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Annewakee - Anneewakee Road to GA Route 166
Annewakee, Georgia, US |
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Anneewakee Road to GA Route 166
| Usual Difficulty | II-III+(IV) (for normal flows) |
|---|---|
| Length | 3.5 Miles |
| Avg. Gradient | 30 fpm |
| Max Gradient | 100 fpm |
Low water
Low water
Photo of Terran by Dallas taken april 07 @ low
Gauge Information
| Name | Range | Difficulty | Updated | Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SWEETWATER CREEK NEAR AUSTELL, GA | ||||
| usgs-02337000 | 800 - 4000 cfs | II-III+(IV) | 00h23m | 240 cfs (too low) |
River Description
Gauge Description
Look for Sweetwater Creek to be runing 800 cfs and rising or locally heavy rain
of at least 1.25 inches.
Annewakke will drop back down to nothing in a matter of hours. The sweetwater
gauge is used to show if Annewakkee has gotten enough rain to check, but sweetwater holds water
for days.
River Description:
The put-in is on Annewakee Road and there's good parking on the downstream side of the
bridge. There is a great but grabby playspot right at the putin. The creek picks up quickly and
gets your blood pumping with a few fun class 2's. Then it's flat for a bit... then the
horizon line. The first large drop is about 9 feet and reminds me of the Upper Tellico. It's
a safe drop if run left of center, look out for the "Hole of Doom" on the center-right
after the main drop. It probably wouldn't kill you but you'd probably swim out. It's
easy to miss.
Next is a short class 2-3 section that runs through a power line cut. There are some great waves
here! You used to be able to drive (4x4 only!) out the power lines to this spot but thanks to
vandals the entrance has been cabled off.
Be VERY careful not to just drop over the next horizon line immediatley after the power lines,
you could get REALLY hurt. The next drop is about a 12 footer and really kicks. The river left
side is an almost certain pin. The water runs down a slide and hits a jagged rock and forms a
kind of mini Oceana with a not-so-forgiving "Thing". The left of center line has rocks
at the bottom so that's no good. The center line seems the way to go, angling to the right a
bit.. Be careful not to get sucked back into the hole at the bottom or you're swimming. The
right side could be OK but we didn't run it. The far right side is a plunge into the abyss
and we didn't know what was down there so it's still a mystery. The portage is on river
right.
After the big drop there is a 1/4 mile of class 3 water with a fun double drop that's a
strong III+ at normal levels and turns into solid 4 at high flow. After this, the river takes a
sharp turn to the right and slows down for a mile or so. Then it takes a hard turn to the left
and cuts through another ridge, the action picks up here again and a few class 2's and
3's appear but nothing like the upper section. A bit of flat water gets you to the take out
on Ga 166.
This is a great run! We were very impressed. The water quality is not great but the rapids are!
As of March 2002 there were a few dead falls that needed to be carried over but no
"strainers of doom".
FYI, Sweetwater reached almost 4 feet that day after rain the night before and Annewakee was at a
comfortable level. It could certainly be done higher, but not much lower. Total rainfall for the
previous night was about 1.2 inches and it was still raining lightly when we put on at 2pm. It
will take you between 1.5 to 2.5 hours to make this run barring any epic adventures.
Editors
Rapid Summary
| Mile | Rapid Name | Class | Features (Legend) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.0 | Put In Hole | III |    |
| 0.8 | AnneWakeup! | III |  |
| 0.9 | PowerLine | II+ | |
| 1.0 | PowerSLAM! | IV |  |
Rapid Descriptions
You want me to go where?
You want me to go where?AnneWakeup!
AnneWakeup!Powerline Rapid
Powerline RapidMike has great form !!
