Nantahala

We 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

View from the put-in bridge / start of Magic Carpet Ride

end of PB&J release was 250 cfs and natural flow from White Oakwas about 70

Kimberly Esbenshade at S-Turn

Whitney Eure heading downstream as an unidentified boater takes on the hole

Viki A (purple canoe) & Harrison Metzger (red canoe) in Isalnd rapid

Several swimmers seen today. Run is solid class IV at this level, but with good water reading skills no scouting required. I did this run yesterday @ 970 on Hewitt gauge and agree this is runnable, but a little bony.

STRAINER ABOVE 3RD BRIDGE!!!

This is a awesome run, but as stated, do not under estimate it! I am a fairly confident intermediate boater, and i feel it pushed my limits. The level we ran it was at 700 cfs, and there were several fairly large holes. It is a very continuous run with very little if any slack time. Make note, that there is some wood in this run, we ran across two or 3 large trees that were down, and half way in, and half way out of the river. Never the less, a awesome southeast run!

Showing the full flow at the Hewitt gauge is actually useful. When this section of river runs, the powerplant is almost always generating. Subtract the ~650 cfs the powerplant generates and you have an idea of the flow in the Upper Nanty and Cascades.

Given that you need at least 250 cfs to paddle the Upper (even that is bony), look for the Hewitt gauge to have 900 cfs for elf and 1,000 cfs for a healthy minimum.

The streamkeeper team is off in its flow levels for this Section. The site shows the Upper Nanty running at the same level as the lower NAnty every time there is a release on the lower. However, the water doesn't enter above the Upper Nanty. It comes in at the lower put-in. This needs to be corrected. Upper only runs when Cascades has water. Upper ran last winter, but no more water on a daily basis.

Ran the Upper Nanty for the first time on 12\29\09. Great run, a lot of fun, but don't under estimate this run. It is top heavy, the upper mile is continuous Class 4, the bottom 2 miles while still continuous are more Class 3-3+. One thing to look out for in the first 1\2 mile or so around a bend, is a pretty narrow pushy section with decent sized waves and ledge holes, with a nasty hole at the bottom right. You run a rapid just downstream from the put in, followed by a short moving pool. Once you enter the next rapid start working yourself left, make sure you dig to punch the holes. If you stay left and don't get knocked off course you should miss the bottom right hole.

Ran this stretch 11-16-2009 at 1040cfs. As the post below says this run has a big water feel on a small creek. There are not a lot of larger eddies, and the big ones are still a little difficult to catch due to the flows. Leland's book ranks this as only a small step up from the gorge section. However, that ranking is at around 250-425cfs. At 1000 (which is what these special releases have been around) it is much more difficult. 3.3 miles in 25 minutes, that includes us just floating through a lot of the easier parts.

They are releasing water over the spill way right now (November '09). I ran the upper section yesterday with just shy of 1000 cfs which was a great level. At lower levels you would not be able to raft this section due to the rocks but it would probbaly be possible at the level it was yesterday. I would compare the harder rapids to the boogie water on the cheoah. It is a very narrow section and very continuous, we had several swims and it took 1/2 a mile or more to stop the boats. On the second and third runs there was no swims and it took 27 min to run this section. Lots of fun at lower levels to but it was a blast with more water.

I'm new to the area and have a fourteen foot raft; I was wondering if anyone knew if this stretch is raft-friendly, or too tight and only suitable for kayaks/canoes. Any info would be very appreciated.
It's pretty tight, but they say they are releasing during November.

Brad, Laura, and Richard coming down the river