Yahoola Creek, Georgia, US

1. US 19 North of Dahlonega to US 19

Usual Difficulty	I-IV (for normal flows)
Length	6 Miles
Max Gradient	100 fpm

Gauge Information

Name	Range	Difficulty	Updated	Level
CHESTATEE RIVER NEAR DAHLONEGA, GA
usgs-02333500	1000 - 20000 cfs	I-IV	00h47m	284 cfs (rc= -0.7 )
	Flow range for best boatability uncertain. Please help your fellow boaters with a comment or report. Reference gauge is only a possible indicator of runnability. Visual inspection is necessary.

River Description

The upper run on Yahoola has two short gorges. The rapids consist primarily of boulder pile drops and ledges. The primary danger on this run is strainers. Back in the mid 90's there were lots unrunnable drops due to the trees.

frank boston:
2005-06-03 20:16:06
Me and a group of friends have been hiking in and clearing some of the rapids out. A lot of the lower gorge is clean and runnable. With a little more work the complete gorge will be runnable with the exception of the first two major drops and one rapid at the end of the narrows. I have not seen these rapids clean of wood and don't think anyone has run them, yet.

Here is a brief description of the gorge. Starts off with a bang, get out after the first class II drop and portage King Kong a 12 to 15 footer that leads into Godzilla a boulder clog sieve that has not been run but looks runnable with enough water. Both of these are class V+.

Put in the short pool below and run Pinball a class IV or portage on river right. Run a few class II drops and then comes Caveman, a class III+ double drop with what looks like a cave on river left. Round the bend is a deep calm pool with huge boulders surrounding it, locals call this the Hole but its the calm before the storm.

Get out and scout on river right. This is the entrance to the Narrows. First drop is Entrance, a class III ledge that leads right into Commitment, a class IV 5-7 footer with a must boof or major meltdown factor. Next comes Split Decision a class III+ drop with a rock in the middle splitting the flow, run left or right and then punch thru the sticky hole at the bottom. Paddle thru a short calm pool and run Rock on Water, a class III+ drop with a boulder on river left that looks to be floating on water.

Next is Turtle Rock an easy class III but catch the eddy at the bottom fast and get out and scout the next drop called Pink Floyd, a yet to be run class V rapid with two different routes. You can run The Wall on river left or Darkside of the Moon on river right if there is enough water. Pink Floyd marks the end of the Narrows. The gorge opens up a little with short calm sections and some class II-III drops and then comes Almo a class IV-V drop of 4-6 foot that use to be a 7 foot log jam drop that my friend Almo helped me clear. I have not run this one since it has been cleaned.

A few more small drops and then Zoom Floom a tight class III+ slide with no room for error.Some more class II drops and then Yahoola Falls a class IV+ double drop with an elbow turn between them. The first drop is an 8-10 foot slide with the elbow and a rock called the Anvil at the bottom.If you make the turn paddle hard to get thru the hole at the bottom of the 4-6 foot second drop. There is a small pourover hole right below here that is a fun playhole.

This marks the end of the gorge and National Forest land. One more rapid below here worth mentioning is Syrup Mill Shoals a long class III shoals with new house below it on the left. This is private property so dont get out. About 1 mile of flatwater before you come to a concrete culvert bridge.This is the take out, Duffy Grizzle Rd.

The put-in is the bridge on Walnut Valley Drive. There is a rough gage on the river left downstream side.A paint mark on the concrete wall marks a good level and the concrete ledge below this is a bare minimum with some drops that sieve out at this level.

This is a great creek that not too many people know about. Hope to see another group of paddlers on this one soon. There is a short put-in and takeout on NF land with no shuttle but a steep takeout trail about 1/4 of a mile long that takes out all of the flatwater above and below the gorge.FS rd. 281, go to end of rd. left side of ridge is the put-in trail right side is the takeout trail. Good Luck.