Wilson Creek

Excellent run. R2ed it with a buddy at 4.4' and it was thumping. Only one quick portage at Unrunnable Rock Jumble. Monte Smith in Southeastern Whitewater gives Wilson Creek 0 out of 7 rating in suitability for a raft, but at flows above 4' I would give it a solid 3 out of 7.

Brian Davis and Dwight N. enjoying the view of the gorge

Beautiful gorge view with Ten Foot Falls in the foreground

This is an acrylic on canvas of a photo that Clay Landrum took of me from a cliff by the road with a 600 mm lens and shows the rapid well.

Finishing up Thunder Hole with Boat Buster seen in background

Dwight running Ten Foot Falls

Brian keeping his eye on the prize.

Dennis Huntley in a borrowed canoe on Wilson Creek at Razorback in November 2015

A beautiful Spring Day in May, 2015. Photo by Rob Lilly with GETOUTDOORS in Greensboro, NC

A beautiful spring day in May 2015. Photo by Rob Lilly with GETOUTDOORS located in Greensboro, NC.

A beautiful spring day in May 2015. Photo by Rob Lilly with GETOUTDOORS located in Greensboro, NC.

A beautiful spring day in April, 2015. Photo by Whitney Eure.

A beautiful spring day in May 2015. Photo by Rob Lilly with GETOUTDOORS in Greensboro, NC

The right side of the ledge is a good boof, on a beautiful spring day in May 2015. Photo by Rob Lilly with GETOUTDOORS located in Greensboro, NC

Riverboarding at about 240 cfs.

Wes nails his line.

A perfect example of why this gorge is so popular, with the high granite walls, steepness and stark beauty. A winter run on a Sunday, with low water.

Kyle Anderson just above Huntley's retreat and below Razorback on a low water Sunday in Winter.

Dennis Huntley on a low water run on a Sunday with friends at Boat Buster.

A low water Sunday on Wilson's Creek Gorge with friends.

Dennis Huntley in an Atom C-1 on Wilson's Creek Gorge at the top of 10ft in the Spring of 2013. Photo by Larry Ausley.

Dennis Huntley in a kayak at the top of Thunder Hole, Chasing Isaac Jones. Note the Sony camera attached to a Go Pro mount on helmet. That looks like Chris Wing on the rocks showing the rapid to another paddler and providing safety for his group. Photo by Larry Ausley.

Dwight Nalbone running the Coin Slot side of Razor Back Rapid

A Beautiful day in the Gorge

Brian Davis booting the bottom of the Coin Slot

Brian in the middle of the main drop at 10 ft falls rapid

10ft falls has changed as of 7/10/13. The vertical rock on river right that pushed water back toward the middle is no longer there.

Approach to Razorback

Above Boatbuster

The sloping rock in the center on the picture is the rock you normally avoid running straight into.

Two large holes back to back are hard to see in this pic

You can see a little of Thunderhole and Boatbuster

This is sloping ledge a little ways above Ten Foot, the other ledges above this one looked very similar.

Bottom drop

Dwight running the right side of Thunder Hole

Wilson Creek was running at + 13 inches. At this level and higher the Right line around the splat rock is good to run. You have to drive hard across the currents and then punch the standing wave with a left to right angle.

Brian Ronca running Ten foot with Dwight Nalbone, Scott Burke & Dave George at bottom

Put in for the Wilson Gorge run with a foot of Snow

A photo of the Wilson Creek Bridge Gauge below the gorge section. Reading 0' in this photo.

This is HOW TO READ the gauge..

Running the Left of Center auto Boof at Billboard

OUr 1st run of Wilson Creek at -9

Top of triple drop has changed from a straight across small ledge to a right side boof and a left side swirling slide

It\'s usually a good idea not to pull out of the eddy when you see a canoe heading for the drop...
Great Rapid
Very clear water.

An incomplete list of difficult places on Wilson Creek...the creek is constantly changing and changes dramatically with flow and weather conditions. At levels below +6' on the Adako bridge gauge there are a few spots that boaters should be aware of.

The referenced photos all have titles that start with 'Warning'.

1. Sieve in creek middle at the 4th ledge (usually run on the right down a slide that finishes in the middle). At -5' (on the Adako bridge gauge) a boat disappeared in the middle slot but was easily pulled out. Word is that a someone was partially sucked into that sieve in their boat and they had a hard time getting them out.

2. Creek Right Sieve in Entrance to Ten Foot Falls – sieve on creek right just below the small drop below the ledge that constitutes the start of the Ten Foot Falls entrance rapid . If you swim or flip going into/over/after the entrance drop then you could be pushed right into the sieve. Empty boats have been caught in that sieve. 'Warning - 10ft Sieve' photo was taken @ -9” on the Adako bridge gauge.

