Little (Fr.Broad trib)
2. Base of Triple Falls to Hooker Falls
| Difficulty | III-IV |
| Length | 0.6 mi |
| Avg Gradient | n/a |
| Gauge | Davidson River Near Brevard, Nc |
| Flow Rate as of 19 minutes | 0.58 ftbelow recommended |
| Reach Info Last Updated | January 9, 2024 |
Projects
Access to Triple Falls on the Little River in NC was long forbidden by private corporate ownership. The land was bought by the state in the late 90’s and Dupont State Forest was created. The State Forest managers initially prohibited paddling in the Forest, because of safety concerns. American [...]Read More
River Description
Park at the Hooker Falls / High Falls parking area, follow signs for the foot bridge and trail leading upstream. When the trail starts to climb steeply head to the creek and decide if you put in above or below the long low-angle slide that ends here. The run consists of the long slide at the base of high falls, a couple nice class III/IV boulder rapids, then you go under the road bridge and shortly are at the lip of Hooker Falls. At low flows most folks run center, at high flows there is a nice left line. The right third of the drop lands on rock. When you are done take the short trail back upstream to your car. The rapids on this section are good creekin practice for the boater stepping up with the creek skills.
In 2023 the Park obliterated the trail following the river from the parking area downstream to Hooker Falls and re-routed it up over a small hill. They posted signs indicating visitors are no longer allowed to walk upstream of the falls from below. This makes scouting from above and quick laps against park rules. The new trail is only an 8-minute walk or so back to the parking lot, and they retained the put-in option at the parking area. So, while a loss of easy access and laps, paddlers can still enjoy laps on Hooker Falls with a bit more effort than before. Please respect these area closures to keep paddlers in good standing with the park.
River Features
Big Nuts
Good playhole with some consequences for a blown roll.
Rail Slide
Sliding ledge move about 60 degrees to the current.
Schizophrenia
Good boulder garden rapid. I like the way my buddy Ben describes this one... 'more personalities than a crackhead on medicaid on a NY street corner.'
That kinda describes Ben too.....
The easiest route through the rapid is starting left then heading to the middle finishing back to the right.
Hooker Falls
Sweet 15' falls. The horizon line is nearly invisible except for the small tree branch sticking out from the left bank just above the lip. Run on left to middle of the lip. DO NOT run this drop on the right, first off it would really suck. Second, it would cost a lot of money to have Humpty Dumpty put back together again. Best part about this drop is that it is about 1/4 mile from where you parked. Walk down and check it out.
After this, paddle over and make a few laps before the hike back to the car.
Trip Reports
Log in to add a reportwe initially went to scout Hooker Falls upon seeing it we saw that there was an extremely large boil on the left side, forming a terminal hole. Because the right side is typically un runnable because of rocks we decided not to run this rapid. It is possible that the boil disappears at higher flows, and I know that it is not there at low flows, but as for the range of 4.0 to 3.6 I believe that hooker is probably unrunable or at least not worth the consequences. our group did decide to go up river and run schizophrenia, taking out just below the bridge. at this point it was essentially flood stage. The water was extremely high, and most of the rocks had disappeared and formed large holes. There was a lot of wood, and the water was extremely fast, but it was a very, very fun run down schizophrenia with it being very easy to lap.
Ran this many times but yesterday 5/16/2018 we were stopped by a ranger in the parking lot who said putting-on within 300ft of the falls will be ticketed. I believe he watched us run it as well. When you lap it, it would probably be worth walking a few extra feet upstream
5/16/2018 after ~3' of rain in the area. Fast rolling waves from the put-in until the drop with a mean boil line below. Even with a good boof we had to power across it. Not sure of the level but would probably call this 'Above Recommended'
Photo of Matt taken by other Matt
All I can say is...the higher the better here. Yeehaw!!!
From DooleyOC-1 on Boatertalk - another rain gauge consideration. Use French Broad at Rosman with ~200cfs as a good minimum, ~275cfs is a better level.
great run! theres a sweet 6 foot ledge if u put literaly at the base of the third drop of triple falls. run it to the right or right center at higher water because the recirculation on the left pulled my buddy todds kayak into the falls and he had to swim.
There is a little three foot boof on the center right side of the middle drop of Schizophrenia.
When you hike up the trail don't climb the hill. Walk along the river to the base of Triple Falls to put-in. Schitzo starts way left to right and finishes way left again. Below Schitzo there is another small boulder garden that needs to be run far left to keep from leaving plastic on the rocks. There is a little boof about 3/4 of the way down that can be seen fron the bridge as you cross the river.
My friend Liz's first run over Hooker. She styled the drop but the landing was another story.
My friend Liz's first run over Hooker. The aftermath.