Chestatee

My wife, son and I went on this section of the river when the level was reported low but able to ride. Sadly this was one of our worst days on the river. There were four trees blocking the river where we had to port our kayaks around plus we spent much of our time out of the boat pushing off of the rocks. We expected a few hours on the river but after six hours and a hole in the boat, we beached the boats a couple of miles from the Town Creek Church Road Bridge. The water flow should be at least twice what we were on

Ran 3/3/07 with my 3 year old in a Mad River Monarch. Dahlonega gauge 3.0' and falling (~900 cfs). Gauge at Turners Corner was about 1.75'.

Having run the Etowah (falls section) and Section 2 and 3 of the Hooch at low water in the same boat with my daughter, I was surprised at the difficulty of this run. Several of the larger drops had no easy portage with steep banks and water flowing bank to bank. I would rate some of the drops more like Class 3 - I felt it was harder than Section 3 of the Chattahoochee. I think the most difficult part is one particularly long rapids near a development on the left bank maybe 5-6 miles from Tate Bridge.

This is the first run I can ever recall doing where I thought the guide may have under-rated some rapids. A beautiful run, but not to be taken too lightly.

New Streamkeeper: Rick Bellows, chestateer@yahoo.com.

I am planning to paddle this section this weekend. I spoke with the Lumpkin County Sherrifs dept as well as the DNR and I was told by both departments that there were no restrictions on paddling this section. I do know that there have been problems between paddlers and landowners in the past.

Boating vs. Fishing conflicts

New

Forum: BoaterTalk

Date: Jun 23 2003, 3:11 GMT

From: sevenn

Did a nice easy run down the Chestatee from Turner's Corner to Grindle Bridge today. Eddied out for about 5 minutes while a trout fisherman played a nice trout and netted it. When we passed by him; he cussed us out, said he owned the land on both sides of the river, told us we were trespassing and the if the law would ever show up in a timely manner he would call them and have us arrested. The 'gentleman' said that the Chestatee River was a dedicated trout fishing river and that boating was not allowed.

I would like to hear from anyone who knows if he is correct. It has always been my understanding that the landowner's rights end at the river's edge, the water being a public trust.

Thanks and happy paddling.