3. “No Name” ledge between Ten Foot Falls and Boatbuster - many people have not been able to swim out of here on their own...recently one boater was rope rescued and revived using CPR. Downstream of Ten Foot Falls pool there is a boulder garden...”No Name” drop is at the end of that boulder garden...'Warning - No Name Ledge' photo was taken @ +1' on the Adako bridge gauge. Above -5” on the Adako bridge gauge you can sneak it far right...the right side of the main ledge has a very sticky hole because a large underwater rock pushes water back toward the ledge...the left side of the drop also has a sticky hole. It can also be snuck extreme left when there is enough water.

4. Creek Left undercut immediately downstream of Thunder Hole pool – in the “hero” eddy on creek left there is an undercut. Many boaters like to catch this squirrelly eddy but if you flip in there you will likely get sucked into the undercut. 'Warning - Thunderhole Undercut' photo was taken @ -9” on the Adako bridge gauge.

5. Pin spot in the drop below Thunderhole where there is a man made cement wall on creek left. Refer to the photo titled 'Warning - Slot Below Thunderhole'. When running the right to left slot move avoid hugging the left wall at the end because it gets very narrow...if you get pushed that way you can usually squeeze through by dropping your right side down and skirt drag the rock on the right.

6. Maytag (undercut) - at the end of the pool following Unrunnable Rock Jumble/Fat Lady Squeeze/Bitchslap, Maytag is the second major drop downsream of Triple Drop. Maytag is often termed “the most dangerous place on Wilson Creek”...while in the pool you will notice that the creek left bank is open all the way to the road...this open area is your Maytag reminder. Many boaters get surprised by Maytag. You can sneak it far left of the Maytag boulder above -5” on the Adako bridge gauge. Trying to sneak far right can slide you back into Maytag. 'Warning - Maytag' photo was taken @ -8' on the Adako bridge gauge.

2. “No Name” ledge between Ten Foot Falls and Boatbuster - many people have not been able to swim out of here on their own...recently one boater was rope rescued and revived using CPR. Downstream of Ten Foot Falls pool there is a boulder garden...”No Name” drop is at the end of that boulder garden...'Warning - No Name Ledge' photo was taken @ +1' on the Adako bridge gauge. Above -5” on the Adako bridge gauge you can sneak it far right...the right side of the main ledge has a very sticky hole because a large underwater rock pushes water back toward the ledge...the left side of the drop also has a sticky hole. It can also be snuck extreme left when there is enough water.
3. River left undercut immediately downstream of Thunder Hole pool – in the “hero” eddy on river left there is an undercut. Many boaters like to catch this squirrelly eddy but if you flip in there you will likely get sucked into the undercut. 'Warning - Thunderhole Undercut' photo was taken @ -9” on the Adako bridge gauge.
BT post from Kiley that highlights a pin spot in the drop below Thunderhole where there is a man made cement wall on river left. When running the right to left slot moves avoid hugging the left wall at the end because it gets very narrow...if you get pushed that way you can usually squeeze through by dropping your right side down and skirt drag the rock on the right

1. River Right Sieve in Entrance to Ten Foot Falls – sieve on river right just below the small drop below the ledge that constitutes the start of the Ten Foot Falls entrance rapid . If you swim or flip going into/over/after the entrance drop then you could be pushed right into the sieve. Empty boats have been caught in that sieve. 'Warning - 10ft Sieve' photo was taken @ -9” on the Adako bridge gauge.

The signed Catawba Re-Licensing Agreement calls for a Wilson Creek USGS gauge to be installed...look for it sometime in 2009.

always check the adako bridge gauge before making any wilson creek decisions...the bottom of zero is zero...we have found that the creek is runnable without portage as low as -12' ...

disregard the comment at the top of the page that says '...and that the Johns River reading is a clue as to what was happening in the Gorge about twelve hours earlier.' It definitely does not take 12 hours for the water to go 7 miles - more like 1 to 3 hours depending upon flow conditions...

ALSO...contrary to popular opinion, the Grandfather Meadows AFWS rain gauge is NOT in the Wilson watershed. We went up and checked it out, confirmed by the iFlows technician. It is actually in the Linville watershed just off 221 near the Grandfather Mountain entrance. It is not part of the weather station on Grandafther Mountain as some of the locals will tell you. However, it is only about 2 or 3 miles from the intersection of the Watauga, Linville, and Wilson watersheds which is at the top of Grandfather Mountain and only a little over a mile from the edge of the Wilson watershed near the intersection of 221 and the BRP.

Many of the otherwise manageable ledges have very ugly keeper hydraulics below them. Knowing where to go is important. First timers should have a good guideperson. FYI.

