwy 41 bridge upstream, at the metro hooch take-out. If you see rocks in the riverbed then the wave is happening. If all the rocks are covered the wave is generally washed out, but the metro is at a good level.
| Name | Range | Updated | Level | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CHATTAHOOCHEE RIVER AT GA 280, NEAR ATLANTA, GA | |||||||||
| usgs-02336490 | 500 - 2000 cfs | 01h04m | 1070 cfs (rc= 0.4 ) | ||||||
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| When | River/Gauge | Subject | Level | Reporter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chattahoochee [Ga] |
The Wave - 2
|
n/a | Brad Roberts | |
| 46d16h16m | @Chattahoochee 7 - The Wave - Upstream of Atlanta Road [GA] |
Account of 09/24/09
|
n/a | Georgia State University |
| 46d16h18m | Wave [GA] |
RR play hole
|
0.0 in/yr | Georgia State University |
No rapids entered. If you know names, and locations of the rapids please contact and advise the StreamTeam member for this run. River Alert
State News
River Links
NWRI - Chattahoochee 7 - The Wave - Upstream of Atlanta Road (mobile)
User Comments
stuff including a nice 4-5 foot play wave on the adjacent Nancy Creek. There wasn't a great eddy
but you could pull yourself up by the trees on the left or hike up river left (maybe river right
too) and catch it on the fly. Nancy creek doesn't have an AW page that I can find but if you're
looking for a wave when the wave is gone this may be a good place to look. I think the approximate
level for nancy creek can be figured out by subtracting the level for the metro hooch from the
level below the wave. Using this figure there was 4350 cfs coming through nancy creek (and any
other side streams between the Metro hooch gauge and the wave gauge)
is not bad at all (and I'm squeamish at nasty water). It was running right around 1000 cfs when we
were there last week and the hole was perfect. We parked just outside the construction entrance on
S. Atlanta and walked down adjacent to the construction boundary and paddled upstream. There is a
bum camp in the woods by the bridge so I wouldn't recommend leaving anything valuable in your car.
All in all this is a great little spot for us Atlantans to get some play after work... Edit
i'm not sure if there is a good way to access this stretch of river.