Tyger, South

I did the South Tyger from Price House Road to Walnut Grove Road Feb 27, 2021. The gauge reading was around 8’ 4” after a good rain event the previous day. It was a PFD for me and since I didn’t connect with anyone, I did it solo using my bike for the shuttle.

The section from Price House Road bridge to Ferguson Creek took an hour+ and had no rapids. But it did have plenty of wood hazards! Note: the Ferguson Creek access to the river was posted with no trespassing signs so it wasn’t an put-in option for me. Altogether it was almost two hours before I got to the first rapid, which was well past the I-26 bridge. It was a fun, easy Class II-III and a welcomed relief from all the flat water.

The second rapid, a good distance later, was a fun Class II with a nice surf wave.

The third rapid was a bit of an unexpected monster. Probably 12 to 15 feet overall drop with remains from an old dam on the right. I ran a small, top drop on the right and ducked into an eddy to try to see the rest of the rapid, but it was too steep. After a bank scout, I ran the main channel right to left avoiding a huge hole in the top center and large boulders further down in the center, right.

A little while later I was at the confluence with the North Tiger then at the ledges (“Nesbit Shoals”) going down to the bridge - these are a lot of fun to read/run, and catch a little surf action on the way.

The huge, main problem with the South Tyger is the length of wood choked flat water before any whitewater action. At one point I needed to portage to do a blockage around a dangerous blockage with Class A/B current going through it. The portage wasn’t easy with 8’ to 10’ high, steep clay banks. If another put-in could be found, downstream from the I-26 bridge, those three rapids plus the ledges at the bridge would make for a nice run.

Ill try this again. This was rather surprising run for me as I didn't expect much whitewater and expected much less trees and 'isolation'. This run had some 'challenging' whitewater (-4') with some relaxing flatwater surrounding by woods and surprizingly not much development (yet). The rapid below the first bridge had some steel to watch for and I would suggest running river right to avoid it. At this low level it was easy to see but at a higher level it probably disappeards. It is all the way accross the river and is some bolts that are in the rocks so watch out.