4. Maytag (undercut) - at the end of the pool following Bitchslap (second major drop downsream of Triple Drop). Maytag is often termed “the most dangerous drop on Wilson Creek”...while in the pool you will notice that the river left bank is open all the way to the road...this open area is your Maytag reminder. Many boaters get surprised by Maytag. You can sneak it far left of the large boulder above -5” on the Adako bridge gauge. Trying to sneak far right can slide you back into Maytag. 'Warning - Maytag' photo was taken @ -8' on the Adako bridge gauge.

RE: using remote information to decide to go to Wilson.

To say that the Watauga gauge is better than the John's gauge or vice versa is just plain wrong. Wilson and the Watauga are separated by a 6000 ft mountain. The two sides can get significantly different amounts of rain. The simple fact of the matter is that the John's gauge measures the water that comes from Wilson gorge, but the gauge is below the run and also measures the flow of another stream, John's River. The Watauga gauge is more or less at the top of its watershed, and can be used to tell what's going to happen at Wilson in a widespread rain event. It is also a useful way of predicting the flow on Wilson. It was remarkable how often the old bridge gauge at the Watauga and Wilson were dead on.

To make a long story short, if the Watauga gauge is rising but not the John's gauge, you might want to think twice about making the trip to Wilson.

Add to this mix, the IFLOWS rain gauges or historic radar data. The Edgemont gauge is in the Wilson watershed. Bailey Camp and Globe are in the John's watershed. I have seen the John's river gauge reading 1000 cfs while Wilson was 6 inches below 0.

Since the hurricanes of 2004, it seems as if John's should be 500 cfs and *rising* before Wilson is running. By 'running,' I mean 3 inches below 0.

Far be it from me to buck traditional river correlations (yeah, right). But overall, Watauga proves to be a better indicator for Wilsons then does Johns River. I know there are more complex ways to correlate Wilsons, but if you had to pick just one gage to check, choose Watauga. Here's the levels:

Watauga = Wilsons

155

The latest as of 2-13-05. From Jah Will.

WHAT???? Some incorrect info. Check it out Bros. New

Forum: BoaterTalk

Re: Wilson Creek JRock New

Date: Feb 13 2005, 19:54 GMT

From: slave2h2o

Before I go any further, I gotta say that I don't mean to start any conflict. I just want to clarify a few items. First of all, Unrunnable Jumble is not the same place as the mank above the entrance to 10 ft Falls. It is the boulder choke after Triple Drop that is left of the spot you refered to as Fat Lady Squeeze. Now, Fat Lady Squeeze isn't the name of the slot move on the right side of Unrunnable Jumble. This line is Bitch Slap. Has been named that for at least 6 or 7 years. Also, the boulder you speak of below, after you make the left turn has always been there and is not terribly undercut. I boof the bia-tch all the time when flows permit. Now back to the mank above the entrance to 10 ft Falls. This is one of the places that went through the least change. Never seen any 'undercut/pin spot before or after high water movement of the creekbed. I don't know what you are talking about here. The section above the mank has changed considerably though now there's a small flat spinnable hole on far river left that used to be closed off completely. The next item is the line around the boulder at the bottom of unnamed rapid below Thunder Hole. It is still the same, always had to catch the eddie to smooth it here. The line is thinner now, but nothing of any real consiquence. This brings us to Triple Drop. The lines haven't changed at all. The damn thing will still kick your ass if it wants to. At 6'-9' above zero (correctly read from the bottom of zero) The hole is awake and waiting for you to make a mistake. At 1 ft the line is definatly not the same as below 1 ft. Better stay farther to the right and go for the high boof only runnable at higher flows. Okay now, let me see... Oh yes, the non-paddling locals have names for several areas of the creek. (ex. The Bathtub, Rat Hole, Wilson Beach...) The Bathtub is actually the section below Huntley's retreat, and after Goal Post. Goal Post no longer has the two rocks forming the goalposts. The line can be run the same however. Hugging the right bank ot the lip, boofing into micro eddie on the right. Can also just run down the middle now without too much worry. Backing up a bit. The Boof Rock that has been washed away marked the start of Huntley's Retreat. Below the spot that used to be Boof Rock, the rapid is as you discribe. I only want to mention that the far left line straight down is good to go, the left line angling hard right, heading right is good to go, and that the right side boof is either runnable or not. If there is enough water running over the spot your cool. Just be aware that there are sveral rocks in the landing zone. If you check it the next time your there. You 'll see that if you know where to be, it's no problem. As I said already, I don't mean to start any conflict. I just can't grip re-naming rapids, or over complicating rivers. I have paddled Wilson Creek in all seasons, at all hours of the day and night. I have run it at levels from -8' to 3.5 ft. and rising, and have been paddling there for about 5-6 yrs. It is one of my backyard runs that I love and I am completely intimate with.

SYOTR

PEACE,

Jah Will

Slot move and eddy hopping at Tripledrop.

