| Difficulty | III-V |
| Length | 8.6 mi |
| Avg Gradient | n/a |
| Gauge | Caney Fork |
| Reach Info Last Updated | March 19, 2013 |
This is a beautiful river with many cliffs that remind me of the great Russel Fork. It has the classic emerald green water that the plateau is famous for and enough vertical to keep life interesting. Bee tends to runs a little longer than the Caney Fork because it is steeper and channels very well. This run is harder than the Caney Fork and I venture to say harder than Cane Creek (Fall Creek Falls). Bring your Boof stroke and boat control on this one. Some of the most consistent rapids on the plateau once in the gorge. This run often gets overlooked because of the lack of beta and shuttle length. DO NOT WRITE THIS RUN OFF. Hopefully my updated shuttle situation will shed some light on this place so more boaters can experience this great run as I did.
If you use the Bee Creek putin you have a 1-1.5 miles of flat water before you get to the dam. Walk the dam on river left and there is a graded road on the left to the river bank at the bottom. Once you put in below the dam the rapids start. there is a 5 foot ledge, then an awesome class 4 slide. there are a few more smaller rapids untill a class 4 that is right at the confluence of Glade creek. After Glade comes in on the left there are several class 2 and 3 rapids for 3-4 miles. If you were paying attention you will have noticed a building and no tresspassing signs on river left after the 3-4 miles of the class 2-3. Very shortly after the buildings and signs the gorge will start. You will start to see horizon lines and rock jumbles. Several of these rapids are boat scoutable, but when in doubt, GET OUT AND SCOUT!!!!. As with any run in the southeast with lots of gradient there are several sieves and undercuts. After the gorge you have maybe one mile of class 2-3 until you get to the Caney Fork / takeout.
Take-out is at Caney Fork confluence. On the shuttle you have to pick the lesser of two evils. One option is to have a long drive to HWY 285 ( also called Glade Creek Rd, or Lonewood Rd) to put in on th
...May 21, 2025
Scott's Gulf Wilderness State Park is Tennessee's newest state park. It includes both sides of the Upper Caney Fork run minus the first mile or two. It includes both sides of the bottom 40% of the Bee Creek run. It includes the both sides of most of the Lower Upper Caney Fork run that puts-in at Scott's Gulf Road.
Dec 31, 2014
Bee is a big step up in creekiness from Caney Fork but can be run just as often. Watch out for sieves as there are some BIG ones!
Kirk Eddleman showed me a cool trick that makes Bee much more accessible.
For a 90 min walk from the confluence you can run all the rapids with no shuttle!
Paddle the flat water across Caney Fork and up Bee from confluence to the rapids, paddle / hike upstream on river left and look for orange tape marking a trail up onto a higher berm - follow trail along river upstream and over a taller bench then down to a big pool. Paddle that pool upstream to the end and you will see an old road on river left. Set watch.. plan to hike about an hour. Follow that old road to Rose Cave access and past it - upstream and slightly up hills for about 1 mile before it peaks out high above the gorge, then it's another mile flat then downhill to a creek crossing or two - Look for flagging tape and old cans, 2 white boundary signs, that sound of rapids will have been drawing you in at this point. Follow yellow blazes to river access. If you look upstream and see rapids.. you didn't go far enough. The top 3 rapids are back to back so make sure you put in with flat water above. This is the very top of the best gradient! Follow Pink Tape to scramble down to the river and SCOUT this first series of drops as well as several downstream. Like Richland, this is not an eddy-hop / boat-scouting run until you know it well - you will be scouting a lot! This run has some big boots and slots and a lot of bang for the buck as most of the gradient of Caney Fork is condensed into this short stretch. Enjoy!