Cartecay

There is a reported strainer in S-Turn on the river right side of the rapid.

Ran this in the morning of 03/28 before another spring storm smacked the area. Level was 3.5ft- The beidge at lower cartecay rd had a strainer that spanned the right and middle channels, none other than that. Whirlpool, i believe, looked pretty gnarly, ran left, flipped, then a hole after that on the right sucked the bow of my playboat under, pretty hard. but i managed to stay upright. Blackberry falls pretty big too, ran the tongue on the right and stayed afloat. Rest of the run before that was chill. Great way to start the day!! Yaaooooo!!!

April 2018 -- Woody says the bridge is still out so use these directions: Take Highway 52 East and pass Lower Cartecay Road where we used to turn. Pass Hudson Apple House and turn right on Aaron Road. Take it until it dead ends. Turn right on Lower Cartecay Rd and go 1 mile. Cartecay River Experience is on the left.

Dogs have moved!! New owner is a nice guy.

I have been paddling cartecay for the last month straight and the last time we were there the dogs came out. A first timer rolled and had to get back in his boat. My recommendation would be stay away from that house with the star on it. Those dogs were literally biting the boat. There was fear in the eyes of s few boaters.. Stay safe!

Hello. Is it possible to put in higher on this river? Say Macedonia Road? If so, what is up there? Anyone ever float that section?

Well, I answered my own question this weekend. I put in at Macedonia and floated to River Hill Rd. It was a nice float. No real rapids, but the first part of the hour long float was very serene and pretty with no houses.

any thing under 1.7 is to boney for a decked yak let alot of plastic on the rocks above S turn

Just did this river last weekend (6/9/2012) at level of 1.66 and it was a great time. The first mile was tame, but the second half was great. I took my 9 and 11 yr old sons with me on our Intex Seahawk II raft and we had a blast. Everyone we passed by on their inner tubes were like... :o wish we had a boat! :D

The rapids on the river are nothing to challenge my raft, but were fun to shoot. After we did S-Turn, we parked the boat and jumped directly into the rapids and slid through them multiple times with just our lifejackets. GREAT FUN. When we got to Blackberry Falls, we did the same. Spend over an hour there going over the falls. Super! There is even a nice rope swing a little before the falls that you can use.

Great river to take your family to. Thanks for this website! I'll post some pictures of our trip as well.

Blackberry Falls on 6-9-12 Water Level 1.66

Ran it today at just below 4, and it was awesome. At this level ya need not worry about those dogs coming after you, they didn't want to swim in that! They just barked from shore. Whirlpool at this level and beyond is a bit of a scary looking rapid, I know of several experienced paddlers who have recirculated their for longer than any mortal being would care to. We ran from the put in all the way down past DNR take out, no issues with strainers. It was a good day! BRING THE RAIN

Running Blackberry Falls on the Cartecay river . Good run, no rolls.

Brad Zimmerman punches through the haystack at Blackberry. Incredible run today at this level.

Made a run this morning at level 1.49 and it was very scrapy. Rock Garden was a mess. Left alot of plastic on the rocks throughout most of the run. S-turn was awesome and a little more intimidating than I remember... mainly because after the first drop you HAD to move left to catch the second chute. It almost has to be an entry level class III at 1.5. Blackberry was a lot of fun, but had a rock lip along the top which made lining up with the rooster tail tricky. A fun run but I will not be making the trek back up to Elijay until the river is at least 1.8 - 2.0.

@1.5 - after dropping past the first ledge, at this level you have to paddle hard left to make it to the second chute.

@1.5 - Rocky lip at the top made for a tricky launch down toward the haystack from the rooster tail.

Travis running Blackberry Falls from the left. His favorite line!

Travis making a run down Clear Creek Falls.

Great run for beginners. We took two people who had never paddled white water before. They did great running it in creek boats. The run down to clear creek falls is well worth it. Blackberry was great tried three lines the best was down the center but boofing far right was fun to.

The Cartecay River Experience will continue the 'Chili Run' January 1st. 2010. This tradition was started by Jay and Fuzzy Nuts many years ago. If you would like to participate please contact Jenny or Myself for more details. We are up for additional suggestions on how to make this event a great EXPERIENCE for all.

Five of us put on today with the level at 3.2 and dropping around noon. There is a very large, river-wide strainer just above the put in at the Cartecay Watershed property but no other significant wood on this section as of today. Overall the river was pushy but fun with strong eddies at every rapid. Sexton's was runnable nearly all the way across, but the river-right line was still best. Rock garden was a very fast continuous wave train. Surfing rapid was at a good surfing level but the water speed made it challenging to catch. S-turn was really rolling and the usual recovery pool was gone. We all took different lines, a far left drop and, the normal river-left line, and a center slide/boof off of the norrmally exposed rock. Whirlpool certainly lived up to its name and one of us took a swim. The drop its self was a half-curl that made for a wild ride and the river-left sneak was not quite available. Blackberry was RAGING. There was still enough rock to scout on river-left but the water there was ankle deep. The haystack at the bottom was SOLID and BIG-it basically swallowed me and my CR250 (pic). There were also attempts at the diagonal line starting left-center but the middle line seemed best. NOTE: We were sure to set a river-right downstream safety to keep swimmers from being swept into the undercut downstream. The swift current here dictates that all groups should do the same. Overall, this was a really great level and if we hadn't stopped for a few recoveries/surfs, we would have probably been done in 30-40 min.

