Etowah

Outstanding day on the Etowah River running the Gold Mine Tunnel with Brandon Cafino, Roger Nott, and Jim Gerwer. River was up with a 350 CFS gauge at the Hwy 136 Bridge. Caution: Stand in the left side of the entrance and lean down until your ear is almost in the water… if you can see light at the end of the tunnel it’s clear to run. If not go around! There is a tree all the way across the river just below exit, so eddy out on right as you leave the tunnel. Also watch for a huge tree blocking the entire river about a mile above Hwy 136… rope your boats through the tree branches on river right… don’t get sucked under this strainer!

I knew it would be too low, but we were only in town for vacation and we put on anyways. I will mention that there was a fee to launch at Castleberry Bridge, $5/boat and they also gave us a shuttle for $39. At our water level, we weren't really running rapids and we had to carry through maybe 4-5 areas that would be rapids with water. While I can't comment on what rapids were like due to low water, the most interesting ones were just past the Castleberry Bridge property after a curve left and then another about 2.5 miles in, where there is a private property deck river left and then a series of 2-3 ledges. The trip was still fun and a bit less frustrating than we expected with water so low. The log jam just after the tunnel was still there and was the first of two mandatory portages after the tunnel. In the last few miles, there were some areas that seemed like logs moving around could become a problem, which is further complicated by the many areas of private property marked.