Georgia Canoe - Kayak Paddlers - Coosawatee River and the Trash Bog

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Coosawatee River and the Trash Bog

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Written by Shannon Bishop

The Coosawattee River is formed by the confluence of the Cartecay and Ellijay Rivers in Gilmer County and flows into Carter's Lake. On the trip on a rainy May day was William Gatling, Connie Venuso, and another canoeist whose name we can't remember (apologies) in OC-1s, and Tom and Shannon Bishop in K-1s.

The shuttle was fairly long and parking at the Corp of Engineers lot cost $5. Due to the torrential rains of the previous week, the water level was rather high at about 3 ft. and 1,400 cfs on the Ellijay gauge. The river was muddy brown and for the most part all the rocks were covered. We started out with wavy water and pushy current due to the high water level. About an hour and a half into our journey we stopped for lunch at a park that had covered pavilions, a playground, and indoor plumbing!

After lunch we encountered many class II rapids and an unexpected II+. In the II+ rapid you started center, moved to river left, went down a series of cascades, and wound up center again. There were many rapids towards the end of the river where it flows into Carter's Lake. There were so many rapids that I started to get tired! When we got to the lake it was about eight feet over full pool. From the moment we got on the lake we saw trash that had been washed down by the flood.

We decided that we would be good citizens and pick up some of the trash. We would paddle through the trees and gather garbage. It was neat paddling through the trees because it was like running a slalom course. After a while we came to a river wide island of trash that probably covered several acres. We found basketballs, baseballs, golf balls, racquetballs, soccer balls; every kind of ball known to man. We found bottles of all descriptions and a 50-gallon trash can. We decided that we couldn't pick up everything on the river that day.

Paddling through the trash I felt like an icebreaker in the Arctic cutting a trail through the ice. We had about a 1.5-hour lake paddle to the takeout. Aside from the trash, the lake was beautiful, but it was still a long paddle. The Coosawattee River is a good trained beginner trip. The scenery is outstanding with high river bluffs covered in mountain laurel, rhododendron, and hemlock trees. The rapids keep your interest, and if you don't mind the paddle at the end it's a great trip!

By Shannon Bishop
May 2003

For more information about this river see:
Coosawatee- Ellijay to Carters Lake