Chattahoochee

Fairly new to paddling and I find this section pretty fun. Ran as low as 2ft, high as 2.8ft. Both levels were decent. No strainers observed on my last outing.

Ran it recently at 1.9 / 280 cfs on the Leaf gauge. I would not want to run it any lower. I was getting hung up on rocks all over the place. Hard to find clean lines thru anything.

Ran from 255 to Duncan Bridge 5-30-2020 in a tandem canoe with Ted Harrigan, at 2.5 level. The way the water channels at this level, made maneuvering difficult for a tandem canoe and created a lot of force in the channels. A little more water would have made it easier and safer, for a tandem canoe. Said rock did eat our canoe.

For more recent information about this section of the 'Upper Hooch' go to this Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1635943616667976/

At 3 feet on the gauge, I have seen the hole at 3rd ledge recirculate a swimmer 10+ times.

Note that the flow levels on the Main page and Flow Info page are very WRONG and misleading. The gauge reference has been switched from the Cornelia to the Leaf gauge, but all the reference / guidance info is still based on the Cornelia readings. The Leaf gauge is a better indicator of what is happening on the run, but the info on these pages will mislead people to run this at bone-dry levels. Also, in researching the USGS historical data for the two gauges it appears the Leaf gauge DOES NOT show high water events correctly. It appears to clip/limit the level reading for everything above 2100cfs (a medium level). This will mislead people into running the river at very high & dangerous levels if only the Leaf gauge is used. Here is a better reference table for the Leaf Guage:

< 2.5 = Very Low;
2.5 - 3.5 = Low but runnable;
3.5 - 4.7 = Good for a wide variety of paddlers (II-II+), surfing begins to get good.;
LEAF GAUGE STOPS WORKING ABOVE THIS POINT. LEVELS BELOW ARE FOR THE CORNELIA GAUGE
2.8 - 4 = Class III whitewater, good surfing, good flow range;
> 4 = High water, additional skill required (III/IV), not good for beginners. ;

Here is the full correlation between the two gauges. The Leaf clipping at 2100cfs occurred at the last high water event on Feb 24 2016. It should be assumed it will mislead on the next high water in the future - check the Cornelia gauge to be safe.
Upper Chattahoochee Gauge Correlation:
Cornelia 0.4ft, Leaf 1.7ft, 200 cfs;
Cornelia 0.6ft, Leaf 2.0ft, 300 cfs;
Cornelia 1.4ft, Leaf 2.8ft, 700 cfs;
Cornelia 2.2ft, Leaf 4.0ft, 1500 cfs;
Cornelia 2.8ft , Leaf 4.7ft, 2100 cfs;
Cornelia 3.0ft , Leaf 4.7ft, 2300 cfs;
Cornelia 3.7ft , Leaf 4.7ft, 3000 cfs;
Cornelia 4.6ft , Leaf 4.7ft, 4000 cfs;
Cornelia 5.5ft , Leaf 4.7ft, 5000 cfs;
Cornelia 6.3ft , Leaf 4.7ft, 6000 cfs;
Cornelia 4.75ft , Leaf 4.7ft, 6580 cfs;

You need flows up above 350+ to even think about running this section. Ran it on 6-7-14 and it was a chore with flows hovering around 250. Use the gauge reading at Leaf because the gauge downstream includes the Soque River added flow. Very scrapy on 6-7-14. Ran it a few weeks previous at around 400 and it was fun. The ratings are a bit high, but Hawkeyes below mentions running it at 1800..... I checked his dates and his run was at flows around 800-900. While it would be a blast at those flows, trust me, at 1800 this is a tough run for anyone but a very experienced boater. We often run the section below this in conjunction with this run as we are local and run one of the two sections two or three weekends per month from late April thru early October.

