The tree is still there at Big Shoals as of April 30. It is going to take a whole bunch of water to dislodge it. Running the right side at 1.4 guage height was a piece of cake! Edit

I ran Section II today (3-6-2008) at 2.3 on the USGS gauge. At Big Shoals there is a log that is at least 1.5 feet in diameter lodged in the standard river left line. It is right up against the large boulder and extends about half way down the rapid. At this level, river right is clear, but once the level drops, that line will dry up. It will probably be necessary to portage at lower levels until the log washes out.

I wouldn't run Section II at less than 2.2 on the hwy 76 bridge gauge. There are too many spread-out junk shallow shoals. Especially, if you are taking newbies, give them a water level that allows them to enjoy this section.

Ran Sec2 on 11/5 at @1.28 ft. Tediously scrapey in shoals. Did a LOT of knuckle walking - made a long day. Big Shoals was dry except for the chutes at either end of the ledge. The river-right chute looked dangerous, all the water dumped down into a rock sieve. The left line was OK if you missed the overhang but directly below was a lot of exposed rock that would have been another knucklewalker, so we portaged down the normal middle line. I would recommend the lower limit for this run be jacked up to maybe 1.4 or 1.5 .... This is a longish trip (7 miles?) with a lot of flatwater. It's beautiful and wild though and we had it all to ourselves. Water was very cold and clear, saw a HUGE school of big brown trout in one place. You can spot the Earl's Ford takeout pretty easily by the presence of a big sand beach on the left with wooden stairs leading to the trail up to the parking lot, a small campground and a side creek on river right. If you parked in the Earl's Ford parking lot on the SC side, make sure you take the southernmost or right-hand trail, which can be recognized by it being relatively flat, gradual and wide enough to drive a vehicle. The northern or left trail (steeper, narrower and covered in horse manure and hoof prints) will get you lost in the woods. Also: I strongly recommend shuttling on the SC side (12 miles each way) because the road on the GA side is incredibly twisty - it'll take longer and be more dangerous to drive. However, you can apparently drive right down to the river on that side, something to think about if you aren't up to the "Chattooga Carry".

Kevin, email me about how to post a video on the site. I've got on of the big shoals rapid that shows two or three possible lines

<br /> I've got a couple pics of big shoals from last week, how do i post them on the sec 2 page?

I've got one on Big Shoals somewhere taken back in the 90s. I'll try to dig it up. Thanks for the request--maybe this will motivate me to fix up this page like I've been intending to. Check back shortly. If your looking for Bull Sluice, check out the Section III page.

do you mean big shoals?(section II) or bull sluice(section III