North Chickamauga Creek,

3. Bowater Parking Area to Hwy 27 (The Bowling Alley)

Usual Difficulty	III-IV (may vary with level)
Length	2 Miles
Avg. Gradient	70 fpm
Max Gradient	100 fpm

The Hole at Bowling Pin (River left)

The Hole at Bowling Pin (River left)
Photo of Tyler Freeman by Jamie Smith @ 2.0 ft

Gauge Information

Name	Range	Difficulty	Updated	Level
NORTH CHICKAMAUGA CREEK NEAR MONTLAKE, TN
usgs-03566525	450 - 1100 cfs	III-IV	01h15m	55 cfs (rc= -0.6 )

River Description

The bowling alley run of north chick is an afternoon of park and play, or hike up the trail a bit to get an introduction to some creeking.

Spence Lycan 2006-04-19 21:56:03 DOGPADDLE'S BA QUICK LIPS TOUR (USGS On-Line, 6 to 8)

Launch 2/5's mile up trail from uppermost parking lot. II's and a III until the undercut King Pin Rapid(IV), go right's ledge or left's wave. Way-left has an avoidable sieve.

A III and a pool until Split Pin Rapids (III) with avoidable horizontal pins against left wall or a bottom right rock. Try tweezing the main middle rocks.

Below that pool is Chris' Crack (III/#@), with its rock tunnel between a massive boulder's backside and the right bank. Stay left, avoid way-right's trapping tunnel.

II's and a III until Parking Lot Rapid (IV) which is drop and plop, left or right, with an easily avoidable way-left, last drop, sieve.

Recover. Rinse. Repeat.

StreamTeam Status: Not Verified

Last Updated: 2006-12-20 07:40:52

Editors

Stream Team Editor

Kirk Eddlemon

Knoxville, TN

E-mail: bankfull1@yahoo.com

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Gauge Information

Gauge Description:

The old USGS North Chick gauge has not been working right for years, but a new one has been created and hopefully it will provide more reliable readings.

Rob Maxwell has provided a spreadsheet that correlates the new gauge to the bowater parking area stage gauge that most paddlers use upon reaching the takeout.

From these correlations minimum was calculated to be around 450 cfs, or 1.6 feet on the bowater gauge. A maximum is usually around 3 feet on the bowater gauge, which corresponds to around 1100 cfs on the new online gauge.