Soak Creek
Dirt road, off Jewitt Rd to Piney River
Trip Reports
Log in to add a report03/24/2020 A solid medium flow on Soak. Approximately 4 feet on the Piney gauge. Put in at the confluence of Dunlap. Wood in several spots, however only one impassable tree approximately a mile up stream from the confluence of Piney. Great play level!
Upper Upper Soak Creek
Alex Zendel
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7 months ago
“We ran this on 3/10/19 starting at the put-in that is shown on this AW page. We approached the put-in from river left (via Jewitt Rd → Sabo Rd). There was an open gate after we turned right at the T-intersection after crossing Dunlap. The land there has been ravaged by logging and we thought we were driving on private logging roads. But according to the TN Property Viewer, the last part of the shuttle all of the way to creek is owned by the State of TN”
I just read this statement and it is not true, past the gate ,which is usually shut, the gate mentioned off Sabo Road is most definitely trespassing and could get a person shot. Not kidding and not aiming for the dramatic either. The state owns the land. Don't confuse that with that you own the land.
I personally own property at the end of this road if you keep driving. My neighbors are white supremacist preppers. There is a ton of them all the way to Shut-in-Gap road. Most carry radios and are packing heat. Keep driving and you will have new friends. If you go past that gate you drive through; expect trouble.
This road is also owned by the rock quarry and he doesn’t give permission for the road, unless it is written in your deed easement. Show up with out of state or out of county tags with bright boats and expect trouble. You won’t talk your way out of it either.
Now about the paddling of it. Zendel’s write-up is spot on. No need to state any more please read his write-up. Like it’s neighbor Dunlap there isn’t much to write home about. Without or without water. The slide at the put-in is fun but that is about it.
To my knowledge it was solo first paddled in Feb 2015 by myself after a 4 inch rain event, due to written access rights. Even owning property there I made sure to have someone drop me off. That should tell you something.
We ran this on 3/10/19 starting at the put-in that is shown on this AW page. We approached the put-in from river left (via Jewitt Rd → Sabo Rd). There was an open gate after we turned right at the T-intersection after crossing Dunlap. The land there has been ravaged by logging and we thought we were driving on private logging roads. But according to the TN Property Viewer, the last part of the shuttle all of the way to creek is owned by the State of TN, probably part of the land that was graciously donated by George Lindemann (https://bit.ly/2ERh1Hf). Hence, I’m pretty certain this put-in is on state land and legal!
Too bad there wasn’t much water in this pretty tiny creek, even though the flow looked plenty healthy at the take out. It looked low enough for me to pose the option of bailing to the group. But undoing the long shuttle wasn’t appealing and the fun slide at the put-in was encouraging. After the slide, it was ELF. If Dunlap looks low while enroute, Soak will be too, as they are similarly sized. Tony noted that we had a significant trib coming in from RR about ⅓ mile below. According to the map, that’s Sweeny Branch and it did help the flow, but it was still ELF. There’s a sieve rapid just above this confluence.
The next mile or so would probably be III+/IV with a real flow, with some sections being pretty stacked and potentially dangerous if wood were to be present in the hard-to-stop rapids. A few more feeders came in and for the first time, the creek was actually felt like it was truly running, but still fairly low. Not too much further, the Stinging Fork came in from RR and the flow was now solid medium. Shortly after, Dunlap dumped in a good portion of water and things started to feel medium high and kinda pushy.
The lower stretch of Soak was significantly steeper than I remembered after paddling in on Dunlap around a decade ago. My eroded memory had me thinking it’d be like Whites or the paddle out on the Piney, but it’s definitely harder, steeper and better than both of those. I don’t think you could call any of it solid class IV at today’s flow, but it’s definitely very close to that mark - in several places. If you have good water at the put-in, this stretch will likely be rockin’. The scenery in this part of the run is definitely noteworthy and memorable, but it doesn’t quite stack up to many of the scenic classics that can be found in this region.
Ran this out of Dunlap Creek when Piney was at ~6.5ft. Felt fluffy. Thought we were gonna just have a flushed-out ride out but it was actually really fun
Ran out from the Dunlap Creek confluence when Piney was at ~6.5ft and Dunlap had plenty of water. Surprisingly very fun. Think a steeper Middle Cheoah. Class III-IV higher water flush; doesn't flatten or wash out in the way you would expect. Also pretty scenic. Was after 2' of rain hit Spring City in ~24hrs.
4/21/15 We putin at bubbas with G and CT in mini, Jared and Eli in grabner, and John H in a kayak. G got into his canoe at the beach after the confluence with Piney falls creek. The creek was low but we all made it down without much dragging except for the second strainer rapid which we ran down the middle then portaged to the right of the trees in the flow. Beautiful bluffs, clear water and class 3 to 3+ rapids, this is a great run. The level on the piney was 1.5 ft and the rock in the middle of the soak confluence had 1.5 ft sticking out of the water.
4/15/15 Piney gauge read just under 2 ft. On Soak at the confluence there is a rock in the center of the river and one just up on river right side, this one on rr needs to be under water for a hike up run. G, Eli, CT and Orlando, in canoes. We hiked up the trail beside Soak. The path is good and flat, we putin at the confluence of Piney falls creek and Soak. Its about a mile paddle out with a handfull of class 2-3 rapids.
There were lots of Trillium flowers blooming along the trail and it was quite scenic.
Estimates for a run from the top are that piney should read 2.5+ ft and the rock in the center of Soak confluence should have just a bit of it still dry.
class III-IV
Dirt road, off Jewitt Rd to Piney River
One decent boulder garden section towards the end, not much else.
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