SE Whitewater Beta Stash

Bridge correlation via Andy Lee: "... 18" as the minimum, 2' to 3' as good, 4' high. I've run it as high as 5+ feet, those last three rapids become one long flush." Streambeam gauge:  https://www.streambeam.net/Home/Gauge?siteID=5

The upper Tellico from the top of the Ledges section through Jerod's Knee can be scraped down pretty low, I don't know if there is a minimum to just plop over the falls, but once things get over 3 feet some retentiveness starts at things like Auto-Boof and Baby Falls.  Low water Jerod's has pin potentials.  The middle Tellico, below Jerod's knee to Oosterneck can be run as low as 1.4 but that's really just wet rocks.   1.7 is a reasonable minimum and 3.5 is a max for me, I suppose it can go higher but it would start to be a flush.   I would not drive from B'ham unless it is at least 2 ft.  I park a car at Pylon, it avoids messing with Reeder's Rock undercut and some class I slogging down to the Oosterneck takeout. https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?site_no=03518500  - Tellico gauge When this is over 4 ft  or dropping down from higher to the 4 ft range start thinking about Citico.  The Tellico will spike, if the locals aren't there (GDI c...

Plateau levels are all guesstimates.  These are some of the runs I do with my canoeist buddies The Lost Tribe.  I asked my friend S about min and max levels for Crab Orchard, Little Clear, and Island.  The guesstimates are based on USGS Lilly and Oakdale gauges.   https://waterdata.usgs.gov/tn/nwis/uv?site_no=03539778  - Lilly https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?site_no=03540500  - Oakdale NEW Streambeam gauge for Piney - this would theoretically provide estimates for nearby creeks once we get correlations:  https://www.streambeam.net/Home/Gauge?siteID=TN001 S.:  "Look for 1200 on clear creek Lilly gauge. 1.5 minimum LCC visual gauge, 0.5 minimum for Island gauge. For crab orchard I use water level on concrete apron at the put in. I really should start using the put in gauge. Not really sure about max on anything. People ran Crab this morning (3/28/21). No way I would have been there today." - Lilly is 19000 at this writing -. I then asked abo...

  At 1.5 ft. (1 ft. when we took out) this was class II with a lot of flatwater at the end.   2.5 ft. was nice, I suppose a medium flow. 4.5 ft  (3.5 when we took out) was awesome.  Big long wave trains with no eddies.  A swim would be a bit of an adventure.   Three rapids of note.  Rob Roy is not far down the run, scout it for wood.  Waterfall is named for a small waterfall on river left at the top, there is a rock splitting the current below, go right, be aware of an FU rock in the runout, boogie after.  Trestle is the third, when you see the trestle river left kind of aim for it and go through the boogie water. 

  I wanted a place to keep short beta bits on whitewater runs, so here it is.  The beta comes from both my own experiences and from friends on social media.  This is my little stash of info, it is like a pocket notebook. It by no means replaces resources like Alabamawhitewater.com , Americanwhitewater.org , or books by great boaters like Kirk Eddlemon and Leland Davis .  Jack's Rock on Clear Creek. 

Upper Nantahala beta from my friend Steve P. Subtract 600-650 cfs from the gauge and that’s what’s in the Upper Nantahala. The powerhouse can only contribute 600-650 cfs, the rest is runoff upstream of the gauge. At 1000 cfs, you’ve got about 350 cfs of runoff. That reflects White Oak Creek, the tributaries and what’s being released from the dam. Nantahala Lake is above target level (as of 05-07-20), so any significant rain will cause them to release some. Short version...if the gauge is 1000 cfs or above, you’re pretty good to go. One of my favorite levels is 2000 on the gauge, about 1600 in the Upper. It’s a mini Cheoah. 3 miles of Class III boogie water. Have fun! Link to gauge:  https://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/uv?03505550 The gauge reflects runoff also below the cascades, so not as predictable as a rec release where it all comes from the dam. As with all nonscheduled releases, scout it, watch the radar for rain. Duke will occasionally boost the flow if there’s been signific...

Clear Creek levels/beta From Kirk E.: Here's my thoughts on Clear Creek, having run it from 150-11,000 cfs: 150-250 - Yeah you can get down it, but it's marginally running. 250-350 - Still clearly damn low! 350-450 - Decent Low 450-700 - A good low, medium low at the upper end 700-1000 - medium 1200-2000 - medium high 2000-4000 - big water, totally different, still really good, it's high 4000-7000 - starting to really change, don't swim 7000-11000 - pretty damn scary, don't swim!!!! I wouldn't base Clear Creek's flow on anything (Oakdale,Lancing) other than the gauge on Clear Creek. That's all the info you need. While some folks have been around a while and are tempted to use Oakdale, we've had a Clear Creek online gauge for 15 years now. _____________________ I posted this: Using the Oakdale gauge 1000 is low but doable, 3000 is plenty, a lot of the Clear Creek rapids start washing out. Using the Lilly gauge, 200 is pretty low. If it gets over 1200 ...

 Crab Orchard levels from Stu:  2’ is great. 1’ is meh. 

Post by Adam G.: "LRC at 1000 is a good minimum for West Fork, but its alot more fun as it goes up. The play is best with LRC at 1500-3,500. We've run it with LRC as high as 7k, but the play kinda washes out at high water. BTW we usually don't run the double drop above the put in (aka Alpine Rapid) until LRC is over 2500... it;s more dangerous at lower flows." My understanding is this has a cl IV double drop optional at the dam, and one III+ IV- rapid with an undercut river left.  The rest is II-III.  The take-out requires 4wd.  I haven't run this yet.   Video at 2050 cfs.   https://www.facebook.com/100001788901839/videos/3832311356838457/

  As of March 2021, locals are saying the new minimum for Lower Big Creek is 3 ft.  Dave MC says that he is hearing the gauge has changed by a foot, so that the new 4 ft. is the old 3 ft.  https://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/River/view/river-detail/1038/main

From Kirk:  I'll add my personal opinion. 0.3 is minimum. 0.5 is a little scrapy but fine. 0.7 is a perfect low level, doesn't get easier than this range. 1.0 is plenty of water and some folks might even find it a little pushy. 1.3 is pushy and solid Class IV (would eat many people's lunch). 2.0 is undoubtedly Class V. And pretty dangerous if you don't know the wood sit. I personally don't want to run it ever over 2 feet. That's just my "I like to have fun and not be terrified" perspective. I've run 5 laps this month at 0.75 and that's a fantastic level. Padded, little to no scraping, and plenty of amplitude. One more thought - It's a Class III run under a foot if you're a big dog Class IV-V boater, but your average paddler should simply consider it a Class IV run. From Brandon H: 0.6 to 0.8 is my favorite. Personally, 1.3 is my “bring your big boy panties” level. Jim J.: If you don't paddle class V I'd recommend runs in the 1.4...