Nantahala
2.Upper, Route 1310 Bridge to Hwy. 19 (Upper Nantahala)
| Difficulty | III+(IV) |
| Length | 3.3 mi |
| Avg Gradient | 100 fpm |
| Gauge | Nantahala River Near Hewitt, Nc |
| Flow Rate as of 1 hour | 99 cfsbelow recommended |
| Reach Info Last Updated | June 17, 2024 |
River Description
The beauty of the Nanty Gorge continues upstream and is a terrific Class III step-up run. Technical paddling is required, and there are sections of continuous whitewater. Most if not all the holes are punchable and not very sticky though, so the consequences are relatively low. Magic Carpet Ride, PB&J, Troll Hole, and some other rapids are notable.
This is a great run either at a creeky level (250 releases) or with a lot of water. (450 or rainfall)
The entire run is road scoutable. Please check for wood on your way to the put-in.
Put-in: Six bridges upstream from commercial put-in. If you start to see large Class V-looking drops and waterfalls, you've gone too far upstream and reached the Nantahala Cascades. There is a big turnout just before the bridge for shuttle and unloading boats. Access the river via the staircase downstream of the bridge, river right. Please be thoughtful when parking if it is busy. The lot can accommodate many more cars if parked side by side instead of parallel. The Forest Service has been monitoring the lot on busy days so please do your best to keep the lot clean.
There is also a new put-in (with concrete steps, ramp, etc. just below PB&J.)
Take-out: Nantahala River Launch Site just downstream of the commercial put-in.
There are periodic 'bypass' releases which provide water to run the Cascades / Upper Nantahala. The releases which occur during 'Week of Rivers' (near July 4th) and during the Nantahala Outdoor Center's Guest Appreciation Festival (GAF) will be quite busy. The remainder of the releases much less so. On all the releases the Forest service closes several parking areas which are popular put-in locations and turns them into unloading areas.
The Duke bypass flow releases can be found here.
River Features
Put-in - Upper, Route 1310 Bridge
Put-in - Upper, Route 1310 Bridge
Magic Carpet Ride
From the put-in to Magic Carpet Ride, it is 'choose your own adventure.' MCR is the first rapid below the put-in. It offers many options, all of which are viable. At higher flows, it can be run either right or middle. The right tends to be meaty and offers a nice boof at the bottom instead of the slide. At lower flows, there is an actual mossy rock slide that you run into the eddy. After this rapid, you have a wave train into one of the largest rapids on this section, PBJ.
Camp Branch Falls Rapid
You will know you are here by Camp Branch Falls coming out of the mountain on river right. There is a big eddy at the top of this rapid. At lower flows, the main line is to make kind of an 'S'. Start in the middle, boof a small pourover rock, work your way right to slide down the slanted rock into fluffy water. At higher flows, you can run the middle line or the wave train on the right. The boof on the left is not spectacular, but doable. You'll have to work your way back right for the next rapid.
Troll Hole/Fuzzy Bunny
This is the rapid at the third bridge. There are many eddies upstream to catch before running this rapid. At lower levels there are two popular strategies for Troll Hole. The one that I like is to enter left of center angling right and go over the main drop clipping the right side of the hole or boofing into the eddy. The other line is to start right and after you clear the center rocks, paddle hard for the center. At that point you can turn sharply right to clip the hole or boof into the eddy or square up and punch the hole. . At higher levels, dig in and go through the hole or a nice tongue appears in place of the hole. Be careful of the bridge pilings at higher levels.
S-Turn
This is the rapid after the 3rd bridge. Enter in the middle or top left and follow the current around the 'S'.
The Mank/Fraggle Rock
After a little class III boogie, you'll get to a manky, rocky rapid. With lower water, this rapid is just plain un-fun. At higher flows, there is a very bad hole that forms in the middle of the rapid on river left. You can scout this from your vehicle or park and choose your line. You can either run left and move your way right to avoid the hole or you can run the right line although it has more wave holes at higher levels. This rapid is long and involves maneuvering. At lower flows, it is a class III+, but at higher flows, a IV. This rapid ends after the rock wall on river right. There is almost a mile of boogie before the last big rapid. There are a lot of wave holes to play in at higher flows.
Island Rapid
This is the last real rapid worth mentioning on the Upper Nantahala. After a mile of boogie, you'll reach a calm spot. At flows 600cfs and below, you will see the giant rock in the top part of the rapid and at higher flows, it will be covered. The top part of the rapid is a ride on the tongue and moving right to miss the rock. For the next part of the rapid, stay center, moving back into the flow as the water merges from the other side of the island. Keep right angle and stay on the right side of the wave train and you'll be fine. Be very careful here as there are several trees down after the drop on river left that can be hazardous.
Take-Out: Nantahala River Launch SIte
Trip Reports
Log in to add a reportWe lapped this in packrafts and loved it, but will be returning for higher water. I counted six bridges up from the commercial put-in, so I changed the description a bit.
9/28/19, 250cfs release (low), I was in a bad pin on a rock in Mank. There is a rock river right of center that is wide, flat, and tall enough to pin a creek boat. No harm was done except to my pride, but it was an upstream facing, head underwater pin, and could have had a very bad outcome.
Blurry photo of pin rock is here, I'll try to get better photos of it when I can: https://photos.smugmug.com/Other/PADDLING/Mank-pin-rock/i-hwP5sZB/0/2984eb97/M/mank-pin-rock-upper-nanty-M.jpg
Kelsey catching a piece of the hole at PB&J
4/28/15, 260 cfs in upper = it was a minimum flow but surprisingly doable. G in Octane, Eli in spanish fly, and CT in ducky. We put in about a quarter of a mile up from island rapid. G portaged on the left, the middle part of island rapid. We paddled all the way down to the normal nanti putin.
Great boof rock in what I think is labeled Island Rapid on this page.
Kimmie and friends near the end of Magic Carpet
end of PB&J release was 250 cfs and natural flow from White Oakwas about 70
View from the put-in bridge / start of Magic Carpet Ride
Viki A (purple canoe) & Harrison Metzger (red canoe) in Isalnd rapid
Whitney Eure heading downstream as an unidentified boater takes on the hole