I had read about the Towaliga in Sehlinger and Otey's Southern Georgia Canoeing, and in Reese Turrentine's account in Brown's Guide to Georgia. But there was never an Eddy Line account during my editorial tenure, from '79 through '91, and I don't recall seeing one since. I pictured the Towaliga as a lot of flat water, some deadfalls, and a few small ledges.

Most of the gradient on the Towaliga occurs in High Falls. We visited High Falls State Park on a Saturday too windy for paddling. We hiked the left bank trail down to the last big ledge, and looked SE downstream. Flat water, but nicely forested, and too wide to be blocked by deadfalls. So the next day, when the wind had dropped and my wife was back from church, instead of doing my usual exercise run on the Metro Chattahoochee, I said, "Let's go back down to High Falls. I want to run eight miles on the Towaliga.

It takes scarcely more than an hour to drive from Atlanta to High Falls State Park, just east of I-75 on a high step in the Piedmont. We drove down to the lower campground area, below the falls and the last rapid on river right, to put in. The rangers did not want us there; they were cutting dead wood and wished the area closed, but I pointed out to them that I would be much more at risk if I had to portage the boat down the "Red" trail on river left.

I got away at 2:15. Weather was fair, current was good, and the water was clear enough to show large rocks a few feet below. The first mile and some were just as I had pictured the Towaliga: red clay banks, smooth brown water, mixed hardwood forest, and occasional homes, some in the "redneck renaissance" style. One imposing house was set back away from the river, while at bank side was a collage of concrete blocks, plastic chairs, and recycled containers. Oh, well, by evening I would have done eight plus miles of river I had never seen before.

The Towaliga meandered southward, and then widened and pooled as it turned briefly north. Some rock outcrops showed on the right bank. The pooling suggested ledges coming up, and as the river curved east again, sure enough, there were broken ledges around a little pine topped island. Three teens were wading across toward the island, having tied their electric motor powered fishing boat to a tree in the slack water above the rapid. I found just enough water over the ledges to snake from chute to chute.

After this, seldom did I paddle as much as a half mile without coming to another class one or two rapid. Most were formed by broken ledges, where the water spread thin, and I had to work back and forth to hit chutes deep enough to avoid sticking. Strongly focused chutes were rare, and it would take a lot more water to create wave trains, but these were not dinky rapids, and some had a total drop of several feet. The bottom of the river was littered with large rocks, and there were occasional shelves along the banks which would allow a small group to stop for lunch.

The first five miles took me to a new concrete "Flat Bridge" on Box Anvil Road. There was river access just below the bridge on the left bank. More shallow rapids were under and below the bridge, and around the next bend was a string of small islands where the river, at flood stage, had been forced over by a ledge to cut through the woods. Soon came a muskrat carrying a large silvery mollusk, and then on the right bank, one of the biggest loblolly pines I have seen outside of the Congaree swamp in SC.

The last class 2 ledge system came at about mile 7, and just below on the right, the Little Towaliga River entered. The Little T has much more gradient, many more ledges, but also many more tree problems, and far fewer runnable days per year, than the big Towaliga.

The Little Towaliga had cut so much rock, and had washed down so much sand and gravel, that the character of the main river changed from a now-and-then ledge river to one with gravel shoals. Less than a mile remained to the Hwy 42 bridge. Painted on one of the bridge pillars was a 10 foot scale, topped by the words, "very high!" I found a place to land the boat and pull it up the steep bank, just downstream of the bridge on the left side. On the left upstream side is a drive-down loading area where my wife brought the Outback after she had tired of waiting for me at the wrong bridge. We were both concerned by the time she arrived, but, not to worry, nothing was really wrong.

Let's take a short inventory of similar rivers, fairly easy stretches runnable about half the year with occasional rapids scattered fairly evenly along their length. These include the Hudson, the Upper Chattahoochee from Duncan to Belton Bridge, the Ocmulgee from Dames Ferry to Arkwright. These are really Piedmont rather than mountain runs. It's hard to say why the Towaliga has received little GCA mention. Not that it is a stupendous find; it's just an easy, pleasant river, close to Atlanta, with a quick shuttle, which more people might enjoy.

Some details. There is no USGS gauge for the Towaliga. For a good, smooth run with enough water to make the ledges easy, wait for at least 180 cfs on the Little River (near Eatonton) or the Murder Creek gauges. I suggest open boats, or "old school" kayaks which cover the flats easily.

To get to the put-in, each car will have to fork over $2 for the High Falls State Park fee. This will get you down to river right parking, and you can put in there if you want to boof the class 3 ledge which is the last of the High Falls white water. If the gate to the lower campground is open, go ahead and drive in a little ways to where you can find a sandy trail down to the bank below the ledge. If you have a large party, you may want to call the head ranger in advance and explain what you will be doing.

by Gary DeBacher
March 13, 2005.

From The Eddy Line, Sept. 2006.

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