Big Creek

Big Creek is a fun class III - IV+ (Vish) run, however don't expect non-stop action from top to bottom. About 1/2 mile into the run is 'The Dunkin' Hole'. After that the creek is continuous Class II-II+ boogie with a couple of Class III's thrown in. After about 4 miles you come to the first Class IV-IV+ gorge. The gorge is about 1/2 a mile long with 3 sweeeeet drops including 'Scream Like A Little Girl'. A fun 10 footer. Then Big creek settles down once again to class II-II+ boogie water. When you see the old rebar/pipe on river right and the river takes a turn to the left, you are at the 'Loop'. This marks the beginning of the second gorge. It is also about 1/2 mile long with a set of great drops. Shortly after that is the confluence with the Ocoee and the take-out. Its a lot of fun and worth doing, but don't expect non-stop action from top to bottom.

Big Creek is one of those runs that start dropping within an hour or two of when the rain stops. Look for about an inch of rain at the TVA Ocoee #1 and #2 gages and at 02385800 HOLLY CREEK NEAR CHATSWORTH, GA. Using 02385800 HOLLY CREEK NEAR CHATSWORTH, GA as an indicator: look for Holly to be spiking above 600 cfs and going towards 1000. Big Creek will start dropping hours before Holly peaks. So, if Holly is dropping, its probably not worth driving up to Big Creek.

The paddler's gage is on the upstream river right of the put-in bridge. If the level is around 6', the creek will fall about 2' per hour, at 0' it will fall about 1' per hour. 0' is a good medium. -4' is probably a minimum, with +4 to +6 as a high. I wouldn't put on above +4 if you havn't run the creek before or if you aren't a solid class V creeker. If you get there and it's too high, go run Go Forth Creek then come back and check the level.

When we ran the creek TVA Ocoee #1 had 1.4' of rain #2 had 1.3' rain. USGS Holly Creek got 1' of rain. The rain stopped 5 hrs before we got to the put-in. Big Creek was at around 3 ft in the early AM. Probably crested 8-9 hrs before Holly Creek Crested. We put on at 14:00 when Big Creek was 0' and falling while Holly creek was 1290 cfs and still rising. At 19:00 when we went back to the put-in Big Creek was -6' and Holly Creek was 1370 cfs and falling after cresting at 18:00 at 1390 cfs. The key to catching Big Creek is to pay attention to what time the rain stopped. The TVA gages are useless for this but the USGS Holly Creek rain gage is great!

Hope this helps! Paddle Safe! -- Rob