Cullasaja
3. Lower - Base of Cullasaja Falls to Peeks Creek Bridge(Lower Cullasaja)
| Difficulty | IV-V(V+) |
| Length | 1.1 mi |
| Avg Gradient | 184 fpm |
| Reach Info Last Updated | January 8, 2021 |
River Description
Gauge Description:
Its been scrapped down as low as 3.6, but most like to see a bit over 4.0 to pad things out.
4.6 has been stated as the optiomal level. Pads things out and covers some bad undercuts.
Its been run up to some pretty stupid levels.
The gauge is located at the SR 1620 bridge, near Vanhook Wayside Park and the take-out for the Upper Cullasaja.
There is also a gauge on the RT 1678 (Peeks Creek Road) take-out Bridge. One foot here is close to 4ft on the USGS
RIVER DESCRIPTION
Some of the bigger drops are:
Double Drop
Eclipse
Next time
and Whale Tail.
More Info:
Just getting to the put-in of the Lower Cullasaja is a major workout.
First thing to do is park at the wide spot in the road that is the overlook for Cullasaja Falls. You'll be standing on the side of Highway 64 dodging cars, trucks and tourists. Carefully unload your creek boats (don't even think about a playboat on this one) and set them in a place where they won't get run over by passing vehicles, or slide 200 feet down the cliff to the base of the falls.
Get all of your gear together, and gingerly start your way down the trail to the base of the falls. Its only about a 60 degree slope. With a boat on your shoulder that qualifies as a cliff. Just picture the hike into Tallulah - sans stairs.
Someone always slips on the way down and loses a grip on thier boat. My advice is to quickly get behind the downhill side of a tree when this happens. A fifty pound boat doing about 60 miles an hour bouncing out of control down a hill can do quite a bit of damage. Another thing to be aware of working your way down the hill to the put-in is that most of those vines are poison ivey. Be careful what you grab onto.
With any luck you and your boating friends have made it to the base of the falls!! Check the first three drops for badly placed logs before you put on. Once you hav
...River Features
Put In
First Drop
Go thru a slot over a three foot drop, then take a right over a 6 foot drop that lands on rocks. There is usually a log or two stuck in this one to make it even more interesting.
2nd Rapid - Double Drop.
There are a choice of two lines. The double boof on the left at lower flows. Or the double boof off the right at higher flows. The next rapid 'Eclipse' is immediately below. Everything is undercut in this rapid.
Next Time
Next time is about 75 feet down from the put-in. Its about a 15 foot waterfall. The right bank is an undercut cave in the landing zone. There is usually wood in the base.
Boof right to left to miss the undercut.
In the photo you can see Eclipse in the background.
Eclipse
Eclipse is the biggest rapid on the lower Cullasaja. What you have here are three big back to back vertical drops, with undercuts & sieves everywhere.
Start top left. Drive right and do the sunshine boof off the river right rock shelf. Don't pin on the shallow rocks at the base. Then boof the next two 8 foot ledges that are back to back. The bottom hole is great for rodeo moves, weather you want to do them or not. There is a nasty cave sieve that boats and boaters have wasked thru between the second and third drops.
Next time is immediately below.
Trash Can
A steep slide with a fin bisecting it. The landing zone is rather manky.
DUE TO RECENT FLOODING TRASH CAN IS NOW A MANDATORY PORTAGE! PORTAGE RIVER RIGHT.
Whale Tail
Blind from the top right, Last chance eddy top left. Three tiered drop, don't surf the top hole. Nasty sieve thing bottom right. Big boof off the bottom middle, don't get pushed right.
Take Out
Trip Reports
Log in to add a reportWood Update November 18, 2006 5.5 ft
The middle is go to go but the Lower is a different story, we hiked down to the first 4 drops (down to eclipse) and only one had a clean line, every other drop has horribly placed wood. First falls has a big log in the entrance, and eclipse has an easily removable tree blocking the whole river above first boof. Enjoy
Tim on his 1st run down lower Cullasaja.
running the double boof, probably one of the safest
rapids on this river, unless you count the possible
sieves and that it's above the big mama that is
Eclipse
Cook fires up Eclipse after dealing with the screw
up rocks at the top that seem to be new since '04
summer floods. Look for trouble from the entrance
at this level.
If you're a little too eager on the first drop, you'll
rush the padded wall, spin and drop the second
part backwards .... no worries, just enjoy the view
up the rapid instead
A look down the pit of Next Time -- use the lip
visible in this pic to get your nose up. Rock on left
(just underwater), big undercut on right, shallow
landing area even when you're on line.
