Georgia Canoe - Kayak Paddlers - Toxaway River

Georgia Canoe - Kayak Paddlers
Georgia Canoeing Association - GCA - P.O. Box 7023, Atlanta, Georgia 30357

There is no rushing a river. When you go there, you go at the pace of the water and that pace ties you into a flow that is older than life on this planet.
Acceptance of that pace, even for a day, changes us, reminds us of other rhythms beyond the sound of our own heartbeats.
- Jeff Rennicke, River Days: Travels on Western Rivers

When you put your hand in a flowing stream, you touch the last that has gone before and the first of what is still to come.
- Leonardo DaVinci

Toxaway River - 1968

Written by Claude Terry

Thursday, 24 June 2010 14:54

The Toxaway River rises in Western North Carolina and flows into South Carolina, ending in Lake Keowee. Many of you have probably seen Toxaway Falls along US 64 between Cashiers and Brevard. There are numerous smaller falls lower down the river, some of which have great sliding rocks. Further down the river, now under the waters of Lake Keowee, was a section of the Toxaway that used to be paddled. I was fortunate to have run this section once before it was dammed in the early 1970's. For those of you who missed this beautiful river, here is a trip report by Claude Terry which appeared in the December, 1968 Newsletter. - Bronwyn Fowlkes, Historian

October 12, 1968 was a fine autumn day, perfect for a drive in the mountains. Seven of our stalwart members drove to the N.C.-S.C. border to run the Toxaway River before it goes under the backwaters of a dam. (One group had a slight delay due to the problems of Bill Crawford, whose car was "Mislaid"). The drive in to the river was through an extensive forest, which was quite primeval. Despite the remoteness of the river several groups of people were trout fishing at the put-in.

The first series of rapids begins almost immediately, with Devil's Chute. There are about four (depending on how one separates them) good class 3 or 4 rapids, all of which can be portaged readily. Some of our party had trouble with Devil's Chute and wound up sharing lunches. All part of the fun! The rest of the river is class 1 and 2, so most of our members could run the river if they portaged the first couple of rapids.

The Toxaway has to be one of the clearest streams in the country, with the bottom either sand or pebbles and visible in several feet of water. The gorge is pretty, with wildlife (beavers in particular) abundant and apparent.

At the end, one rounds a bend, and there are the scalped mountains in preparation for the dam site. Enough to make a conservationist of anyone! This river could possibly still be run next spring (1969), and would make a good early run for most canoeists in our club.

Those on this trip were: Roy and Roy Reid Adams, Bill Crawford, Aurelia and John Kennedy, Claude Terry and Clyde Woolsey.

Claude Terry
From the GCA Newsletter, December, 1968

Before The Eddy Line had a name!

Comments

Roy "Reid" Adams

Wow! I remember this trip, it was a GREAT trip. Those were the days! I was 12 and my dad, Roy, was 38. My son and daughter have carried on the tradition and worked their college summers as kayak guides.

Monday 10 January 2011, 03:27

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