Road Prong

Road Prong has the steepest mile of no portage whitewater anywhere in the east coast, and maybe beyond.  From the upper putin down to below Dr. Kevorkian just into the lower section, there is a mile at 710 feet with NO portages necessary.  That being said, most boaters will portage something, as a few of the drops in here are pretty fringe.  If any run in the SE other than Raven Fork or Toxaway make you the least bit nervous, go run the Alum Cave section of Walker Camp Prong on the other side of Mount Mingus, because the Road Prong is truly for the sick.  At least on Toxaway and Raven Fork  you can decide what to run and what not to, and there is a huge pool at the top and bottom of each rapid.  The Road Prong is steeper and has NO pools, and only micro eddys between huge consequential class 5 drops that may or may not be good depending on the ever shifting wood conditions.  Not for part-timers.

Hiking in from Indian Gap is a reasonable 1.7 miles of downhill hiking to Greenlight Falls, the first typically run drop.  Above here the stream is choked with wood in places and the gradient is relatively flat (250-300 ft/mile).  Hiking from the bottom is also a 1.7 mile hike from the Chimney Tops Trailhead to Greenlight Falls, and if you don't feel like running shuttle, or Clingman's Dome Road is closed, this is a better alternative.  The hike shouldn't take more than 45 minutes to an hour.

Once puting on, the first drop is the cleanest, easiest, and most carefree.  If this one looks questionable at all, don't put on.  Greenlight Falls is a super sweet 15-17 foot waterfall that is way too clean for the SE.  A romping entrance shoots you off the left side, boofing hard into the pool below.  The next 5 drops are the first of a one-two punch of rapids on the upper section.  Here you will run a gnarly boulder runout to Greenlight, a 6 foot ledge into a 12 foot driving right falls, right into TBR, a multiclapping 20 foot cascade, and then into some more boulder b

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