Milt Aitken and I were almost giddy as we pulled into the Andrew Pickens District Ranger Office in Walhalla, South Carolina the first Thursday evening of 2007. Our skepticism about whether we would ever see the upper Chattooga River legally in a boat was gradually fading. It was becoming more and more apparent that this user study was really going to happen. A tremendous excitement and anticipation now replaced that skepticism.

Our excitement began to build on Monday after we received an email from Ben Ellis, a consultant with the Louis Berger Group, telling us that the recent storm and the predicted rainfall met their “trigger” to mobilize the study team. Consultants from as far away as Jackson, Wyoming, Corvallis, Oregon and Anchorage, Alaska would converge on the Chattooga during the next few days. They would be working with both anglers and boaters as part of the ongoing User Capacity Analysis of the upper Chattooga River ordered by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) Chief in April, 2005.

Those of us lucky enough to receive Ben’s call spent the next three days focused on the weather websites and the USGS gauge at Highway 76. We rearranged our schedules on short notice to be part of something special, our excitement growing and waning as the forecast vacillated and the river levels fell.

Now we were actually here to begin the field work and legally run the upper 21 miles of the Chattooga River for the first time in over 30 years. We entered the room and joined the crowd milling about, waiting for the meeting to start. Each of us knew that we were about to be a part of something historic. The excitement among the boating panelists was palpable. You could sense it.

The boaters were easy to discern from the anglers. We were the ones with the smiles on our faces, laughing and joking with each other, obviously glad to be there. This contrasted starkly with the visible dismay on the faces of several anglers, clearly disgusted with the thought of boaters on “their” river. However, this did not dampen our spirits as we looked forward to this great adventure.

The meeting began with the customary introductions of the consultants, panelists and agency staff, either present or on the phone. This was one of the few times during the next two days that we would have any interaction with the anglers, either here or on the river.

David Hedden and Jeff Owensby were there representing the USFS. David and Jeff were joined by Tony White and several other agency staff on the conference phone. John Cleeves, the User Capacity Study Program Manager, would join us on Saturday.

Once we were all properly introduced, Ben Ellis chaired the meeting. He was joined by Bo Shelby, Doug Whitaker, and Karen Koslowski, the consulting team.

The boating panel included 10 lucky boaters: GCA members Don Piper and Don Kinser as well as Shayne Day, Milt Aitken, Todd Corvey, Brian Jacobson, Wade Vagias, Ken Holmes, Ben Ellis (consultant) and Bo Shelby (consultant). We would get to know both Ben and Bo well during the next two days as they joined us on the river.

The anglers’ panel included Doug Adams, a longtime Chattooga angler. I had the great pleasure of spending a magical day on the upper Chattooga fishing with Doug several years ago (and we didn’t even catch any fish!). No one loves the Chattooga more than Doug.

Doug was joined by Alex Watson, David Cannon and a number of others whose names I cannot recall. It was interesting how they kept the boater and angler panels segregated, never even giving us the list of anglers names. Doug Whitaker, the consultant from Anchorage, would accompany the anglers on the river for the study. The plan was to meet at the boater access just below the Highway 28 Bridge at 8:00 a.m. Friday morning. The USFS would shuttle us from there to Burrell’s Ford and we would paddle the Rock Gorge and Nicholson Fields reaches of the upper Chattooga (a/k/a Section 1). We were to return to the Ranger office for a debriefing with the consultants and anglers at 3:00 p.m..

Assuming all went well and the predicted rainfall materialized, we would then do the Chattooga Cliffs and Ellicott Rock reaches on Saturday. The meeting ended and we headed to our cars. It was raining. This was going to be good!

Day 1 - Rock Gorge (a/k/a Section 1) - 12.5 miles

Friday dawned cloudy and rainy, just as predicted. It was also unusually warm for January, perfect weather for a great day on the Forbidden River.

We assembled at the boater access just downstream of the Highway 28 Bridge at 8:00 a.m. Even with our “alpine” start, everyone was all smiles and on time as we nursed our coffee, conversed, and joked around while getting our gear together. The excitement was thick in the air: you could feel it. This was going to be a great day on the river.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the parking lot, the anglers didn’t look quite as excited as we were to spend a day in the rain. USFS Rangers David Hedden and Jeff Owensby were friendly and cordial as they handed out permits for us to fill out, helped us load boats and then shuttled us to Burrell’s Ford. They seemed almost as excited as we were.

Our caravan arrived at the Burrell’s Ford Bridge, made ready, and headed down the established trail to the river bank. For the last 30 plus years what we were doing has been illegal (and still is) and here we were being graciously shuttled by the USFS. I felt a great rush of personal satisfaction as I unloaded my gear on the Burrell’s Ford Bridge from that green USFS truck.

After a short riverside meeting with the consultants, Ben and Bo, to discuss river safety and how we would travel down the river, we shoved off at about 9:30 a.m. Everyone was in high spirits. That would not change for the rest of the weekend.

