Stekoa Creek

mike running left side of really big slide

After many years of putting it off, I finally ran the Lower Stekoa from E. Wolf Creek Rd. into the Chattooga. The 441 gauge was at 0' and the Wolf Creek bridge gauge was at 1.4. This was a low level, but that is ok for an exploratory run. There were seven of us in the group, none of whom had run the entire length. Several had hiked up from the Chattooga previously and run the last several rapids, but none from the top down. It was a good trip, rather uneventful. I was not expecting that there would be so much flatwater. The entire run is probably 60-70% flatwater with some big rapids thrown in. At one point, nearly half way down the creek, one of the guys with us proclaimed, 'wow, I finally got to run a rapid.' The first rapid was fun, right or left of the island. The second rapid was big with a hard hit at the bottom. The third rapid is the money drop. This one rapid, I don't know if it has a name or how many people have run it, but it is the money drop that will lure me back again. It is fairly intimidating looking but smooth as butter. Note to self, don't start celebrating until the rapid is done...I started calling it Gorilla's Mama for lack of knowledge of it's already name. (This name because when you run the right side, it has the same feeling of Gorilla, without the notch, but of the feeling you get of landing off the pad and continuing to drop under the veil)....The last stretch into the Chattooga is tight and technical, but short and leaves you feeling slightly unsatisfied. If it weren't for Gorilla's Mama, I probably wouldn't go back. There is one rapid I would especially like to comment on. The death cave, sieve, whatever its name is rapid. I have heard about this rapid for at least a decade and a half...ever since Chris Harjes and Nathan Hale ran this creek back in '94 or '95. That one rapid...and the poor water quality...let me repeat that...and the poor water quality, have kept me from wanting to experience this creek, at least from being able to find others that would want to go explore it with me. So I am thankful for a group of paddling friends who are willing to try new stuff and break out of the vicious cycle of ALWAYS going to Overflow. Let me state for the record that Toxaway and Overflow were checked first, and since neither were running, Stekoa was our last option short of a long drive to the Smokies. Anyway, the death cave, sieve rapid has a very clear, albeit very narrow line through it that does NOT feed the cave, sieve. Yes it is a mean looking rapid, but a great example of a rapid where you have to drive toward the thing you want to avoid in order to avoid it. What? In order to avoid the cave, on the approach, you have to drive toward the cave, because when you crest the top of the wave that guards the cave, there is a tongue that bypasses the cave. If you try to stay too far right of the cave, there is a ledge with a hole, kicker wave that throws you into the cave. Anyway, the moral is, sometimes you have to go toward that which scares you in order to find the safe way. I could very easily start preaching about giving your life to Christ, but I will save that for River Fellowship (1st Sunday of every month at Woodall Shoals 8 am, 2nd Sunday of every month, Green Narrows take-out 9 am). To sum up, lower Stekoa is fun, big, somewhat stinky, a lot of work if you are not willing to run the big ones, but definitely rewarding. PS paddling Lake Tugaloo with hand paddles is less than enjoyable. Happy boating and may you find the joy of knowing Christ as you enjoy His handiwork.

This is the rapid right after the creek leaves wolf creek road.

This is one of the entrance ledges to Taylor Shoals a nasty 35 foot waterfall just downstream. Be careful and don't miss the last chance eddy.
Just some class 3 boogy water below Taylor Shoals
This is the Entrance ledges to You Run It First which is a very big 35 foot waterfall that does not have a good line cause it all lands on a big rock shelf. Don't miss any eddy's here.
This is a big waterfall that lands on a Rock Shelf. Not much a portage trail on right, don't know about left.
This is about a 30-40 foot slide that we ran down the right side.
This is about an 8 foot ledge that breaks up a long streatch of flatwater in Between the two huge waterfalls that have to be portaged.
This rapid is not to big, but very dangerous. It has bad undercut on the right side where you enter the rapid and then current pushes bad to the left side of river to another undercut. There is a rock ledge here that you have to power over at low flows. There is also a bad undercut at the bottom of the rapid. Stay center as much as possible.
This is a pretty nice boof above the cave rapid. The top part of the drop is about 4 feet with current feeding into undercut on right, then some current into a nice boof of about 6-8 feet. It kinda lands on rocks.
This is about a 12 foot drop that is very nasty and dangerous. It is all undercut and sieved out. Most of the current goes into a cave with no escape. Fun to Risk factor is very low on this one.
Nice boof rapid of about 8-10 feet total.
The secong nice boof below the cave rapid.
This is the slide you can see looking up from the chattooga. it is about 20 feet long slide that has bad undercut on the left. Run far right.
This is another small rapid that is a double boof of about 3 and 4 feet, but it has a very bad undercut sieve on the left side.

I painted a paddler's gage on the new Hwy 441 south bound bridge over Stekoa on 7/14/07. To see it, you'll need to park on Rickman Airfield Road, carefully cross 441 to the median between the north and south bound bridges. The gage is on the South bound bridge river right, downstream pilon. Please report your levels and low, medium and high info so we can dial this gage in and develop a correlation. E-mail info to me at h2olevelcheck@hotmail.com. -- Thanx -- Rob Maxwell

The Paddler's Gage for Stekoa Creek is on the new South bound bridge of Hwy 441. Its on the downstream river right pilon and easily seen from the median between the bridges. Park on on Rickman Airfield Road and cross 441 carefully to view the gage.

We hiked up this from the chattooga on Sunday May 2, 2004. It was a pretty good medium level. The chattooga was only about 1.7 (it had just rained the night before). But the last mile or so into the chattooga is non-stop class 5. The entire section we looked at had undercuts, sieves, caves and potholes everywhere and there were very small pools in between the drops. You can hike/wade/climb up the creek on the river right side but it isn

I have run this whenthe Chattooga was 2 feet and would warn against rushing to jump on the creek at extreamly high water. Several Southeastern Guides said 1.9 on the Chattooga was a good minimum. At levels near 3 feet or higher you could easily not be able to stop at the big rapids and find yourself as a greasy spot on some rocks at the bottom of the big waterfall.

This is the 2nd waterfall on lower stekoa over 30+ feet.
3rd Huge waterfall over 30+ feet on Lower Stekoa, bout a mile above where it empties in the Chattooga.
First large rapid in the gorge of last 3/4 mile as you enter the Chattooga.
This is second rapid as you enter the lower gorge before empting into the Chattooga.
THis is the 3rd big rapid in lower gorge before emptying into Chattooga, I think it is a portage for most boater, but know it was run on the PaddleSnake video. Landing is small and there are rocks on the right and cave on left where most of the water goes.
This is the 4th rapid on lower gorge before empting into Chattooga. It is pretty clean and straight forward.
This is the 5th rapid in lower gorge as it empties into Chattooga, you can see the 4th in the background. Pretty clean rapid with more water, but tall slide is just below.
This is the last slide of lower gorge that can be seen from the Chattooga. There is a bad sieve on the left. When we ran it at 2.1 we ran far right. It was rocky, but pretty safe.
This is the 3 huge waterfall on lower stekoa.
This is the 3 huge waterfall on lower stekoa.

This is the 3 huge waterfall on lower stekoa.

This is the 3 huge waterfall on lower stekoa.

This is the 2nd huge waterfall over 30+ feet on lower stekoa.

This is the rapid right after the bend in the creek after it leaves road on Wolf Creek road off of 76 east.
This is a big waterfall or about 35 feet total. There may be a line down the far left side but the landing is defently on rocks. Good portage on left side.