Chattahoochee
7 - The Wave - Upstream of Atlanta Road
| Difficulty | II(III) |
| Length | 0 mi |
| Avg Gradient | 8 fpm |
| Gauge | Chattahoochee River at Ga 280, Near Atlanta, Ga |
| Flow Rate as of 1 hour | 852 cfsrunnable |
| Reach Info Last Updated | February 19, 2020 |
River Description
As of 2015, the old wave is gone and not surfable at 1000cfs.
Maybe at higher flows a wave will form. See photos here.
However, there is access in the new Standing Peachtree Park (the old waterworks plant). It involves a hike, but it beats using S Atlanta Rd as an access point from a safety standpoint.
The Wave is a park-and-play spot in metro Atlanta. Also a slalom training area. Usually slalom gates hung over the rapid.
Located at the Atlanta water works intake.
Immediately upstream of both the Cobb and Fulton county sewage treatment plants. A breeze to the southeast helps keep the smell to a reasonable level.
How Polluted is the River?? It runs adjacent to a Power Plant area, Industrial parks and railyards. The Chattahoochee Trail Park is a nice buffer, Atlanta needs more creek and river buffer space. Bacteria, pathogens and many other neat things are in Peachtree Creek and other urban Atlanta creeks.
We need to foster a community awareness of the beauty and gifts that our local watersheds represent.
How to get there:
From the Atlanta Road exit on I-285 North, the wave is about 4 miles south, toward Atlanta, down Atlanta Road. When you see and smell the sewage treatment plants, you are really close. Continue across the river. Just upstream of the Atlanta Road bridge is where the water works intake is, and the small dam that makes the wave.
As of 2008, the parking area on Atlanta Road was taken out for bridge construction.
What most people did before the road widening is park on the large pull-out on the East or Fulton County side of the bridge where Atlanta Road crosses the river.
There is a Rails to Trails bike path that follows the river on the Fulton County side. Walk down the path beside the Atlanta Road Bridge to the paved bike
...River Features
Put In
Take Out
Trip Reports
Log in to add a reportJust wanted to let the skeptics (like me) know that this hole is actually quite nice and the water is not bad at all (and I'm squeamish at nasty water). It was running right around 1000 cfs when we were there last week and the hole was perfect. We parked just outside the construction entrance on S. Atlanta and walked down adjacent to the construction boundary and paddled upstream. There is a bum camp in the woods by the bridge so I wouldn't recommend leaving anything valuable in your car. All in all this is a great little spot for us Atlantans to get some play after work...
This is a regular spot of mine and I am very familiar with the water quality (and an Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper member). The water quality at the wave is the same as the rest of the river upstream until you get to Morgan Falls...quite nice for an urban river almost never any serious problems. There are, however, serious issues about a half mile downstream where the treatment plants discharge ... but there is nothing to paddle there.
Waterworks/The Wave @ high water
Waterworks/The Wave @ high water
Looking Upstream at Waterworks/The Wave
Looking Upstream at Waterworks/The Wave
You can park at the liquor store past the bridge (if you're coming from 285) and walk back. It's really not that far to walk and your playboat shouldn't weigh that much. I talked to the owner---he seemed fine with the parking lot being used for paddling. He recommended parking in the spots facing the road; he has video surveillance on that section of the parking lot and it will be out of the way of his customers.
I normally just walk straight to the river and seal launch off one of the rocks under the bridge. It makes for more upstream paddling but I would rather be paddling than walking and you miss the mud that way. The water isn't moving fast at levels when this is running anyway.
lemme know if you want to go play sometime chris c rob AT gmail DOT com
is there anywhere to park near here?
Tim M. sidesurfing playboaters hole after catching micro eddy just in front of him on RR.
I visited the wave @ 8400 on the wave gauge. Nothing doing...except some awesome class III ish stuff including a nice 4-5 foot play wave on the adjacent Nancy Creek. There wasn't a great eddy but you could pull yourself up by the trees on the left or hike up river left (maybe river right too) and catch it on the fly.
Nancy creek doesn't have an AW page that I can find but if you're looking for a wave when the wave is gone this may be a good place to look.
I think the approximate level for nancy creek can be figured out by subtracting the level for the metro hooch from the level below the wave.
Using this figure there was 4350 cfs coming through nancy creek (and any other side streams between the Metro hooch gauge and the wave gauge)
Can some one tell me an easier way to get to the wave email me at subsonicsteak3@bellsouth.net