Thanks for the feedback on the ratings of the upper hooch. Since I have not made this run I rely on feed back from people to properly describe & rate this section. If you ever have an interest in becoming a stream keeper and correcting out of date info on rivers you paddle please contact me. David. Strive2@ymail.com

Ran on 18 MAR 2014 at like 1800 CFS. Fun little beginner run. I'd say it's easier than the Cartecay at 2.5' at this level. It's DEFINITELY not a class III run. Buck Shoals is is no way a III+. Tablesaw and Broken nose on the Ocoee are III+'s. Baby Falls and the upper ledges on Telli are III-III+. Buck shoals at 1800 is a long class II. Maybe a II plus. I feel like calling Buck Shoals a III plus and Horseshoe a III scares beginners off of this run, and probably gives people that have run this the false idea that they can just go up to the Tellico or Ocoee and be fine... Maybe these rapids were class III like 30 years ago but they aren't anywhere close to the modern standard of class III.

TL;DR: At 1800 CFS nothing on this run is above II+.

This was taken looking upstream at the Canoe Eating Rock

Another good trip with some great friends!

740 cfs

Had an awesome time on this section today @ 740 cfs. It was my first real taste of whitewater besides the Cartecay. Way more intense than the Carty with a few long sections rapids that were amazingly fun. Buck Island Shoals was very squirrely and came close to 'losing it' a few times (still can't believe that it is listed as a 3+ on this site... 2(+) is more like it). Canoe Eating Rock Rapid was the most fun I had ever had on a river (until Horseshoe later). The three drops seemed inimidating, but I made it down the first 50 yards of the first ledge without a paddle (almost flipped when I hit a rock entering the top section). Made it over the first ledge and caught up to my paddle just after the first ledge. The third ledge was a lot easier than expected. There is definitely a slot to shot for about 30 feet from the left shore that made the drop nice and easy. Washboard was scrapy, but there was a nice wave train that seemed to last until the beach on the river left at the bottom. I really thought Horseshoe was the most fun and challenging. Made it to the bottom and looked back up at it and couldn't believe I made it down in one piece... way more intimidating than the third ledge. Had an awesome time and can't wait to take the trip up again when the weather is warmer. It was 38 - 42 degrees today

This river is fun, but it has to be up at above 350cfs and at that level it is still boney. I personally like 3rd ledge. All in all if you swim keep your feet up. There are tons of strange rocks like a washboard in the river.

Going on friday 29 of august after huricane fay came through 2,851 cfs fun run do this after a rain . would of been fun if not halfway throu 3 men were gettin gay with each other don't mind lifestyle just don't think apropriate that i was left out. otherwise suggest you be careful if you are intermediate.

did at 234 cfs(.65) too low don't go unless you like to do alot of handwalking the rapids but still a few fun spots when your not hand walking the rapids
Chris

There is a gauge that is online now that is right at the 115 bridge. This is a better gauge to go by because the Duncan Bridge gauge includes a small river that comes in below Horseshoe. It's called the Leaf gauge, http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?cb\_00065=on&cb\_00045=on&format=gif\_default&period=7&site\_no=02331000

I'm not sure of the correlation between the Leaf gauge and the Duncan Bridge gauge. I think the Leaf gauge is generally a foot higher.

actually, the best hole on this run is maybe 50 yards from the put-in, to my knowlage it doesn't have a name. At flows around 900cfs or so, it is deep enough to loop with a small boat, i could loop in my jackson star which is 5'8'', you just have to find the sweet spot in it, other than that its great for cartwheels or whatever, plus its still there at low levels, but only as an ender hole. It's great for a park and play.

What Jimmy calls 'half a cartwheel' everyone else calls 'hitting your roll'.
I never have my nose plugs on when I need them.

Dumb canoe tricks

At the fist of the three ledges, on the right there is a nice little slide. Just watch for the big pile of logs at the bottem.

1000 cfs - not much play. Not to scrappy. None of the waves are formed, and none of the holes (what holes?) will hold you. 1000 is my personal minimum for this run. The hole just past the takeout bridge was OK at this level.

Busting thru the wave into the top right eddy.

Jimmy Lowe punches the hole on the third ledge.

Will and Clint surfing in a shredder

Janerio Morgan side surfing at False Horseshoe

this is first ledge where you normally run it and at high it is a pretty good squirt spot but the hole was washed out

This is the first ledge, this area is normally just rock but because the level was high it made a nice little 3 foot drop. The seal launch rock was about 5 feet out of the photo.
Tried to surf if but i couldn;t stay in for very long.

This is a seal launch right into the first ledge, on the right bank, only possible at high water so the pool is deep.