Tanasee Creek
in Pisgah
| Difficulty | III-IV(V+) |
| Length | 4.1 mi |
| Avg Gradient | n/a |
| Gauge | French Broad River at Rosman, Nc |
| Flow Rate as of 2 hours | 89 cfsbelow recommended |
| Reach Info Last Updated | December 17, 2025 |
Sweet Class III-IV+ Wilderness Run In Pisgah!
Note that a series of old logging roads run the length of the Tanasee Creek Gorge. Most of the time they are on river right but often overgrown. In the event of having to hike out make note of these. Most of the gradient is in the upper section over bedrock rapids, chutes & a few boofs.
Here is the gage on Tanasee: http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?gage=itcn7&wfo=gsp
Forum: BoaterTalk
Date: Feb 09 2004
From: LVM
Wanted to share a trip report with you guys about a real special III-IV wilderness run in Western NC. The run is called Tanasee Creek and is located over the hill and west from the North Fork French Broad. If you look at the gazetteer and find Wolf Res (I think) you will see Tanasee and Panthertown/ Upper Tuck flowing in.
We took out at the second bridge from the lake and used the somewhat 4 wheel drive road on river right to access the putin. We put in at the bridge on the paved road 1 mile from the end of the dirt road (make right turn).
The putin flow looked about like the Gragg Prong (180 cfs) with a nice trib joining just downstream. The run is about 3-4 miles and in an isolated gorge (hard to hike out). We portaged several class V- drops due to poorly placed wood, but after that it was all read and run to the takeout. This creek will provide a great training ground for up and coming river runners wanting to get that wilderness experience without many difficult rapids. The trip involves scouting, portaging and tree-ducking skill, all in a beautiful isolated setting. Can be combined with Courthouse Creek,
...
Located almost immediatly where you put in for the run. Multiple lines seems to be avalible.
Perhaps looses 15ft over the entire run of the rapid.
Probably the largest drop on the river at about 10-12ft. Make sure you scout before you run it. Wood gathers in here
Aug 11, 2024
Aug 3, 2018
Jack and I ran this 8/3/2018. The 4wd road (SR 1760) is still by all means a 4wd road, but you can avoid it by crossing the bridge, heading east on Tanasee Creek Rd, and turning left on SR 215 to the put-in. Takes just under 40min. The run still has plenty of wood. Scenic wilderness run with a few bigger drops. Rosman gauge was two grand and North Fork visual was two feet.
Nov 4, 2007
I got a chance to jump on this little hidden treasure, on 1/1/07. The river right road that Daniel mentions above is a full-on class V 4x4 road. Truck/SUV recommended for this option (sorry, but a Subaru Outback doesnt have the ground clearance needed)
The take out and the put in are easy to find, we used the NC Gazatteer. At the time we went, NFFB was 2' and holding. The water level was a little on the low side, but manageable. We were able to run all the rapids, and only had to portage 3 logs.
The first big rapid has an eddy on river right, and makes the rapid almost boat scoutable. Peeling out high of the eddy, turn right, and follow the main flow under some trees, and boof a 6 footer, being careful not to be too far right, as it may land you on a rock.
The next rapids of mention are some really cool slide/boulder garden combos. excellent read and run.
Below this, there is another class IV/V rapid, with 2 parts, the top, which is easy, into a small eddy on river right, only about 2 boats can fit in this eddy. Continue down stream on river right through a weaving narrow slots, very Anaconda-ish.
After this rapid, the river mellows out to some class II/III boogy. One of the best features of this river were all the tributaries coming in from both sides of the river, adding water, and opening up the river a little bit more.
Mike Nail
PS...
BE VERY WARY OF WOOD ON THIS RUN!
Jan 19, 2006
Ran it 1/18/06. Was super low, but good little exploratory mission. I'd call .8 on the www.afws.net page a good minimum. The guage is on the Jackson County page. Only had to make one portage because of wood, surprisingly clean. Some quality rapids, kind of like the little east fork, but no hiking or anythign involved. Didn't see a single piece of trash the entire way down the river. I'd say if the FB @ Rosman is around 2000 cfs or so, this would be a good bet and certainly worth it. Fairly continuous smokies style boogie with a couple of good rapids.
Will Lyons
1/19/06