Big Fiery Gizzard Creek

If you are willing to bushwhack upstream from the trail, there is a large slide that terminates into a vertical drop. In 1998, it was completely blocked by a tree that would have been dangerous to move. To my knowledge, no one has run that drop and not many know that it exists. Post if you run it. There is also a little known 8-10ft ledge about 2 miles from campus, near the Four Seasons restaurant, that is fun for park and huck.

We started scouting the Gizzard in 96/97 based on the stores of Doug Cameron and Steve Pucket. Shortly afterwards, the hemlock blocking Monkey magically disappeared. The diagonal hole at the lip can get stiff at high water and spun a friend into a backwards descent that was scary but fine. The overhanging wall is not as bad of a problem as we expected. Don't be surprised if you go deep.

BTW, the SOPs come-along works well when needed.

Steve Puckette, Van Nall (senior), and I ran it in January of (I think) 1980. Soon after, Carrie Ashton ran it with some students. We all carried 'The Monkey' just below the confluence of Big and Little Gizzard (the creek that goes straight is Little Gizzard -- Big Fiery Gizzard comes in from the right just before the Monkey. I know because we fought the dam there several years ago), but students regularly run it now that the hemlock trunk does not block the drop. We started just below the picnic shelter and took out at the natural gas crossing below Sycamore Falls. It goes underground soon after that. Needs to be caught just after a heavy winter rain.

Lower Fiery Gizzard (in the valley below the old trout farm) has also been run several times by Sewanee students. It's Class I-II with strainers here and there, depending on level.

Ran the old rio yesterday with el se

Leighton 'Crazy Eyes' Reid must be worried about the water quality.

It rained 2.5 inches the day before pointer took those pix. Then it rained about that much more two days later... I must be living right. Anyway, when it rains that much, one should check out little fiery gizzard, which runs in right above monkey... about seven tenths of a mile of bedrock slides, mostly class four-ish

Ran the gizz today, also 'Little Fiery Gizzard' I think the names are reversed on the topo map. The level was sweet-the highest I have ever seen it, quite continuous and fairly pushy. It only rained ~1.5 in last night but the water table was so high from previous rain that it didn't take much. As V. Horton stated it is imperitive that one runs little fiery gizzard if the level of BFG is high.

This is after a solid day of rain
After a significant amount of rain the previous day
Another view of the 8 footer. Hell of a spot for a ledge wheel!
This one is big!

Pretty much the average rapid on the Gizzard

I paddled this run at a reletivly medium flow on nov 24th 2004 with a local fire fighter from mcminnville and Had a great time the run is great for people just learning to creek with an 8 foot drop that is great to learn to boof off of and for the more advanced paddler it is also fun to freewheel off of. you can also paddle behind this falls and paddle through the curtin. It is very easy to run this drop multipul times because of the hiking trail that follows the river. I thought that was as good as it was going to get until i came up to the monkey. This is your clasic south east drop maybe 15'vertical in about 4' it looks alot like Gorrila on the green. There is a huge undercut on river left that looks bad when being scouted from river left but if you climb across the log above the drop and look at it from where you would set safty for the drop you realize that th roof is quite high maybe 3' still not a great place to be but not near as bad as it looks from river left.

Doug missed his boof and petoned. he was lucky he didnt break his ankels

This photo was taken on a headwater (tributary) of BFG creek in Tracy City. Close your mouth on this run.