Upper Etowah Whitewater Run
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Scott Kitchens and his wife Kim took my girlfriend Tracy and I down the upper Etowah River on Saturday. It was pretty challenging paddling by myself in my two-man canoe. I wasn’t anticipating quite the level of whitewater or I would not have brought my dog, Gretchen. We’ve had so much rain this summer that even these mountain streams were running brown and dirty. At one point I came up short on a hidden rock in a class II rapid and got thrown forward into my thwart, barking both my shins hard enough to cause me to about pass out. That was weird and I appreciate Scott coming to my assistance–I was getting tunnel vision. I guess I basically frogged my legs just hard enough or something – I’ve had more serious injuries in the past that didn’t cause anything like that.
Gretchen’s leash was not clipped while we were paddling–I didn’t want to drown my dog if I rolled the canoe, which never actually happened. She did very well, finally panicking a bit on about mile 15, when she ran back to sit in my lap in the final rock garden on the run.
Here’s a video of the Class IV Etowah Falls. We portaged around this, as well as around or through about five other strainer obstacles. I would recommend carrying a chainsaw if you plan to float this any time soon, especially the upper section.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJhp2HjXc5s
Here’s the map of the run we made:
https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=215462484161731042263.0004e2a6ac4f39b1a8476&msa=0
It’s 13 miles as the crow flies and supposedly about 16 in river distance. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn it’s longer though – we were out for a while. At the end I was pretty beat so I took a little nap on the highway overpass bridge–the only flat surface to stretch out on–off on the side walkway under the rails. Got honked at. By that point I did not care.
Zach
Awesome post Zach. Have you ever shot the tunnel? Do you know about it? Back in the day I actually ran the Etowah all the way from its headwaters to its confluence with the Ustanala (sp?) where the Coosa forms in Rome, and then even from there on down to the border. Before all the houses went in there was excellent deer and duck hunting between Cartersville and Rome in the winter, and I think you already know about the striper run in the spring. But that upper stretch is really cool, and still really wild. Anyway the tunnel, which I think is probably not too many miles downstream of where you guys took out, is friggin’ awesome. It’s where this gold mining company a long time ago bored a hole through an entire mountain, with air shafts going all the way to the top, and then for some reason diverted like half the river to flow through it. You’ve got to take a look before you run it to make sure no log jams have formed inside, but its a hell of a ride, losing quite a bit of elevation as you shoot the drops inside in the dark.
Hey Justin –
We were hoping to run that on one earlier occasion but the water flows had not been right – they were too high again on this day. I still want to do it. But now having been down the Etowah I would prefer to run that tunnel in a kayak versus my bulky canoe.
Zach
We didn’t hit the tunnel this go-around. My wife and I have run it a couple of times, and a wild ride indeed!
The first time we did it was at around 180CFS – a couple of bumps, but nothing too crazy – in the end, we were left thinking that it was very Disney-ride-esque. Neat, sort of peaceful at the end.
The second time it was at about 400CFS – a completely different ride. Violent, huge standing waves within and very rough. I ran it in my open canoe and my wife got tossed from her kayak 1/2 way through (she caught it, got back in, and finished the ride) and much faster. Without question, a huge adrenaline kick.
It is sort of unbelievable to me that the tunnel is still open to run – in part, i think, because its existence is not well broadcast or well known.
And yes, the etowah is a gem – a really beautiful river.
Yeah, the Etowah rocks. Too bad its been through so much down below though. National Geographic actually did a piece many years ago about the rivers of North America, and the Etowah was listed as the most bio-diverse river in North America. Makes sense I guess, given that it drains basically the southern end of the oldest mountain range in the world. I’ve heard there’s been a big sturgeon reintroduction down below Alatoona; might be interesting to see how that is going and if they can be caught on flies from a canoe…
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