Middle Creek (Tennessee River trib.)

Ben Hayes/Friberg Comments:

Middle Creek (Near Chattanooga) was first attempted by Mark L and some Sunbrust guides. Might have also been an early run done by Tom Toehill and Dan Gray. The earlier runs were generally huge portage fests. Chattanooga creekers since then have studied rock/bed formations thoroughly and have run nearly every vertical foot contained in the gorge!

Run infrequently due to extreme gradient and difficulty in accessing the put-in. The paddle to portage ratio can make the creek not worth your while. If you like tight lines then you may find this to be one of your favorites in Chattanooga. The run has similar characteristics to North Pole(Morgan Creek). If you like Morgan you'll love Middle. The drops between the big ones are all more open and maybe a little more forgiving. Some of the drops seem very tempting but pack catastrophic consequences if run poorly. The large waterfall at the top has never been run. If one is thinking of doing it they should spend some time studying it with now water. The landing is shallow with lethally placed rocks.

The rapid directly below the big waterfall needs good flow to be navigated. There are definately some caves in there. If you go at low water, you'll see water spilling over the large waterfall but not through this rapid. It's obviously underneath everything. There seems to be two potential slots though if there's good water. If you run this one be prepared for some action on the rest of the run since you may be on the med/high side. The first couple rapids you'll reach may look dirty. As of Feb 14th 2005 they were a 'go' but you'll definately want to scout everything. Eventually you'll reach a point where the creeks splits, half going right, the other half going left towards the canyon wall. Scout here, you'll see you have an entrance rapid followed by a slot against the wall, followed by sharp 'S' turns in the currents before going over the final drop which has a nice dome rock in the

...