Cheoah River

There is a nice forest service put-in just down from the dam.

Nice pipe about 30 feet above the river with some very mellow fast moving current under it. The next time you see this sucker, things will pick up.

In the first mile and a half after some fast moving flatwater comes a three foot tall ledge. The middle has a rather strong hole with a major backwash at 1500 cfs. At 1000, the ledge can still throw boats vertical and recirculate swimmers. Fortunately there is a big eddy on the right to gather up gear. This rapid was run for the very first time during the Sept 17th release since this section was too over grown to be run during the test releases and the natural flows. Craik Davis helped with that cleanup effort that opened this up and was the first one over the top ledge on the morning of 9/17. He also got munched by the hydrolic & SWAM. The rapid is named in honor of his hard work and unfortunate incident that ended his run very early that day. FYI - Craik did have a successfull run of that ledge & the entire river during the Oct 1 release.

A little past the grocery store you'll see that giant diversion pipe crossing over the river again. Things are about to pick up!! The next three miles are Non-stop action!!

There are still trees both in the riverbed and clogging most otherwise usable eddies. The pace starts to pick up here, with a long Class 3-4 approaching the water diversion pipe.

Between the diversion pipe and the swinging bridge are a good series of back to back drops with some very stiff holes. There are still a lot of trees in this stretch to be avoided. Just below the swinging bridge there are good eddies on the right to scout the dam below.

Swinging bridge rapid is the approch to the dam. Lots of routes but in the end you're going to be in a big eddy with a blind horizon line behind you. Depending on the water levels, there are a couple of large holes in the approach you will have to deal with.

Below the pipe and swinging bridge, the Cheoah drops over an six-foot lowhead dam. At higher levels (above six feet/2000 cfs), the hole is terminal. At medium levels (above five feet/1400 cfs), a direct line opens up on the far right, but the preferred line here is a creeky double-drop on the left, threading the needle between two patches of trees. At lower water (below five feet/1000 cfs), you can power over the middle of the ledge. The difficulty of this rapid, along with all of them on the upper portion of the Cheoah, remains the lack of eddies, countless strainers on both sides of the river and sometimes mid-stream, and powerful holes and pushy water.

Immediately after Wilma's Ledge, the road pulls away from the Cheoah for really the only time. Strainers fill the eddies and directly below lies one of the Cheoah's toughest and longest rapids. Takeout, named in honor of many early Cheoah pioneers who ended their day early here.

Takeout is difficult to scout due to the brush lined banks that are littered with poison ivy.

Huge holes abound here. One of the large river left holes at the top of the rapid has a bad piton/pin rock to be avoided. On the bottom right is a large boulder that sends you toward larger holes.

Once the trees are removed, at normal levels it should rate a solid 4, and easy class 5 above 1500. Around 1800 it kicks up to solid class 5.

In any case, be sure to scout this one before you launch; otherwise, it may force you to 'takeout' after being thoroughly hammered. At the bottom right of the rapid there is a good spot to exit the river, usually marked by a plethora of on duty rescue folks.

This ledge represents the entrance to Takeout and consists of a nasty riverwide hydraulic. We would have run a sneak river right, but as you can tell, there was a forest in the way. As with lots of these photos, taken with a cheap disposable waterproof camera, the perspective is a bit off. This ledge is about four feet tall.

This is the second drop at Takeout. As you can tell, its difficulty lies in the pushiness of the water, the size of the holes, and most importantly, the TREES! Because of these factors, Takeout at this water level is nearly unreasonable.

This is a typical rapid on the middle part of the Cheoah. This middle section opens up considerably from the tree-infested upper part. It's about five miles of rapids like this: big, pushy, very similar to Gauley rapids but much, much more continuous. This section is not as demanding as the tighter upper two miles, largely because of the lack of trees and the larger riverbed with wider rapids and more routes through them.

The so-called Land of Holes is a three-quarter mile section of continuous Class IV whitewater with few eddies and no respite. I think Land of Holes is one of the very best parts of the Cheoah. Not much beats long, beautiful, and continuous Class IV boogie water.

Pretty much the only big patch of calm water on the entire run at levels of 1500 and 1000. THE Eddy is in a right hand bend of the river.

