Hazel Creek

I've run Hazel Creek a few times now and it remains one of my favorites. It's very secluded with the occasional fisherman or hiker, pristine water quality (some of the cleanest waters you'll ever find), and has some very nice ledges and a few drops. This is an intermediate level run with few consequences at normal levels. Contrary to the description here on AW database, there are no class IV's at normal levels and the III's are mostly clean and drop into calm pools every time. As the water rises some holes can be pushed to class IV and lines become more important than ever. There are very few places to sneak rapids and the general rule is to 'go with the flow'. Even at normal levels some places are scrappy you'll get a nice workout trying to get through them. The biggest threat on this creek is wood in some very inconvenient spots and the limited access means any rescue is likely more than 6 hours away (You must be shuttled across Fontana lake and hike up several miles to put in generally above the upper falls). This run is only worth it if you camp at the Proctor campsite near the lake and drag boats up to do laps and make stops along the way to paddle certain sections a few times. A nicely balanced cart system is really the only way to go here.