Tellico River

NOTE: Adventurous and some light portaging.

We took a 10' 5' RMR Storm Raft and 2 AIRE Tributary Spuds down the 7-8 mile stretch starting from above the bridge that is upstream of the 6' ledge and ending past the junction on river right.

All taller ledges were able to be run in both the raft and spuds, Baby Falls was runnable and lappable at this flow. Great for spending time hucking multiple times.

Directly below Baby Falls was shallow, but navigable on the river right side in both raft and spud. Jared's Knee was navigable in both raft and spud, with small short moments of being stuck.

This flow definitely runs with the right technical rafting skill and the willingness to get out from time to time to push off of a few rocks here and there - not everyone's idea of a good time, but we will be back for it again!

Left side boof on Baby Falls

Baby Falls left line boof at 1.8ft.

Boofing Top ledge

After work fun at Tellico

Large tree down in the chute, river left, just before Jarrads Knee. Easily seen, and can be avoided by taking the sneak in the ledge just to the right of the chute.

Baby Falls

The tree below cry-baby was gone in early December

The 'Tellico Ledges Gage' is on the downstream river right side of the center support on the put-in bridge. Its easily seen from the road. The gage is not meant to compete with or replace the USGS Tellico Gage. Its simply a safety tool to help padder's know if the river is flashing up, creating dangerous hydraulics at the ledges. Please report your levels so we can get this one dialed in.

Matt and Ellen DeVoe running Baby Falls

Looking up below baby falls. This is around 2 feet. A sweet eddy is to be had on river left but watch out for the pinning potential right next to it.

Ran this run twice 10-10-09. Most fun run I've ever been on and I'm not a great paddler. The ledges are great and so is baby falls. Jared's knee can be a bit tricky tries to push left into some rocks at this level.

I ran it several weeks ago when it was around 2.3. I was up there with two other people, and we meet up with about 10 others. Some we knew, some we didn't know. Regardless we all set shuttles with each other and made party runs in one big group, it was a blast! Us three that drove up in the same car, camped (napped for 2 hours) and put on in 6am, there was barely light. We made 5 runs before noon then went to a place in Tellico Plains called Prospectors. I rein the only person to beat there food eating challenge! Then had enough time to go to the Ocoee on the way back to GA. What a great day!

Not certain how much the botoxing of one's balls has to do with this run but I do think this is one of the best ones in tenn.

PLAIN AND SIMPLE, THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST FUN CREEKS I HAVE EVER RUN IN MY OPINION!!!

Thomas Oliver and myself ran the whole section down to the Knee at 14,000 cfs. Baby Falls was about a 6-8ft drop (Major Hazard). Swimming any of the top drops or the Knee would be really bad.

The Tellico Cleanup this year is March 10th. Please helpout with it if you can. 1.2-1.3ft is plenty of water for a run of the Ledges afterwards.

Following our participation in the 2007 Tellico River Clean-Up some of us from Atlanta Whitewater Club ran the river. I had one combat roll under my belt when we started and got two more as the day went on. I flipped once at first ledge, the landing was shallow and I hit a rock about eight inches under water & I rolled up.

I was having good river karma between the roll and clean up so I decided to show off a little on my first waterfall at Middle Ledge. I did a decent rail grab though it took more concentration than I thought it would take. I forgot to put the nose plug on but I landed real clean. I love the ledges!

I was talking with Mike Lewis (Louie on BT) today. Recently there has been some disagreement about runnable levels on the Tellico. For a long time the conventional wisdon was that 1.7 on the gauge was about minimum. However more and more people have been reporting good runs down to 1.3 and even lower.

Mike, who has been running the Tellico for more than 20 years and did a Tennessee Outdoor Life TV show on the river, went to see if he could figure what had happened. He says that the river bed under the gauge has gotten scoured out and, relyng on some of his long time water marks, he thinks that what was 1.7 is now about 1.3.

This means that the river is runnable lower than many of us generally thought. If you like the Tellico then you might want to try it down to the 1.3 range, or, for my money, even lower. Please report you runs and levels. Chris Kelly

A note about the undercut in Jerrod's Knee...It is located immediately river left of the 'knee' rock. It is slightly undercut, but the real problem there is it narrows down to a pinch at the bottom. Be extra cautious if you are in a playboat and find yourself to the left of the knee. Swimming into this slot could be bad due to the risk of a leg getting wedged in the pinch.

What a way to spend Easter Weekend!

Boofin the 7 ft drop

Adam caught the eddy right above the falls, but didn't make his line. Makes for some good footage though.

Nice run through Baby Falls!

Our 20 minute run of the upper section.
Sliding down the wiper.
sweet boof off the left side of the knee.

CT nails a good line on his first run at Baby

First run of the topo duo on the Ledges of the Tellico.

I never thought I'd see this...Kevin flipped over!

Note airbrace at the bottom. Some things never change...
Nice boof, Sean.
He had a better line in your boat than you did, Peter!
Kevin -- the smoothest Class III boater in the world! :)

Doug Bradley on a his first run of Baby Falls.
My first run of Baby Falls!

I couldn't get to the regular Tellico run to get photos, the road was under water. But here is an example of what the water looked like today. Be careful out there!

Mark Neisler avoids piece of a tree in Diaper Wiper but catches the top left eddy.
Mark Neisler avoids piece of a tree in Diaper Wiper but catches the top left eddy anyway.
Mark shows the group how to avoid a jumble of rocks at the bottom of one the Tellico's ledges.

Gordon at one of the ledges on the Upper Tellico.

a choice launch off the knee
Congratulations to Martin for a fine baby shower.

A good look at the bottom half of Jared's Knee.

Mark Neisler runs Jared's Knee.

Adam Thomas running Baby Falls at 200cfs in a Medi~~~l.

My unique run of Baby Falls. You might know something like this would happen when I let someone have my camera.

Taking semi-old school right line in a Dancer.

this picture was taken immediately before a pin on river right of Top Ledge. The boater was pinned sideways under the curtain.

Ben did great and rolled up with a boat full of water. No swim for Mr. Ben.

Ben did a great job fighting his way out of the hole at the bottom on the Knee.

Jason Foley running Baby Falls at 200cfs on the Tellico River.
Gordon Byrd running Baby Falls at 200fcs.
Omer Hall running the Ledges of the Upper Tellico at 200cfs.

Good roadside parking at the Put-In
Kevin Thomas running the first ledge
Kevin Thomas running the third ledge
Kevin Thomas running the left line at Baby Falls
Rob Maxwell running the right line at Baby Falls
With Baby Falls in the background, Diaper Wiper is one of the most photogenic rapids on the Tellico.
Jerod's Knee is the most difficult rapid on the Tellico. However, since the Tellico is a road side run, portaging is very easy. Here is Kevin Thomas running the last drop of Jerod's Knee.
'The Boys' running Diaper Wiper.
The river right line at Cry Baby.
Everyone had good lines through Jerrod's Knee.
Kevin Colburn running the left line at Cry Baby.

1st run on the tellico. 100% fun the whole way down. Baby falls is freakin lots of fun. Freak out...

better to look good than to feel good!

Courtesy SouthernWilds.comw