| Difficulty | IV |
| Length | 2.3 mi |
| Avg Gradient | 110 fpm |
| Permit | |
| Reach Info Last Updated | July 31, 2026 |
Island Creek has been described as 'the Gem of the Cumberlands'. There's probably not a better Class IV session run anywhere else on the Cumberland Plateau. The dose of continuous, high quality bedrock creeking packed into this short, gorgeous little canyon is unrivaled. The harmony of nature and form meld beautifully here, as the bedrock stream bed carves through the plateau's sandstone strata, forming vertical canyon walls draped with a dank temperate rain forest literally dripping with beauty. The paddler's mind is awash in full sensory engagement, and the intensity of the whitewater as the level rises adds to the experience.
Flows: For decades there was a painted gauge on a bridge that worked well. Minimum was 0.5, 1.0 was a nice medium-low, and 1.5 was getting pushy. The bridge was replaced in 2024, and we lost the gauge. A new gauge will be painted and attempts to correlate its relevance to the old one will no doubt occur, and be imperfect. Please comment with the trip report function a picture of the bridge/gauge, and share your thoughts on how the level felt, to help us get it dialed. At the low end, this creek can be tackled by adventurous intermediates who are willing to scout, catch eddies, and move slowly. Once the flow is medium the run gets some power. At high flows the run starts edging into legitimate Class V conditions.
Wood/High Flows: Island is a small stream, and the hemlock wooly adelgid has not been kind to the area. Trees are ever-present. While there are occasional efforts to clean up the worst of it, treat each new run as just that, and scout liberally, ready to exit your boat at an instant. When the run is clear, the stoke is immeasurable. Also, this creek may provide a Class III-III+ experience at low flows with one harder rapid, but when the creek gets cooking, watch out, as at some point the entire run becomes a single, powerful rapid with big holes and nasty flush potential.
...Small pull-off just before reaching the put-in bridge, upstream river-left. Make room for others! Technically this access point is on TWRA land and subsequent to hunt closures and wildlife rest period. This is a Morgan County Road though, and current status is that it is okay to drive to this point and park, even during WMA closures. Behave accordingly!
Early in the run, there are several tree-filled island complexes. After a few bends the creek straightens out, and begins to spread right and left. Make sure to stay left to avoid a nasty pin slot on river-right. Many paddlers have had close calls here, but if you just stay left, you'll miss it altogether and find a perfectly good line on the left.
It's already been good fun, but when the river appears to turn sharply right and the gradient kicks in, grab an eddy on the left at the corner and behold the beginning of the best. The next quarter mile is pure bedrock bliss off the highest quality. At high flows this long stretch of twisting bedrock is laced with big holes and waves. Live it up!
After over a half mile of the amazing bedrock sliding that Island is deservedly famous for, you'll find yourself ping ponging through a more typical, spread out, rocky creek rapid of Class II+ difficulty. Before going past here, it's time to scout Compound Fracture. You can scout from the rock bar on the left with ease, but cannot portage on this side. Or you can catch a river-right eddy high above the entrance, get out, and catch the rest of your crew. On this river-right side is an old rail grade that provides relatively easy scouting and portaging.
Compound starts with a bedrock entrance flume against the right bank through a punchy hole that sometimes has wood under the surface. From here there is a micro eddy on the left some folks catch, and then drive hard right to boof a shoulder and then melt through the bottom hole. There is also a more middle to left line that can get abusive if you're not spot on. Just below the base of the drop is an undercut on the left, and shallow rocks downstream river-right. There is almost always wood in here greatly complicating the line and amping up the consequences. This spot was blasted during the creation of the railroad. So if that helps you make your decision, it helps to know you're no missing out on some pristine rapid. Compound is feared and respected rightfully so.
A sloping 8 foot ledge that can harbor a sticky hole. The left wall is undercut and to be avoided. Some folks sneak hard right, but modern rocker should have the main line give up the goods.
Most of the flow falls through a landslide deposited, chunky boulder field, and then under the corner of the cliff wall. While hard to see and scout, the line typically has been to drive left of center through the boulder field and then further left into the darkness of the cave. There's an eddy in here, and at certain levels even a small side-surf! Hang out and enjoy the splendor!
The next legal access downstream of Island Creek's confluence with the Emory River is several miles downstream at the state lands just upstream river-right of the bridge at Camp Austin. Paddlers have historically accessed the Emory just downstream of the confluence of the Emory on river-left, but this is private property and is not permitted. There may be industrious ways of moving upstream the short distance to Nemo Picnic Area, which is an access point for many river itineraries in the Obed-Emory system. Currently there is no official method for this though, so taking out at Camp Austin is advised, or even further downstream in Oakdale.
Feb 25, 2019
Ran Island today at 0.4. I would say this is a reasonable minimum, or perhaps unreasonable if you aren't keen on ELF boating. Most rapids are runnable without excessive rock bashing BUT there's a log in the first steep drop of Compound Fracture. The log is diagonal across the channel, extending downstream from the rock to the right of the channel, and crossing the hole at the bottom. Completely invisible from above--very glad that we scouted. The other bad places at low water were the entrance to the Cave (stupid bony), and the last stretch toward the confluence with Clear where the flow splits around an island and then goes past the pilons (brushy).
Feb 25, 2019
Learning from locals about this run, what I've heard so far: 0.4 is minimum, 2.0 is max (largely because other things are running when it gets this high), big water chops are required from 1.0 to 2.0. First time runs usually done at under 1 foot. Lots of slides makes for lots of holes.
May 5, 2010
Here's a link to a really cool headcam video of the first three-quarters of this run.
Compound Fracture starts at 7:40 and ends at about 8:00. The paddler takes the left line at the main drop of Compound Fracture which is a very runnable line and in my opinion the easier line. However, you'll need around 0.8ft or more of water on the bridge gauge. http://www.vimeo.com/11470518
Apr 12, 2009
I finally got to experience Island with some real water in it (1.35'), today 3/25/09. All of my previous runs had been low (0.4'-0.6'). Two people put-on about an hour before we did and reported 1.7'. They saw 1.8' before they set shuttle.
Now for the correlation with the Crab Orchard rain gauge. It has been a pretty good spring in ETN. There had been several good soakings that got many plateau runs running, some at high levels. But there had been two weeks with little to no rain before we put on Island today. Three quarters of an inch had fallen throughout the day yesterday, and then another 3/4 of an inch fell between 4 and 8 am this morning. The 1.8' reading was roughly 4 pm and the we put on at about 6 pm.
The Crab Orchard Rain gauge: http://tinyurl.com/knkot7