Cullasaja
1. Upper (Lake Sequoyah to below Cosmic Crunch) (Upper Cullasaja)
| Difficulty | IV-V+ |
| Length | 4.1 mi |
| Avg Gradient | 167 fpm |
| Reach Info Last Updated | January 8, 2021 |
Western North Carolina is home to the highest mountains in the eastern US, abundant rainfall, globally significant biodiversity, and large tracts of federal lands. In combination these things add up to an incredible array of whitewater rivers and streams that have long been paddling classics. While many communities rely [...]Read More
First, anyone running this section of river must be aware that there are several unrunnable waterfalls and slots along with miles of flatwater between the rapids in this section of river. No one runs the whole thing but instead this section of river is usually run in several parts. For example the upper slide is usually done as a one shot waterfall and the gorge above the Nemesis to Bricklayer Falls and Cosmic Crunch section is run by itself as a short class V+ run.
The Cullasaja begins on the west side of Highlands NC, at the outflow dam of Lake Sequoyah. The rest of the run is semi-roadside along Hwy 64.
For the top Park & Huck:
Put-in at the base of the dam. If the first drop scares you, then you should not be on the river. The first drop is a three tiered slide dropping about
60 feet. The drop is similar to Stairway to Heaven on Bear. Then pull your boat back up the rock face to hike back out.
Below Triple Drop is a short gorge with a lot of flat water and wood. There are at least 4 trees of 2 feet plus diameter that cross the entire river bed. The only major drop is a slide/Flume 150yds above Dry Falls. The Flume looks nasty and cuts from center and goes river right before it empties out directly into a rock wall. Run the slide river left, and don't forget to take out as soon as you can because the mandatory portage, Dry Falls is just downstream. Taking out here is short, but rough because of the dense undergrowth.
Below Dry Falls is another gorge with some good class 5 water in it. After that the gorge flattens out for a few miles leading up to the RT 1620 bridge aka Turtle Pond Road is where the USGS on-line gauge is.
There is one more major gorge of note below this. And it includes the big roadside drop, Nemesis. If you are driving upstream from the lower, the first really big d
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Park and Huck this one. Put-in below the dam. The first drop is about 6-8FT then line up for the second drop of about 15-20 FT. Run from left to right, using the pillow rock to slide up and over onto the bottom drop that's about a 20FT slide into a big pool at the bottom. There's a good trail leading down to a rock platform between the 2nd and 3rd drop that you can walk down to get a better look for wood.
Looks like you would need quiet a bit of water to run it smoothly. There is a flume that runs from center to the bottom river right side. Looks pretty sketchy though. Start looking for a place to carry out after this because death awaits below at Dry Falls.
Mandatory Portage Probably don't wanna miss the portage on this one. Looks like there's nothing much below here for a little while.
Hopefully you're still in one piece when you get to the bottom here. Don't worry though, you have a few hundred yards to get it gathered back up before Bricklayer Falls.
The second drop looks the sickest. Really tight and turbulant water.
One of the biggest, steepest, sickest drops on the Cullasaja. Apparently, you can park and huck this one, but looks like the huck would also be sik.
Run left to right and right around the big rock at the bottom.
There's some wood blocking the entrance to the Notch. Looks like a pretty straight foward drop with a pretty good pool at the bottom that leads into the big part of the drop.
Has been ran before but it is stout.
Dec 1, 2005
Styling the big drop...
