Crab Orchard Creek

Neither of the description links above are working. Anybody local feel inspired to put an actual description of the run into the description box? Best descriptions are in the comments but it could be consolidated into one.

Long busy day on Crab Orchard Creek! 1.7' according to someone. We moved FAST for 3 hours solid. If you haven't run it, 2-3mile class 1-2 paddle in with a log to portage (in flat water), 5-ish miles of winding ''guess which channel is clean'' class 2-3 boogie building to some fun class 3 with sweepers to dodge. Several ''push through branches around the log'' or side-lines that might = short portages at lower flow. After you get to the road-side section, there was a another couple mile section with fun waves to surf before the Emory. I can see doing just the lower section more often - less time, get to surf waves without the worry of wood, half day trip. Crab Orchard is best for experienced paddlers who don't like to scout or portage but like to get MILES of river running action into their day. I would consider a long boat but the Antix was fun on all the eddy lines, some splats too. The paddle down to Oakdale was 30 min and boring but plenty of current and short walk across kudzu to a takeout.

3-15-15 .8 on WMA road bridge gauge, ~5000 for emory at oakdale. The flow was low but very doable for the bottom section. We put on at Pine Orchard/ White Oak Road bridge (upstream river right side has a small grassy area), we took out at the wma access on Jacks Hill road at the confluence with the emory. G -canoe/ducky, Ct -ducky /canoe, EH -canoe, SW JJ and DS -raft, KC -kayak, MP -kayak. Even with the raft this section of river was totally doable. There were numerous fun surf spots even a few big enough for the raft. There was no worrisome wood on this lower section (but a bunch on the top half). Lunch next to Mill creek falls rounded out a great day.

10/15/14 crab orchard creek, flat rock ford to oakdale. 7000 cfs on the emory at oakdale gauge. We put on at the parking area on WMA road and you can see in the picture that we had low flow. We left our shuttle vehicle under the 299 bridge in oakdale and it seemed like it was an okay thing to do. you can break the run into sections and access the river at white oak rd/pine orchard rd bridge (we saw this from river level so i dont know about parking) or downstream where camp austin rd parallels the the river (easy access just downstream of the dream house on the river with the creek flowing through).
The rapids were a mixture of whites creek, the nantahala, and town creek (AL). Flat water to start with for a bit and then some good easy rapids and low angle slides. The longest rapid i remember was in this section and it was a long, wide open slide. Numerous class 2-3 rapids, even a class 3+ with a sieve on river right. I never encountered a 'rock jumble to congested to run' (sorry Monte Smith) and the river mellows in its mid section with a few pools and some downtime. After the bridge there are many more class 2-3 rapids, these lack some of the technical nature of the early section. Mill creek falls is a notable beauty on river left, its worth getting out of your boat and walking the sort distance up to see. Not long after the falls the creek splits into channels as it approaches the emory, stay to the right (the river left channel had a few huge downed trees). The contrast from the tiny crab orchard to the big volume emory is pleasant, even at lowish flow there were wave trains and moving pools all the way to the take out. Overall this river is intermediate fun, with over 30 class 2-3 rapids and most can be boat scouted from above.
Wood was a factor throughout the entirety of the run. The wood was more worrisome than any rapid and is what necessitates intermediate skills. We encountered no less than 10 logs across the whole river, but we only had to get out of our boats a couple times. This being the first time it has run this season it will clean up with more rain.

This shows the water level at low flow 7,000 cfs

Ran this yesterday with a Knoxville crew of Russ, Damon, Aaron, and Carl. Our first choice was Island Creek but not enough water. The most recent AWA comments listed here go back 9 years, but the strainer notes still sounded familiar. We putin at the concrete TWRA 'slab' at the bridge. 1 foot was level, 12,000 to 13,000 and dropping. Two, maybe 3, river-wide strainers in the first 1 mile or so, but easy to see early and you have several options to portage on both river left and river right. Barbed wire strands on the river right portage area so just be reasonably aware if wearing dry suit. I can easily see why this is a good intermediate run. The gradient starts off very slow, then builds slowly, has a few (short) flat sections in the middle, and then finishes with even more gradient in the last 1.5 to 2 miles. Locals say (see Kirk Eddlemon's post from 2004) that the last two miles to the Emory (from the church down to the confluence with the Emory) are fabulous at higher water levels. My thoughts of the run: I recall, perhaps 4 to 5 miles downstream from putin, one solid class 3 rapid, we'll call it Studebaker Rapid, with a horizon line and boulders situated to make scouting from the water a bit dicey, so I walked down river right a bit to get a view. This AWA page has a link to Waldens Ridge Whitewater description with a couple of photos of this rapid from downstream; the photos are tagged 'Photo by Stu Thompson' (Studebaker). There was another rapid in approx the middle of the run that had a small island upstream of a small ledge with a large, flat boulder just downstream of the ledge. Wouldn't be a challenging rapid at all except there was a long running across half of the river at that spot. We eddied-out behind the small island and grabbed a few small shrubs to hold ourselves in position and ran it river left side of the hole. This rapid sounded like Allen Brown's comment in Oct 2004-- the very last sentence; I agree with Allen, 'This could really sneak up on you' best defense is have a capable leader and don't follow too close to the leader. The undercut rock cliff rapids, here and there, are easy to see from upstream, I think.
At this water level an intermediate paddler would, as the miles go by, be more and more challenged to move back and forth across the channel to choose the best or safest route all-the-while keeping a weather eye downstream for the next decision/move.I read someone's online account comparing this to the Nantahala but without all of the Nanny's pools. I'd agree with that. Beginners beware, you won't often have time to collect your thoughts because the next move is just downstream and with 8-9 miles you're going to have plenty of chances to miss a few moves and challenge your combat roll.

Kevin Rogers runs Studebaker, the first significant horizon-line rapid on the run at medium water levels