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Yahoola Creek, GA

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1. US 19 North of Dahlonega to US 19

Class I-IV
6 Miles
Max Gradient 100 fpm

First runnable drop in the gorge


First runnable drop in the gorge
Photo of Baker by Matt Jordan taken 7-12-05 @ 2" above shelf

Gauge Information

46.00
8/20 2:58


River Description

The upper run on Yahoola has two short gorges. The rapids consist primarily of boulder pile drops and ledges. The primary danger on this run is strainers. Back in the mid 90's there were lots unrunnable drops due to the trees.

frank boston:
2005-06-03 20:16:06
Me and a group of friends have been hiking in and clearing some of the rapids out. A lot of the lower gorge is clean and runnable. With a little more work the complete gorge will be runnable with the exception of the first two major drops and one rapid at the end of the narrows. I have not seen these rapids clean of wood and don't think anyone has run them, yet.

Here is a brief description of the gorge. Starts off with a bang, get out after the first class II drop and portage King Kong a 12 to 15 footer that leads into Godzilla a boulder clog sieve that has not been run but looks runnable with enough water. Both of these are class V+.

Put in the short pool below and run Pinball a class IV or portage on river right. Run a few class II drops and then comes Caveman, a class III+ double drop with what looks like a cave on river left. Round the bend is a deep calm pool with huge boulders surrounding it, locals call this the Hole but its the calm before the storm.

Get out and scout on river right. This is the entrance to the Narrows. First drop is Entrance, a class III ledge that leads right into Commitment, a class IV 5-7 footer with a must boof or major meltdown factor. Next comes Split Decision a class III+ drop with a rock in the middle splitting the flow, run left or right and then punch thru the sticky hole at the bottom. Paddle thru a short calm pool and run Rock on Water, a class III+ drop with a boulder on river left that looks to be floating on water.

Next is Turtle Rock an easy class III but catch the eddy at the bottom fast and get out and scout the next drop called Pink Floyd, a yet to be run class V rapid with two different routes. You can run The Wall on river left or Darkside of the Moon on river right if there is enough water. Pink Floyd marks the end of the Narrows. The gorge opens up a little with short calm sections and some class II-III drops and then comes Almo a class IV-V drop of 4-6 foot that use to be a 7 foot log jam drop that my friend Almo helped me clear. I have not run this one since it has been cleaned.

A few more small drops and then Zoom Floom a tight class III+ slide with no room for error.Some more class II drops and then Yahoola Falls a class IV+ double drop with an elbow turn between them. The first drop is an 8-10 foot slide with the elbow and a rock called the Anvil at the bottom.If you make the turn paddle hard to get thru the hole at the bottom of the 4-6 foot second drop. There is a small pourover hole right below here that is a fun playhole.

This marks the end of the gorge and National Forest land. One more rapid below here worth mentioning is Syrup Mill Shoals a long class III shoals with new house below it on the left. This is private property so dont get out. About 1 mile of flatwater before you come to a concrete culvert bridge.This is the take out, Duffy Grizzle Rd.

The put-in is the bridge on Walnut Valley Drive. There is a rough gage on the river left downstream side.A paint mark on the concrete wall marks a good level and the concrete ledge below this is a bare minimum with some drops that sieve out at this level.

This is a great creek that not too many people know about. Hope to see another group of paddlers on this one soon. There is a short put-in and takeout on NF land with no shuttle but a steep takeout trail about 1/4 of a mile long that takes out all of the flatwater above and below the gorge.FS rd. 281, go to end of rd. left side of ridge is the put-in trail right side is the takeout trail. Good Luck.
StreamTeam Status: unverified
Last Updated: 2006-01-23 22:05:45

Search Results

Photos/Videos 1- of 5

Photo#9670


  Yahoola Creek GA
(30.12KB .jpeg)

Photo#9671


  Yahoola Creek GA
(31.50KB .jpeg)

First runnable drop in the gorge


First runnable drop in the gorge  Yahoola Creek GA
(1.87MB .jpeg)

View up the gorge


View up the gorge  Yahoola Creek GA
(762.63KB .jpeg)

tipical portage


tipical portage  Yahoola Creek GA
(6.79MB .mov)

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Gauge

Gauge Description:

Visual. Look for the Chestatee to be high.