Mike has great form !!Make sure you can see the next safe eddy before you paddle around bends. And when you come to a
sharp left turn after Powerslide that requires you to squeeze between a couple of trees to get into
the next channel---don't, it gets worse, just start the portage.
a friend that did custom upholstery. We did some work for the property owner on the upstream,
uphill side of the bridge and delivered all of it over a period of a couple of months. After about
the 3rd trip or so, I inquired about the glimpses of water through the trees. He took us back to
the lake. It was gorgeous, pristine, and slap full of grown alligators. He put them in the lake
10-15 years before. He harvested them for the hide and the meat. It also had a thriving cottonmouth
population that had reached an age and size most snakes don't. That spillway on the north side
comes from that lake(I ca ll it that because it is fed and drained by a creek.). Back in the mid
90's, a gator turned up in that manicured pond just pass the bridge headed toward 92. It was a
young adult...8 ft or so. Douglas county sheriff and the local DNR milked that gator for a week
because it led all three local newscasts untill they finally hooked the poor thing on a big surf
rig. Thing is, there was no shortage of locals that had the means, skills, and tools to have had
that gator on the truck within 24 hrs. There was no shortage of locals that was dying for the
chance to catch that gator. I'm sure the sheriff was offered some fat checks for the priviledge.
However, catching the gator was a clumsy, amatuer, effort that put the gator under stress way
longer than it should. It took hours after the catchee viciously set the hook with multiple,
violent upswings of the tree like surf rod trying to turn the gator....by the look on his face
caught on camera when the gator turned and ran, he thought he did. He dang near got drug in. It
took hours to land the gator...who was pretty much dead by then. It's the only time in my life I've
been embarrased by the DCSD. Really it was the DNR's guy to blame....he made the call. Being
DNR...he should've known the basics behind catching a gator. Short lines tied off to something
anchored to land, built to hold a thrashing bull, the gator comes up, eats the bait, then sits
peacefully enjoying it's meal. Here's the trick...While the gator is eating, one must sneak up
close enough to get a kill shot before the gator see you or hears you which will result in an angry
gator on a short rope in shallow water close to you...thrashing so violently getting a kill shot is
not an option. The window for a kill shot on a gator...just like a pig, is about the size of a LL
baseball on his head. Anyway, the property owner was elderly back then. I'm sure he's gone. I bet
he passed it down to relatives...the property still looks about the same. Billy
super fast super fun. The old bridge support that had the red line used as a gauge is gone now too
because they are building a new bridge.... I'll work on getting something out there. Sweetwater
went up to only 2.25 and we still had good water. Lots of new strainers!!
it's still runnable down to around -5 I think...... although that would be pretty boney.
Doable but too low to be any fun. One thing I have to add is that powerslam is definitely not 12
feet high, it is a 7-8 foot ledge. Oh and i saw the "thing" it was a large cubic piece of
rock that formed a minor sieve and has huge pinning possibilities. It would be a great run with
high water.
walked up there, it's all private property on either side above the bridge. I assume you could put
in above the lake, paddle across the lake, and run the spillway but I'm not sure. If anyone finds
out, let us all know.
upstream of the put-in?
We went to hurricane. It was awesome!!!
PowerSlam looks even nastier at high water... certain PAIN! At that level, would you rate PowerSlam
and the following 1/4 mile section IV?
ledge above the anawakee put-in was looking really scrappy. We passed and took the 4 minute drive
back to sweetwater.
just to the right of it you could see a shallow shelf right at the base of the drop. The far right
line was plenty deep at the bottom. The hole was still grabby even at low water. The left side of
the drop has a nasty undercut/sieve rock formation that would be super nasty. I really liked the
rapid 50 yrds downstream from PowerSLAM. At lower water with only a little play it took us about 2
1/2 hours. There were about 4 or 5 deadfalls to contend with below the first mile of rapids.
pretty quickly. We paddled it today after work, and Sweetwater was close to 5.5 ft from last
night's rain, having crested just a few hours before we got on Anneewakee, yet Anneewakee was much
lower than on Patrick's run. For a correlation, I would guess that it's important that Sweetwater
is rising or that it has rained recently. If you look at the small ledge hole just upstream of the
put-in and it looks like a decent, fun hole, then the level is probably good. If it looks like a
small, shallow pourover, it's going to be pretty low. It was still a fun run, some very fun little
sticky holes here and there, but not nearly as exciting as it would be higher water.
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Anneewakee Road to GA Route 166, Annewakee Georgia, US (mobile)
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