Short Creek

Reid and Russell Bailey - around 1990

Chuck Neese running Short Creek Fall 1984

short on right, scharam on left

Witnessed a bad piton running the rt slot boof @ Gratto Falls while making a low water run on 3/12/06. Had run Short 2 days prior and everyone who ran that line had no problems. I probed the area just below the drop on Sun after the piton and there is a boulder or shelf just under the surface across the entire line of the 8' boof. Take caution while boofing this drop, a pencil would probably not break any bones, but it will put a nasty dent in the front of your boat. The main - double drop of Gratto is good to go at both levels.

Charlie wa rippin it up that day, showing what the local boaters are made of.

He hid under the curtain after his run, trying to fake a accident, to see if we would come rescue him, we did'nt.
One of my first runs off the falls, I loved the place and will be back to visit often.
Can you tell he had a 18 Pack of brews before he ran this? He was throwin' some nice free wheels too.

Short Creek's Paddlers gage is located on the SR 75 Bridge. There are actually two SR 75 bridges crossing Short Creek. The gauge is on the upstream bridge (NE bound traffic) on river right support. Best seen from river right, upstream side of the bridge.

Levels:

ELF: 6'

Low: 9'

Medium: 2.0'

High: 3.0'

Short Creek is best correlated off of the USGS Scarham Creek gage.

When Scarham is:

170-200 cfs Short is 9'

350-400 cfs Short is about 2 feet.

As for Town Creek, its not as good an indicator as Scarham, but its a good backup gage:

When Town is:

500-600 cfs Short is 9'

1400 cfs Short is about 2 feet

I have an Excel 2000 spreadsheet that predicts the levels for Short Creek and several other rivers in the southeast. If you

Digital still pic from a video. North Alabama Whitewater Festival, Short Creek Freestyle Competition.

This is where the waterfall rodeo takes place during a huge paddler party we call NAWF, which is in March at the Locust Fork River in Blount County Alabama

Marty Montana (THE LEGEND!) and I ran Short creek for the first time this weekend. Not sure of the level, but from discriptions' of the 18' I would guess that it was over 14', just a guess. we ran the high point in the center and there was no scrapping, just big smiles. we put in about 2mi. above the Big one, class II with one or two Class III. At this level Great class III/IV with a couple of Class IV+ bekow the falls. I would say that it is a lot harder than Daddy's Creek, TN at 1.9, Little River(sinks section) up to around 4.5', citico @.5 over bidge(only level run), but not as hard as Five falls, Talluha@500. It is a run that is worth checking out. Town was @ 600, but as I said before compare to the discription of the falls I'd say that it was over 14'. The area is Beautiful.

WARNING: Better have a shuttle driver, No parking safe parking at put-ins'. Water fall put-in: ranger said that we would Get Towed and Possibly charged with Tesspassing, posted no parking. The lake paddle makes you look forward to the Chattooga Paddle, But the ACTION UP STREAM MAKE'S IT WORTH IT! Once you are pass the 18' water fall the action starts and does not let up till the lake.

Hiked down from the bridge after a good day on South Sauty for a little waterfall action

Chuck Kirk running Short Creek in a Perception Reflex

Mike Morrow showing us how its done!
Mike's second run of Short Creek Falls wasn't as pretty as the first. But then again, neither is the picture.
Mike Morrow at Gratto Falls
Marshall Fox runs Gratto Falls.
Peter Horne runs Tornado Sluice
Marshall Fox runs Divided Highway
This photo makes Rock Cruncher look pretty tame. Don't be fooled.
Kevin Thomas runs Confluence Rapid. At higher levels its advisable to sneak the hole on the left.
This is the most overlooked rapid on the run. It is also the last rapid before the 2 mile lake paddle. It can be found on the river right side of the island before the lake. There is a nice channel to get to the drop about half way down the islands, which you can see on the right side of the photo.

Perhaps one of the worlds easier 18' waterfalls

Clean falls with a deep pool at the bottom.

NAWF waterfall rodeo site.