Settingdown Creek
Pooles Mill to GA Route 369
| Difficulty | III+(IV) |
| Length | 2.7 mi |
| Avg Gradient | n/a |
| Gauge | Settingdown Creek Near Ball Ground, Ga |
| Flow Rate as of 1 hour | 30 cfsbelow recommended |
| Reach Info Last Updated | November 2, 2006 |
River Description
Settingdown Creek has all of its rapids in the first half mile below the covered bridge. The rapids consist of slides, ledges, and vertical slots. Most of the run is relatively straightforward but some boats have pinned in the narrow slots. Below the last rapid the river widens and deadfalls become common. Some local boaters carry back to the put in instead of paddling to the take out.
Setting Down Creek is a nice little run, It is pretty close to me so I like to paddle it frequently. I found that it runs the day after it rains. The day it rains it is not generally high, so wait a day before paddling it. Here is an overview of the river
Put-In - Under the covered bridge (You can not drive to the covered bridge. You have to park in the parking lot and walk to the bridge)
Take-Out - The take out is on highway 369, but I have never gone down that far. It is like 2 miles of flatwater paddling so I just take out after the last rapid and walk about a half mile up along the creek to the put-in. There is a narrow and steep path that is hard to carry your boat on if you use a big creek boat. Also the path is in people's backyard's, But I haven't had any problems with that so far.
1. Entrance Slide- About 100 feet below the covered bridge there is a 50 foot long rock slide that you generally want to run the left side.
2. The river splits and I have not run the left side but it looks like a nice rock slide, I run the right side, which is also a rock slide, the best way to go down it is right though the tongue in the center of the river but there is a strainer right below that so watch out.
3. Next is a slot where the whole river condenses into about an 8-foot wide shoot that hits a pillow rock (not undercut). Just go through straight and you should be fine.
4. Double Drop - This is the biggest rapid of the river. There is a riverwide ledge and you can boof the left side or you could go down a narrow
...River Features
Put In
Entrance Slide
About 100 feet below the covered bridge there is a 50 foot long rock slide that you generally want to run the left side. But you could boof the ledges in the middle of the water is high enough.
Head Banger (AKA Straight Shot)
Next is a slot where the whole river condenses into about an 8-foot wide shoot that hits a pillow rock (not undercut). Just go through straight and you should be fine. In lower water levels you want to start on the left side of the river and ride the toungue down. When the water is high it just pushes you on through.
Minton's Folly (AKA Double Drop)
This is the biggest rapid of the river, there is a riverwide ledge and you can boof the left side or you could go down a narrow slot on the right. In the right side there is a 5-foot drop where the water hits a rock. Then right after that there is another drop about 5 feet or so. Basicly just paddle and don't flip over.
(At extremely high flows it may need to be portaged on the Left. it makes a huge hole halfway through.)
Sticky Slide
This is the last big rapid, it is a steep rock slide about 10 feet or so down at about a 75-degree angle below the horizon. Normally you just run near the center watch out for the strainer. Don't run the left side, I ran it once and I got stuck in the hole for about 2 minutes it is really sticky.
Take Out
Trip Reports
Log in to add a reportThis river was the highest I've ever seen it. We went to the Amicalola first and it was peaking at around 3.8'. We came here thinking we could get some high water laps on everything. Wrong. It was really high. We scouted for about and hour or more. There was a line but if you are good enough to make those lines you are probably somewhere else anyway. All the main lines at lower water are solid class V at these levels. Running the left line on the first slide means you are willing to run everything to just above double drop. Which is BIG when it is this high. We went up and decided we could run the far right on the first slide. We walked down and had a fan crowd. Everyone had clean lines and made the last eddy so it ended up being an pretty good day. When it's this high there are probably some more realistic options other places.
Tim on Headbanger. Amicalola was at 1.25
Jack Orr at Double Drop, at very low. In retrospect I should not have run this. Less than 5 yards below this, the second drop lays, and at this level it would have hurt me if I ran it. I managed to make the eddy on the left all 4 times I ran it, so I consider myself fortunate.
BOAT UNPINNED, after going back with a full set of biners and quick draws we were able to get to boat out. Just beware of this from now on, it could have been alot worse that it was. heres a video explaining what happened.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcN60cl1wRE
At double drop I also had a friend get pinned upside down there, it was for about 3 secs, as soon as he pulled the boat came unpinned. but then a few runs later he got pinned rightside up same spot. there is a hole on the river right in the wall, and if you are pointed to far right in the middle of the 2nd drop then you might get pinned. Luckly when he got pinned rightside up he just pulled his skirt and walked across his boat the the island in the middle and then we had to work his to get it out of the hole. Also it is worth hiking your boat up trying to paddle to the shuttle was horrible. Tons of trees down and just a long long long flat water paddle, so i suggest just walking your boat up. This is runnable almost all of spring
Please note the Map tab has the incorrect location based on the first time Settingdown Creek crosses 369. The actual location is based further west on 369 when Settingdown Creek crosses 369 the second time.
The video he is talking about above is on Youtube also. When I first saw it I Thought it was a much nastier pin.
A friend of mine got pinned on the second drop of the Double Drop rapid on jan. 2, 2007. He flipped on the way down the first drop and got pinned upsidedown on the river right wall at the bottom of the second drop. Luckly, he was only pinned for about three seconds. We couldn't find his paddle, so I stuck my foot in the second drop and felt around for it. I tried to pull it up with my toes, but it shifted and wedged my foot between the paddle and a rock. It took me five minutes to get my foot out and it is still swollen two days later. The paddle was recovered and the video was uploaded to AW yesterday, but I don't know if it is viewable yet. The double drop is harder at a lower level and should be portaged if there is only water in the river right slot.
At the end of the run it goes into flat water paddling and it is no fun there are down trees every where and it just takes forever it is better to just walk back up
At the end of the run it goes into flat water paddling and it is no fun there are down trees every where and it just takes forever it is better to just walk back up