This is about as good of a paddler's eye view of
Next Time as you'll get w/o hucking it. It lands in a
channel about 4 feet deep, with a barely covered
rock on your left, big undercut on your right.
Here's the full view of Eclipse. There might be a
narrow line for a sneak on far left if you can keep
your nose off a rock at the bottom -- since the
floods in Summer '04, the portage of Eclipse is
easier (but still not easy).
A fast sluice with a drop and funny water in the
middle and another drop right at the end. Don't end
up left at the bottom of final plunge; as of 11
-2004, it washes into a bunch of logs. The old
boat-breaker rock in the landing zone is gone
thanks to the 2004 hurricanes.
Eclipse - done right.
the entrance to eclipse has changed due to flooding, several ill placed boulders will make it a challenging new line. double boof, aka trash can is no longer a go. at 4.8' all the water still pushed right into an undercut sharp protruding rock. a mandatory portage for anyone who doesnt want to get slammed. portage river right. the lead in to whale tail is cleaner than before and still good to go. be careful out there.
The Cullasaja ... New
Forum: BoaterTalk
Re: cullasaja -- update... unipaddle New
Re: lower cullasaja BSK New
Date: Sep 28 2004, 0:39 GMT
From: ugadelta98
The Cullasaja is broken into three distinct sections (for whitewater boating): the Upper, Middle, and Lower.
Upper: 3 Big drops at the beginning, several portages (including Dry Falls), some flatwater, a little class III/IV, and then some solid V/V+ stuff from Nemesis and Bricklayer down to Cosmic Crunch (which is realistically a VI).
Middle: Some Class IV boulders garden stuff below Cosmic Crunch, some class III boogie through semi-tight slots, one small drop, two 8 foot drops (both IV's above 4.5), some Class III boogie, T-Bone (a Class IV+/V) multi-tiered drop, some more Class III boogie, a mile or so of flatwater, a small gorge with Class III+/IV moves (above 4.5 it is Class IV, and only gets tougher as more water comes in), then some ledges in front of the rock shop; there are 3 more Class V rapids below the rock shop, and directly above the big falls, but very few people run them- if you screw up and swim you could end up flushing down over Cullasaja Falls (over 200 ft multi- tiered drop).
Lower: put in at the base of Cullasaja Falls; you have many Class V/V+ rapids for over a mile. The famous ones are Double Drop, Eclipse, Next Time, and Whale Tale, but there are many more stacked in there. It is a serious creek run. The takeout is the Peeks Creek Bridge.
I grew up in Franklin (live away now though), and have been paddling the Cullasaja for about 8 years, so I am very familiar with the majority of the run. I have paddled alot of the Upper, all of the Middle (many, many times), and from below Whale Tale down on the Lower (we hiked in from Peeks Creek- I'm not a good enough creeker to even consider the rest of the Lower still). That river is beautiful, powerful, and dangerous, so be careful on it; I see alot of people posting on here about it these days.
cullasaja -- update... New
Forum: BoaterTalk
Date: Sep 27 2004, 21:42 GMT
From: unipaddle
this might have been posted already. many changes on the lower of mention. trees in 1st rapid. new ODDLY placed boulders above ecliipse. jerry curl has adjusted its 'jerry curl'. most of all TRASHCAN! this is now the ugliest rapid on the river. 5 foot sloping drop into pinny pillow area with all the water washing to the right of the large boulder sending you towards a jagged, overhanging, undercut, jaw snather of a boulder @4.1. it will probably be passable @ 4.5 and above. wash out of trashcan leads directly into whale-tail with very few eddies in between. the nasty reputation of the lower cullasaja just got worse.
Our group ran this last Saturday (9/11/2004) at somewhere around 4.6' on the USGS gauge. We've run this section down to 4.0' and all of us agreed that 4.6' is the best level we've run it at so far. Everything is a little more padded out. There is a small stick in the right side run out of First Drop since the rainfall from Hurricane Frances, but it is easily avoided. Be careful on this creek, though, because it is sick.
At 4ft Eclipse is very scrappy.
Right slot on 1st drop.
This is what you have to look foward to if you want the Lower, Middle, or Upper Cullasaja.
Lower Cullasaja
Forum:BoaterTalk
Date: Mar 21 2003, 01:08
From: Bergen
The tree below Whale Tale is gone.
There is wood on the bottom right below first drop (only a problem above 5').
The second rapid below Next Time has a tree just under the water. Ran it today @ 5'3' not visable.