CHESTATEE RIVER AT ST RT 52 NEAR DAHLONEGA, GA [ GA ]

Current Conditions

Stage Flow Updated
0.37 46 8/20 2:58

Station Graphs


Linked Reaches

Search Results

Level Legend: Running Below Minimum Recommended Flow Above Maximum Recommended Flow Unknown
Descriptions of reaches with River Name in bold have been verified by a regional StreamTeam member.

State River Name/Section Class Level Rel. Level Updated
GA Blood Mountain Creek— to Dicks Creek III-V 46 cfs   low 8/20 2:58
GA Boggs Creek— USFS Campground to Turner's Corner II-III+ 46 cfs   low 8/20 2:58
GA Chestatee— 1 - Turners Corner to Town Creek Church Bridge (a/k/a Garnett Bridge) I-II 0.37 ft   low 8/20 2:58
GA Chestatee— 2 - Town Creek Church Bridge (a/k/a Garnett Bridge) to Copper Mine II-V 46.00 CFS   low 8/20 2:58
GA Chestatee— 3 - Copper Mine to Lumpkin County Park I-II(III) 46 cfs   low 8/20 2:58
GA Dicks Creek— 1- First WMA Gate to Old Waters Creek Campground V 46 cfs   low 8/20 2:58
GA Dicks Creek— 2- Old Waters Creek Campground to Turners Corner IV 46 cfs   low 8/20 2:58
GA Frogtown Creek— US 19/129 to US 19/129 at Turners Corner III-V(V+) 46 cfs   8/20 2:58
GA Tesnatee Creek— Town Creek Road to Copper Mine I-II(IV) 46 cfs   low 8/20 2:58
GA Yahoola Creek— 1. US 19 North of Dahlonega to US 19 I-IV 46.00   8/20 2:58
GA Yahoola Creek— 2. US 19 to Chestatee River I-II(III) 46 cfs   8/20 2:58

Station Description

AW Gauge ID:6467
USGS Station:02333500
HUC:
Latitude:
Longitude:
Class:

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News





icon of message 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

2007-07-21 11:54:31 (395 days ago)
Matt JordanDetails
I ran this today, 10-17-06, and I don't think the drop in the picture (Yahoola Resized) is on this creek.
2007-01-13 08:05:50 (584 days ago)
Wes ShelnuttDetails
First of all, "Yahoola resized" is deffinitely not on Yahoola Creek. We paddled the Yahoola Monday morning--right after Godzilla at the beginning, there's a large tree down. We were already out of our boats (and you should be, too), so we went ahead and walked around the last part of the rapid. This wood is new--it wasn't in there a few weeks ago; the rapid is really fun without wood, though. There are a lot of new trees down, so watch out for them--most were avoidable, though.
2006-08-30 22:02:54 (720 days ago) philippe damiano
Jeff Jones<br /> <br /> I haven't run all the creek but I do paddle and I own the property starting at the bridge past the shoals (first small drops) as well. I am paddle friendly and would like to help anyway I can. I work at home so anyone who needs info on water levels or directions, etc...contact me. visage@alltel.net or 706-864-0864 Edit
2006-03-28 23:23:13 (875 days ago)
Kirk EddlemonDetails
Really confused trying to figure out where this run exactly is.<br /> <br /> US 19 to 19 sure seems wrong. no gradient in there. If it is along FS 281, wouldn't that mean its in the National Forest? Which would put it way north of US 19?<br /> <br /> Feedback welcome<br /> <br /> kirk
2006-01-11 20:51:08 (951 days ago)
Rick BellowsDetails
New Streamkeeper: Rick Bellows, chestateer@yahoo.com.
2005-07-20 18:04:04 (1126 days ago)
Matt JordanDetails
Jennifer Morris, Baker Davenport(?) and I ran this 7-12-05. The level was about 2&quot; above the concrete shelf on the river-left, downstream side of the bridge. I couldn't find the paint mark that is supposed to be optimal. There are some great rapids on this strech, unfortunately I'd say we only ran about half of them. The rest were clogged with wood. This run is a diamond in the rough. Frank, give me a call next time y'all go down there to clean out wood. I'm in the Dahlonega phone book.
2005-06-03 20:16:06 (1173 days ago)
frank bostonDetails
Me and a group of friends have been hiking in and clearing some of the rapids out.A lot of the lower gorge is clean and runnable.With a little more work the complete gorge will be runnable with the exception of the first two major drops and one rapid at the end of the narrows.I have not seen these rapids clean of wood and don't think anyone has run them,yet.Here is a brief description of the gorge.Starts off with a bang, get out after the first class II drop and portage KingKong a 12 to 15 footer that leads into Godzilla a boulder clog sieve that has not been run but looks runnable with enough water.Both of these are class V+.Put in the short pool below and run Pinball a class IV or portage on river right.Run a few class II drops and then comes Caveman a class III+ double drop with what looks like a cave on river left.Round the bend is a deep calm pool with huge boulders surrounding it,locals call this the Hole but its the calm before the storm.Get out and scout on river right.This is the entrance to the Narrows.First drop is Entrance a class III ledge that leads right into Commitment a class IV 5-7 footer with a must boof or major meltdown factor.Next comes Split Decision a class III+ drop with a rock in the middle spliting the flow,run left or right and then punch thru the sticky hole at the bottom.Paddle thru a short calm pool and run Rock on Water a class III+ drop with a boulder on river left that looks to be floating on water.Next is Turtle Rock an easy class III but catch the eddy at the bottom fast and get out and scout the next drop called Pink Floyd a yet to be run class V rapid with two different routes.You can run The Wall on river left or Darkside of the Moon on river right if there is enough water.Pink Floyd marks the end of the Narrows.The gorge opens up a little with short calm sections and some class II-III drops and then comes Almo a class IV-V drop of 4-6 foot that use to be a 7 foot log jam drop that my friend Almo helped me clear.I have not run this one since it has been cleaned.A few more small drops and then Zoom Floom a tight class III+ slide with no room for error.Some more class II drops and then Yahoola Falls a class IV+ double drop with an elbow turn between them.The first drop is an 8-10 foot slide with the elbow and a rock called the Anvil at the bottom.If you make the turn paddle hard to get thru the hole at the bottom of the 4-6 foot second drop.There is a small pourover hole right below here that is a fun playhole.This marks the end of the gorge and National Forest land.One more rapid below here worth mentioning is Syrup Mill Shoals a long class III shoals with new house below it on the left.This is private property so dont get out.About 1 mile of flatwater before you come to a concrete culvert bridge.This is the take out,Duffy Grizzle Rd.The put-in is the bridge on Walnut Valley Dr.There is a rough gage on the river left downstream side.A paint mark on the concrete wall marks a good level and the concrete ledge below this is a bare minimum with some drops that sieve out at this level.This is a great creek that not too many people know about.Hope to see another group of paddlers on this one soon.There is a short put-in and takeout on NF land with no shuttle but a steep takeout trail about 1/4 of a mile long that takes out all of the flatwater above and below the gorge.FS rd. 281, go to end of rd. left side of ridge is the put-in trail right side is the takeout trail.Good Luck.
2005-06-03 16:06:36 (1173 days ago)
frank bostonDetails
A group of three paddlers successfully paddled the lower portion of the gorge in the Summer of 2003.The creek was choked with trees.&lt;br /&gt;<br /> Myself with two different groups has run the section three times.It takes at least three inches of rain to even make this run possible.
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