Skull Shoal Creek

Ran this creek July 4th, 2013 and the level on the Broad River at the GA281 Bridge/Broad River Outpost gage was 5.5 and rising, which does not correlate with the USGS gage level at Carlton. Had enough water for a fun run but bumped in one or two spots. The creek needs to be full to the wetted width, ie, needs to have water in it to the banks on both sides to be runnable without having to get out/scrape, the more water the better. When determining whether or not to run the creek, the level on the Broad is not as important as the amount of rain that it takes to bring up Skull Shoals Creek; we had 3 inches overnight in the area so you have to catch it as its flashing/rising and be aware of strainers and low hanging branches. You also need to be aware that the land is private property on both sides of the creek as well as on the Broad River, so stopping to scout/rest is extremely discouraged. If you can't confidently read/run fast moving class III with few eddies and high potential for strainers, then stay off of this creek. I shared a link to the video shot from that day with AW for reference for water level and what to expect.

Ran this section on April 19 2014. The broad river gauge was at 5.5. There was a decent rain before the run. At this level it was very rocky and many spots the channel was not wide enough to fit a boat though, you just had to push over it. I would say this level would be the minimum and that a good fun level would be a couple feet higher. Dont even consider this run unless broad river gauge is above 5'. The shuttle is short but you have to park on the side of the road at the put in and you probably want to arrange to use the normal broad river take out at one of the out fitters or you will have to use hwy 172 bridge. The dirt roads will be very muddy after the amount of rain neccessary to make this run so 4×4 may be necessary, I had to use mine at the put in. The creek definitely has potential to be fun but it is very narrow with lots of out growth from the banks and could be sketchy at many spots. The creek comes out right below the waterfall and above rostertail so you will have to run a decent part of the broad river at high flow or flood stage.