Below the eddy, you take a cut thru some brush to get back in the main channel of current. Evidently there is an island that quite a bit of water goes around, but the entrance is clogged with brush. The next mile is mostly mellow non-stop class 2-3 read and run, with a few good class 3's tossed into to keep you on your toes. As of Oct. 2005 there was still quite a bit of wood in this stretch, but its fairly easy to avoid.

Once you see the next bridge, be ready for the Cheoah's final 2 mile mad dash to the lake. This signifies the start of the lower portion of the Cheoah, where the rapids will accelerate back up to IV-V and soon plunge through a large and very long Class V rapid. This is also an alternate put-in for the Lower Cheoah.

One of the best play spots on the entire river is about a quarter mile past the bridge. Big eddy on river left and a riverwide wave. The wave is a bit flushy in the middle but will give up lots of good moves if you have the skills.

The entrance rapid to Bear Creek is nearly as difficult as the drop itself. Its best to grab an eddy at the top of the approach, to scout the approach, the falls, and the hole at the bottom of bear creek. The Entrance is long and pushy, and suprisingly steep abounding with large waves and holes. The horizon line downstream is the big drop. Routes vary dramatically depending on levels, but at most flows you can catch one last eddy above the falls on the right.

Bear Creek Falls is the largest vertical drop on the Cheoah. It's about 12 feet tall and found not far upstream from Tapoco Lodge. The lower two miles of the Cheoah drop 106 and 146 feet. This represents a whitewater experience on a mid-volume river not often found in the Southeast. At all water levels, the river right line consisting of a slide into a trashy hole is the normal route. At flows of 1000 you can boof off the right center of the falls. A left boof toward the eddy will land on rocks. At medium water levels (above 1500), I think the best line here is a gorgeous far left boof. The added water will allow you to miss the rocks on the eddyline, but you will be playing very close to them.
At higher water (over six feet), the only reasonable line is river right. Set safety because the rapid downstream is hazardous.

The next set of rapids, combined with the drop, form one of the most demanding parts of the entire river.
The start of this rapid is a big slide with a number of route options. From there you have two large holes to punch before you can eddy above the bottom hole. Three fatalities have occurred in this rapid. It should be approached with the utmost caution, with safety set, or run left of the island.

aka 'The West Prong Line'. 5 back to back drops in a channel about 25 feet wide. The drops are about 8 feet tall and 30 feet apart. Get in the middle and boof hard!

This is a photo of the final hole in the set of rapids below the drop. At mid to high levels, they combine to form one huge rapid. This particular hole can be found at the bottom of the righthand channel. Even at lower to medium levels, this hole is significant, and avoiding it is the toughest part of the Bear Creek Rapid. At levels of 1500 this hole led to a variety of beatdowns and lost gear. Most successful routes were boofing off the left side of the hole. At 1000 cfs there is a minor break in the hole just right of center. The holes backwash is solid at all levels.

Below Bear Creek and above Tapoco lodge is one very steep stretch of big water. Lots of routes, but basically a half mile of boogie water. Probably 5 or 6 defined drops at 1000 cfs, but they are stacked on top of each other. The closer you get to the lodge the steeper the gradient gets. On river right when tapoco lodge is in sight there is a pinning spot to be aware of. Of course you'll be on that side of the river avoiding the massive pour over thats on river left. You can see it as you're approaching it, so don't let your guard down.

The rapid alongside Tapoco Lodge is one of the river's best; it funnels into a great playspot almost parallel to the lodge. Below it, enormous waves continue until under the bridge.

After the river crosses under the bridge, it drops into a steep, beautiful mini-gorge. At this point you have 3/10s of a mile before you hit the lake. The first thing you'll notice going under the bridge is that the river goes to one third its previous width. You'll also notice that the bottom is about to drop out, again. Four strong Class IV rapids are hidden in this dark little corner of the run. Just below the bridge are two large (huge?) back to back holes. There is some eddy service below both of them to gather things up. After that are two more big drops then a couple of easy class 3's before you hit the lake.

Notice that the water temp in the lake is about 20 degrees colder than the river temp. This is due to the bottom drawn water coming thru the hydro-power station. Also, note Cheoah Dam, where Harrison Ford's character jumped off of in 'The Fugitive.'

Paddle about a quarter mile down the lake. There is a boat ramp that will be obvious.