Jordan's first run on Wilson Creek, he did awesome.
Jordan's first run on Wilson Creek, he did awesome.
Jordan running the slot on the 1st drop of Triple Drop, it was his first time on Wilson Creek and he did awesome.
Jordan hit first in his Kingpin and did a skip then a barrel roll, I took the picture just a little to soon and missed it.
Boofing at Boatbuster
Boofing at Boatbuster
this is where some of the rocks pilled up after the floods of 2004, it's below the washed out Huntley's Retreat rapid.
this is where some of the rocks pilled up after the floods of 2004, it's below the washed out Huntley's Retreat rapid.

Post Ivan Report 9/26/04 - Most significant change other than the ones mentioned below is in the boulder clog (Fat Man's Squeeze I think) right after Triple Drop. The entrance has opened up a bit, most importantly there are two nasty pin/broach rocks towards the right side about 1/2 way down. You can get around them on the left or right easily enough if you know they're there, just beware because the current pushes you right towards them. At higher levels they look to be a nice boof. Gauge readings still seem to be about 3' off.

Hurricane Frances brought a flood and major changes the week of Sept 8, 2004

I don't think they have changed fo the best. (long) New

Forum: BoaterTalk

Re: Wilson was at +3 at 2pm. Felt more like +6. JAMESE New

Date: Sep 13 2004, 0:23 GMT

From: JAMESE

It will be interesting to see what the changes will look like at low water. The water was so high this weekend that everything was fine but but I don't know what the rapids will be like at -3. There are changes all over the creek but not all effect the rapids. Most of the trees that line the banks are gone. The island at the standard take out is gone with no evideance it ever existed. Rocks are scattered all over but as far as I can remember here is a list of the changes that will affect the rapids.

1. The rapid following the pool below Boatbuster is a drop I always called Uturn. The river flows down a channel then turns hard right around a rock. At higher flows you can run down a left hand channel but at lower flows you wanted to eddy agains the left hand wall and then follow the river down the right channel forming the Uturn. Well a large boulder is now blocking the river right channel preventing the Uturn.

2. At the start of the boogie water in the rapids above Razorback there was a large boulder that formed a pourover that was placed there by a flood about a year ago. It is now gone. There are several changes in those boogie water rapids but there is nothing real significant.

3. The left side of the rapid below Triple Drop has also changed but I didn't run that side. Just scout it before running.

4. Huntley's Retreat, The rapid just below Razorback, is completely different. The boof rock a the top of the rapid is gone and a class 2 boulder garden is now there. Just below the boof used be a small slide into a hole that was good for 360's and side surfing. Now it is a rocky 6 foot ledge into a hole. At high water you could boof it left or run it straight left of center. It looks like it may be real boney at low water. The lower part of the rapid still looks the same.

5. After the normal take out there is a slide that used to have a nice surf wave at the bottom, now the wave is a big hole. In the runnout of this rapid there is a rock the size of a Mac truck that wasn't their before. It doesn't effect the rapid but it is amazing that a boulder that big was moved and placed there.

These are all the significant changes that I can remember but there may be more I didn't see and more may become exposed as the water drops. None of the changes I saw posed any significant hazards but after a flood like we just had the creekbed has to be real unstable so be careful.

There have been reports of some major changes in the rapids from the floods of Nov. 19,2003. Keep your eyes open for changes.

This creek was so much fun. Too bad it was all we got on that weekend.
We hadn't realized how much gradient was lost in this rapid until we got to the bottom and looked back.
It's been said that I'll run a drain pipe if it looked fun. The truth is that I haven't met a drain pipe I didn't like.
Continued... to paddle 2 miles, Wilson Creek. All of our other plans were a wash thanks to a series of errors. No Green, No Russell Fork, No low water Upper Gauley run.

We left Northern Virginia after work on Thursday and drove all night to get to Wilson. We got to the camp ground at 4am and I promptly backed my van into a bollard putting a sizeable dent in by bumper. Oh well, We got up three hours later and found our way on to Wilson Creek. We would drive 1,000 miles over the next three days......

Just another 1,000 mile adventure with a good friend. Life is sweet.

Jim Otto chased a boat through Ten Foot Fall and got stuck at bottom of the drop with the boat. He managed to give the bird the camera during his ride.

Wilson Creek flash flooded from 3' to 22' in less than 20 minutes. We got off just in time and hiked down to take these pictures.

By the way, He's swimming

Nice fun slide. Will is a bit left of optimal.

on the second run, we ran this one on river right. The hole in the middle was somewhat munchy
This is the view from the top as Will is about to drop into the bottom hole. For a surf. Unintentionally.

Run down the right then boof left to avoid piling into the rock wall at the bottom.

Edgar with a great line at ten foot
Mike, Edgar, and david heading downstream

Jah Will dropping into 10ft falls at high water.
Brian digging in above the drop, Jah Will fights to punch the hole.
Boof Required!