Cumberland, Big South Fork

Just completed a run from station camp to Yamacraw around 21 miles total. We put in around 11am local time with a flow of about 2500 cfs in a couple of open top/sit in 12 ft fishing kayaks.

As a note, to save you some trouble. My friend and I didn't see the ramp put in at Station camp until after we were on the river. We ended up lowering out kayaks down a rather steep sand bank. The easier ramp put in is about 100ft before the parking lot , just at the end of a short trail that runs off the road.

The flow was quick with some nice little bumpy class 1's to boost us along for the first few miles. Around mile 5 (guessing) we hit out first wave train, really bumpy with some weird cross currents near the middle, I got turned sideways somehow and enjoyed the last 200 feet backwards. Took on a bit of water but pressed on.

About another half mile down, we ran into a loooong rough wave train...guessing a good 1/4 mile. 3 foot maybe a couple of 4 foot waves in some places. Still chicken from the last rapid, i portaged the first half until I got tired of dragging the kayak and decided to go for it. I got about half a boat full of water, , my buddy who ran the whole thing got about the same.

After we emptied, we encountered a couple of more bumpy class 1/2 and made camp just across the TN-KY border at around mile 7.1. There was a nice sand bar/island on river left. The river split here with a small channel running around the left side. We parked the kayaks there, hiked up the rise toward the main channel and setup camp on top, about 10 feet above the water line, really nice spot. Saw deer/bear/goose tracks in the sand. Plus we were treated to a bald eagle sighting early the next morning.

The next day started out more exciting that the previous, a succession of class 1/2 wave trains for the first 4-5 miles of the run. We had to stop and drain about 4 times before we made it to devils jump.

Me being only a solid class 2+ guy and my buddy being a class 3+ guy, we had decided to portage Devil's Jump before the trip. There's a worn trail just before the 'pre-rapids' on river left. Due to the really heavy rain earlier in the week, the first portions of the trail has some pools to wade through. The total portage is about a quarter of a mile, with some little hills to drag up initially.

I took the rocks next to the rapid back after carrying the first gear load, and got a really good look at DJ. It was raging. According to the the readings here, when we were there it was around 1800 cfs.

Portaging done, we got back in the river and made the trip down to yamacraw. There was a nice current about half way, the last 2.5 miles was completely flat water.

The river gets really wide here and I assume deep as we saw several fishing boats with big outboards. In my opinion the stretch has the best views, high cliffs and big boulders in the river.

At this level, with my limited experience it was challenging and fun. Definitely going back!