Big Creek,
|
|
FR221/Peavine Road to US64
| Usual Difficulty |
III-IV+ (may vary with level) |
| Length |
5.9 Miles |
| Avg. Gradient |
90 fpm |
River Description
Big Creek watershed flows north from the Big Frog wilderness to the headwaters of Parksville Lake
just above the private boater takeout for the Ocoee. The run remains in a remote gorge with
excellent scenery.
The action starts about a half mile into the run. The first horizon line will signify a slot rapid
on river left. Around half way through the trip rapids of difficulty will become more frequent.
Scouting may be necessery at a few blind drops. One rapid is a 10ft ledge off the left side into a
big pool. The right line drops off into a nasty boulder sieve. Once you come to rebar and an old
dam, the gradient picks up again droping around 50 ft in a few hundred yards creating some nice
drops to end the run.
As with all small watersheds watch out for wood on this one.
StreamTeam Status: Not Verified
Last Updated: 2004-06-07 23:09:34
The Major Rapids of Big Creek,TN
(RM) Scream Like A Little Girl - Milt
(RM) Scream Like A Little Girl - Sean
(RM) Scream Like A Little Girl - Peter
(RM) Scouting above Scream
(RM) 1st Gorge - 1st & 2nd drops
(RM) The Dunkin' Hole - Sean
(RM) The Dunkin' Hole - Milt
(RM) The Dunkin Hole and ledge
No guide books for this stream. If you know of a book that describes this stream please contact and advise the StreamTeam member for this run. 
User Comments
bottom. About 1/2 mile into the run is "The Dunkin' Hole". After that the creek is continuous Class
II-II+ boogie with a couple of Class III's thrown in. After about 4 miles you come to the first
Class IV-IV+ gorge. The gorge is about 1/2 a mile long with 3 sweeeeet drops including "Scream Like
A Little Girl". A fun 10 footer. Then Big creek settles down once again to class II-II+ boogie
water. When you see the old rebar/pipe on river right and the river takes a turn to the left, you
are at the "Loop". This marks the beginning of the second gorge. It is also about 1/2 mile long
with a set of great drops. Shortly after that is the confluence with the Ocoee and the take-out.
Its a lot of fun and worth doing, but don't expect non-stop action from top to bottom.
Big Creek is one of those runs that start dropping within an hour or two of when the rain stops.
Look for about an inch of rain at the TVA Ocoee #1 and #2 gages and at 02385800 HOLLY CREEK NEAR
CHATSWORTH, GA. Using 02385800 HOLLY CREEK NEAR CHATSWORTH, GA as an indicator: look for Holly to
be spiking above 600 cfs and going towards 1000. Big Creek will start dropping hours before Holly
peaks. So, if Holly is dropping, its probably not worth driving up to Big Creek.
The paddler's gage is on the upstream river right of the put-in bridge. If the level is around 6",
the creek will fall about 2" per hour, at 0" it will fall about 1" per hour. 0" is a good medium.
-4" is probably a minimum, with +4 to +6 as a high. I wouldn't put on above +4 if you havn't run
the creek before or if you aren't a solid class V creeker. If you get there and it's too high, go
run Go Forth Creek then come back and check the level.
When we ran the creek TVA Ocoee #1 had 1.4" of rain #2 had 1.3" rain. USGS Holly Creek got 1" of
rain. The rain stopped 5 hrs before we got to the put-in. Big Creek was at around 3 ft in the early
AM. Probably crested 8-9 hrs before Holly Creek Crested. We put on at 14:00 when Big Creek was 0"
and falling while Holly creek was 1290 cfs and still rising. At 19:00 when we went back to the
put-in Big Creek was -6" and Holly Creek was 1370 cfs and falling after cresting at 18:00 at 1390
cfs. The key to catching Big Creek is to pay attention to what time the rain stopped. The TVA gages
are useless for this but the USGS Holly Creek rain gage is great!
Hope this helps! Paddle Safe! -- Rob