Many of you may know this river reach as Section 1. However, throughout the study we were encouraged to refer to this section as the Rock Gorge and Nicholson Fields Section (the stretch down from Lick Log Creek). Quite frankly, “Rock Gorge” sounded a whole lot more fun than “Section 1” and a whole lot more descriptive. So from now it will be the Rock Gorge reach. The river starts off meekly, gradually picking up gradient as you float down from Burrell’s Ford. After about a mile the river starts to take a long sweeping left turn and you enter a nice stretch of Class 3 “steps” that are easily boat scouted and straightforward.

The scenery was outstanding at every turn, with beautiful views up and down the river. However, all of us were surprised at the dire state of the hemlocks here on the upper river. The hemlock woolly adelgid has wreaked havoc on them, far worse than down lower in the watershed. It is sad.

We reached Big Bend Falls about 10:15 a.m. And easily eddied out to the right, just above it. The rain that had been sporadic much of the morning was now falling steadily. Big Bend Falls is a beautiful spot on the river and can be reached by foot. This was the only time during the day that I saw any other people. Joe Robles with the USFS was there to observe us at the falls and Becky Johnson from the Smoky Mountain News was there taking photos. Otherwise we had the entire river corridor to ourselves.

The falls are clearly runnable, albeit Class 5. We spent about 30 minutes scouting and picture taking. However, on this day there was a vertical log pinned in the preferred landing zone on the river right side. Some contemplated a left side line and we all portaged. This was easily accomplished down the bedrock on the river right side. I believe most will choose to portage this drop when running this section.

Downstream of Big Bend Falls, things start to pick up with a number of Class 3-4 read and run rapids as the river winds it way around Round Top Mountain. We reached the next major rapid, called “Rock in the Crack in the Hole in the Wall,” at about 11:20 a.m. This was another of the many rapids in the watershed originally named by early Chattooga pioneer Alan Singley. We scouted this Class 4+ drop for about 10 minutes and then we all successfully ran it, some more successfully than others.

After leaving “Rock in the Crack in the Hole in the Wall,” it was on to the Rock Gorge. But before entering the Rock Gorge, we had to “do the laundry” at Maytag, a stout class 4+ or 5 drop that guards the gates to the Rock Gorge about ten minutes downriver.

Most paddlers will have already guessed why this rapid is so named. It is because of the spin cycle in the large hole at the bottom of the drop. We all scouted, noting some wood in the drop. I can’t remember if anyone walked this drop or not, and most of us ran it. Most of us ran it without any issues, but not all. I got “tagged” in the hole and took a brief and uneventful swim. All of the scouting and so forth at Maytag took our group about 30 minutes.

The Rock Gorge is a magical place of awesome beauty. It’s a great place to hike when the water is low, and even better when experienced from a boat with the energy of the freely flowing river pulsating around you.

The rain continued to come down as we entered the Rock Gorge and met our next major challenge “Harvey

Wallbanger.” This is another stout Class 4+ drop that we all scouted. I am not sure, but I think at least one in our group chose to portage. Most had uneventful runs; I, on the other hand, took another short and uneventful swim.

Next was a quick lunch break, very quick, and then on to upper and lower Big Hairy Bastard. These are two fun read and run Class 4 drops that everyone aced. We reached the end of the Rock Gorge at about 1:00 p.m. and the gradient began to ease considerably as we passed Lick Log Creek. From Lick Log the Highway 28 takeout is another 5 miles.

We now found ourselves floating lazily for the next several miles along a beautiful mountain river. Everyone was all smiles even as the thunder and lightning began to rumble and light up the river gorge. I was in the back of the group talking with Bo Shelby, one of the consultants. We did not see anyone along the river. Others in the front of our group saw two backpackers, heads down, hiking in the rain, oblivious to our presence on the river.

They also saw David Cannon, one of the angler panelists. David was just leaving the river as they approached. Next they found Buzz Williams of the Chattooga Conservancy scowling at them from the Highway 28 Bridge.

We reached the Highway 28 boater access at about 2:45, just as the rain eased off. This allowed us to get dressed quickly. We pulled into the District Ranger Office at exactly 3:00 p.m., right on time for two more hours of debriefing with the consultants.

Next month in Part 2: Chattooga Cliffs and Ellicott Rock

Editor’s Note: Article copyright 2007 by Don Kinser: may be reprinted with permission and attribution. Photos copyright 2007 by Brian Jacobson/Trout Lips VideoLLC and Todd Corvey. Text and photos used with permission.

Additional photos of this section are on the American Whitewater website at www.americanwhitewater.org/content/River/detail/id/1049.

To help with the efforts to reopen the Chattooga headwaters to boating, join American Whitewater at www.americanwhitewater.org/membership or call 1.866.BOAT4AW.

By Don Kinser, GCA River Protection Chair

From “The Eddy Line”, February 2007

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