This is Evan Maxwell's (9 yrs) first run on Blackberry Falls. Looks like he's going to be a better boater than his dad!

Randy in S turn.

DO NOT RUN AT LOWER LEVELS! It is no fun at lower levels but at higher water, it turns into a very fun little river. We ran it this weekend at low levels and I feel like I left most of the bottom of my boat back at the river. Whirlpool, sturn and blackberry are fun beginner rapids and a decent play sopt is at the bottom of all of them

What a River! it was roughly 2.5. Great ride all the way to DNR and Cartecay Water Shed provided a Shuttle.

We were talking tonight about how the name of a rapid on the
Cartercay has changed names for some strange reason. I have been running this
river since 1976 - in fact my ex-husband's family owned all the land on both sides of the river at the covered bridge - actually back then there was no covered
bridge. However, after the ex's grandmother died the land was divided among the 11 siblings. Some chose to keep their land other chose to sell to development.

Now people are referring to the river's slide/fall rapid as Blackberry. It was and as far as I know always called by locals as Stegall Mill Fall. Just curious how it metamorphosed into Blackberry. Blackberry is the development that came about in the 80's. The developer even took control of the river trying to banned paddlers from using the river and take-out at the falls. Jay represented the paddlers and was able to get the Gilmer County Commission to permit paddlers to take off the river below the covered bridge. Blackberry Development has never done one thing to be
honored by the naming of the rapid. They were allowed to develop too close to
the river and when the river rises the trash/debris from decks, lawn
furniture and like have littered this river for years. And, it seems no on is responsible for cleaning up the homeowners messes. They probably
spend more on keeping paddlers off the river. Unless someone knows otherwise,
I suggest paddlers call the rapid Stegall Mill. Quit giving credit to those who basically ruined a great river.

Steve & Alice

Surfin the wave above whirlpool

Stern Squirting
Stern Squirting

Ben Tempel demonstrates a perfect entrance into the standard line at Blackberry Falls. Notice how his boat splits the green tongue of water as he passes over the top of the drop.

This was the biggest Ben and I had seen this river. Flow was almost twice what it had been all year.

paddlers are greg watson and mason robinson, blackberry falls view from the bridge

Father and Son (13) Scouting Blackberry Falls for Brent's (Son) first run down the falls.
Brent Huff running Blackberry Falls for the first time.

Blackberry Falls pic. Fun rapid. Chili Run 2005.

We ran this section on 9/19/04 right after Hurricane Ivan dumped, at a level between 3.5 and 4 feet on the gauge. At this level the three named rapids (S-turn, Whirlpool and Blackberry) run together and become an Ocoee-like maelstrom, with huge haystacks, keeper holes, and very few easy eddies. Scouting gets difficult. Playing is only practical in the realm of the very experienced and terminally insane. The top of S-turn develops a foot-wide tubular curler. Whirlpool ramps up to something approaching a class 4 level of difficulty, with 2 giant haystacks and a nasty bottom hole. The ledge at Blackberry is underwater and some interesting alternate lines open up on the left side. The convergence of the right and left channels produces a monster exploding wave, best hit smack in the middle of the vee.

Ya can't walk out of the river until you are below Blackberry without trespassing on private property. Stay away when it's this high unless you are sufficiently experienced and confident. It's BIG.

Use caution! Have a blast! Keep it safe

-- STEVE

Black barry at low water

Tim Knapp catches an ender at Whirlpool on the Cartecay.
More @ http://www.kudzukayakers.com

After running the traditional line it was fun to try another way down.

This is my boy 11 year old Daniel in
his Dancer, note the smile

Becca Brown runs Blackberry Falls

Two Feathers surfs S-Turn.

Diane Neisler Runs S-Turn. Note the illegal raptor feather in her helmet. This feather is no longer in our possesion by the way.

Jimmy Lowe on the first drop of the S-Turn.

I just found this pic somewhere else.

First timer coming down the Cartecay

Sexton's Rapid
Kim Durgan At Blackberry Falls

Photo courtesy of the Monocacy Canoe Club.

Tad Day and Amy Conger run the top part of S-Turn
Tad Day running the bottom part of S-Turn
Amy Conger running Whirl Pool

Left side run at Low water...

Low water