Wildcat Creek (Tellico Tributary), Tennessee, US

Source to Tellico River

Tail end of the Wildcat

Tail end of the Wildcat
Photo of Ken Strickland by Hank Zachary @ Medium (Tellico 5')

Gauge Information

River Description

Really fun run. Lots of class 2 at first, maybe 2 miles, then first ledge. Lots of trees throughout the run, all boofable or duckable at normal levels. Anyway, some good class 3-4 boulder jumbles with class 2 in between. Tiny and very scenic. Got the feeling we were one of the few to have done it. A mile into the whitewater there is a class 4+ microgorge tucked into some faulted bedrock. This is a must run. The creek is 10 feet wide all the way through. Then a good boof slide affair of 12 feet. Some good boofs and slots follow. Then some class 3-4 boulder gardens, then one last sweet 8 foot ledge with a great fading boof on the left shoulder. After this is a quarter mile to the takeout.

There is no class 5 in here as long as the water is not high. The unportageable gorge has lots of wood, and if the jam drops, could be unrunnable. Could hike around, just would take a while. Look for Tellico to be 5 feet and rising, or for 2-3 inches of widespread low elevation rain in the past 12 hours. I would rate this run 3-4+. Good fun. Best run in the Tellico watershed. Don't put on too high, because of the wood though.

So for directions to the putin and takeout: 

Takeout a few hundred yards downstream of the confluence with the Tellico at a pull out. 

To get back up to the top, drive down the Tellico to Old Furnace Road and turn left.  This is right next to Tellico Beach Drive In.  Then Proceed up the road for two possible put in options. 

At 2.2 miles, there is a gated road branching off to the right.  There is a wide spot in the road, and on the left, a faint trail drops down a third of a mile to the creek.  This puts you in below V8 and reconnection, making the run alot shorter and quicker, but you miss the cool minicanyon of V8.  The run is a hair over two miles long puting in here.

At 2.9 miles, there is a sharp right turn away from the creek followed by a trail on the left, labeled 164?  Take this trail 0.6 miles down to the creek, puting in right around the corner above V8 minigorge.  This makes the run 3.25 miles long, and includes all of the good whitewater.

The other put in option is to drive upstream along the Tellico from the takeout, turning right onto Tellico River Road, and shortly later turning right onto a FSR crossing the river.  Then proceed a number of miles to an unmarked trail on the right that leads 0.7 miles down to a put in on Sixmile Creek, a half mile above the Wildcat confluence.  This adds 1.6 miles of scenic class 2, making the run almost 5 miles of wilderness.