Warwoman Creek
Earl's Ford Road to Chattooga River
| Difficulty | II-III |
| Length | 4 mi |
| Avg Gradient | 23 fpm |
| Gauge | Chattooga River Near Clayton, Ga |
| Flow Rate as of 32 minutes | 1.33 ftbelow recommended |
| Reach Info Last Updated | May 5, 2021 |
River Description
Warwoman Creek is a good Class II-III introduction to creek boating.
From Clayton: Go north on US 23. Turn right onto Warwoman Road just after the US76 West traffic light. Continue on Warwoman Road for 8.3 miles. Turn right onto Earl's Ford Road. The put-in is on the left just after crossing the first bridge over Warwoman Creek.
From Russell Bridge (Hwy 28 over Chattooga River): Go west on GA 23. Turn left on Warwoman Road (towards Clayton). Continue on Warwoman Road for 5.6 miles. Turn left onto Earl's Ford Road. The put-in is on the left just after crossing the first bridge over Warwoman Creek.
Shuttle Directions: From the put-in, return on Earl's Ford Road to Warwoman Road. Turn left on Warwoman Road. Go 2.3 miles down Warwoman Road. Turn left on Sandy Ford Road. Follow Sandy Ford Road. This will require one left turn. Watch the street signs. The road will ford Dick's Creek. Continue to the end of the road at Sandy Ford. Beware of river levels when parking. The Chattooga River does rise into the parking area at high water.
Water Quality: Good to fair. Water quality is generally muddy when the creek is runnable. There are many tires along the creek and the occasional eddy full of trash from roadside camping on Earl's Ford Road.
Permits: Permits are required to boat the Chattooga, the last 3.0 miles of this run. Permits are free and are available by self-registration at frequently used put-ins along the Chattooga, all of which are on the South Carolina side of the river. No permit boxes are located convenient to this run.
For more information on the last 3.0 miles of this run, see the Chattooga - Section 3 - Earls Ford to Route 76 Bridge American Whitewater site.
River Features
Put In
Intro
Run the tongue down the middle.
Mattress
Run down the slide on river right. This slide becomes very shallow at lower water levels. Most of the water runs down the main chute left of the slide into a rock at the bottom.
Pinball
Start from the eddy on river left above the rapid. Run down the left side, cutting back to the right at the bottom. Beware of logs stuck in this rapid.
Warwoman Ford
Earl's Ford Road fords Warwoman Creek. This is an alternate take-out for a short run. Warwoman Ford is generally not passable when the creek is runnable.
Finale
Run the tongue down the middle.
Earl's Ford
Warwoman Creek flows into the Chattooga at Earl's Ford. This is not a recommended access point as Warwoman Ford is generally not passable when the creek is runnable and the shuttle to the Earl's Ford access on the South Carolina side of the Chattooga is extremely long.
Dick's Creek Ledge
Scout from the rock expose on river center or from the bank on river right.
Take Out
Trip Reports
Log in to add a reportRan about 24 hours after some big rain. Paddlers gauge on the bridge at the put in was about 1/4' below the 1. Maybe a little higher. Chattooga gauge was around 4ft and dropping. It was a fun run. Some wood in various places. At this level we didn't have to exit the boats for any of the wood. Couple sketchy spots though where we probably should have walked around. Definitely would have to at lower levels. There was some nice rapids at this flow. It was a good time. We only paddled from the put in bridge to the Warwoman Ford
Paddlers gauge on the bridge at the put in was at what I guess would be 0. It was just below the first marking. But it was a decent level. I'd say it could be ran lower but I personally would prefer a little more water. There were multiple river wide strainers. 2 required a portage. Another one we were able to go under on the far right. And another one we were able to scrape over in the middle of the river. No wood was found in the rapids. A fun trip. We did Warwoman to Sandy Ford. Main lines on the 3 miles of Chattooga were also free of wood.
We ran Warwoman between 2.5-3' on the USGS gauge and I got to say this is a fun run. We were excepting a so-so Class II run but got much more than we excepted. Mattress & Pinball and this one unnamed rapid between them where the water folds over itself were pretty big and a lot more challenging than we thought.....I'd give them a solid Class III at that level.
The only down side to this run is ALL the deadfall on the creek and the long stretches of flatwater but a great run if you are not really feeling Sec3 or 4 at 2.5-3' or just want to try something different.
I painted a paddler's gage on the put-in bridge 7/14/07. It can be easily seen from the put-in parking lot. The gage is on river left, on the downstream side of the bridge. Please report your levels and if you thought it was low, medium or high, so we can dial this gage in and get new correlations for Warwoman. E-mail me at h2olevelcheck@hotmail.com with your levels. Thanx -- Rob Maxwell
There is a new paddler's gage for Warwoman Creek at the put-in bridge. Its on the river left downstream side of the bridge. Its easily seen from the put-in.
This was definitly an elf run but everything was runnable except Mattress
We ran Warwoman three weeks ago when the Chattooga was at 2.3. The bottom of Pinball was completly blocked with a pine tree. You could not see the tree unless you bank scout it. If you do choose to run the left shoot you will find yourself with a pine tree just above the deck of your boat. There is a very small chute on far river right that can be run. There was also a lot of new wood in the river.
7/23/2005 My son & I ran Warwoman at 2.68 feet from the last bridge down to Warwoman Ford, about 2.78 miles by GPS in canoes with floatation. Wow, That was fun. Mattress is great! We enjoyed the challange and the intro to Creekin'. But, Beware! There are significant strainers and deadfalls. None required that we leave the creek and only one was not passable without a momentary exit. Pins are a constant threat at the strainers and caution is required as you approach from upstream in the bigger water.
The listings here accurately represent the difficulty though I agree with one submitter that Mattress is nearly a IV: it is really several rapids that constitute an 11 foot drop overall with ample oppurtunites to pin and swim! Rescue is hindered by the steep banks, the lack of pools, inability of others to get to you, the canoeist must have mastered very complex eddie-ins, eddie-outs and ferries to safely complete...MORE than a III+ in my book. We got wet more than once but usually as we eaked-out all of the good from each rapid! It took us four hours in the water and was rather tiring. But, we are not as accomplished as some. The hike is listed as two miles in the shuttle but it is an easy 2 miles. This creek is highly recommended and very fun at this level.
Hey, ya think upper tallulah would be a better gauge for this one?? Similar sized drainage.
We ran this 9/26/03 at 2.0. There were about 6 trees that we had to get over and most could be gotten over without leaving the boat. This was a very fun run with little flat water and beautiful scenery. There are a lot of no name rapids on this. At mattress you can scout on river right. The slide on the right seems to pull you back to the left and it pulled patio straight into a pin above the lower rock. It was a 15 minute struggle to free the boat. I would run the slide as far to the right as possible (flow will limit how far). The picture of Will R. is to the left of the slide. Also when you get to a rapid that breaks right and left and is jambed with big trees (not sure if it has a name). Patio got his boat pinned again on the left side. You could not run the right but if you run the left side it seems to want to pull you towards the tree as you get close to it so watch out. But this was a great run and I will run it again.