Wildcat Creek (Tellico Tributary)

Standing on the left bank, looking at the top of Reconnect. Boof the top pillow onto the slanted rock below. Tree was slightly interfering with running too far center and may block the rapid more as it falls. Taken January 2015

The trail gets awfully small in places

Scouting V8

The exit of V8 is just about 3 feet wide!

Ran Wildcat this weekend on January 4th 2015. There were 7-8 wood portages, and another 7-8 that required creative maneuvers to avoid getting out of our boats. We scouted every blind spot to be on the safe side and the run took 3.5 hours. V8/Minigorge was completely clear (!), Reconnection had a tree that didn't really affect running the rapid and The Icing was clear. Only one tree prevented running a decent class 3 type rapid, all other portages were in flat sections or class 2 rapids.

We put on when the Tellico was 6.2 ft and had peaked just 30 minutes prior at 6.7 ft, taking off when the Tellico was 5.1 ft. In the previous 12 hours, the TVA precipitation gauge at Etowah recorded 1.39 inches of rain and the TVA gauge at Cleveland recorded 1.55 inches.

This is a video from our run: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkyxvSFhfcc

Updated river description a bit with more detail on scouting/porting V8, and the put in hike. Runnable level mentioned on the page seems to be pretty accurate, although if the Tellico only peaked at 5 ft, Wildcat would probably be painfully low. Peak probably needs to be at least 6 ft for a low-medium level and timing is important--getting there more than 2-4 hours after the peak may be too long except for rains of 2+ inches.

Hank Zachary on Wildcat Creek

I and about 7 others or so ran this today and it was well worth it! It's a must run for any Class 4 boater. The hike in was a nice leisurely stroll through the wild on a well marked and pretty clean trail. Looking at the creek initially it's about a 15-20ft wide creek bed, swift but a gentle entry. Class 2-3 for a while before getting to anything significant. Watch for wood as we had to portage about 4-5 times, easy portages and not any of the major rapids so we didn't have to miss any great drops. I will be back for this run.
I checked the guage on the Tellico at 10:15am and it was 7.33 and falling: we put on the water at 1:30pm and were at the takeout at 3:50pm; when I got home I checked the guage for the 6:15 reading and it was 4.59. So I would guess we were putting on at around 6.5 - 6.7ish and taking out at 5.5-5.7ish. Anyone with me feel free to give your take on the level.

The final noteworthy drop on Wildcat Creek before its confluence with the Tellico River.
The final drop before Wildcat Creek joins the Tellico River.