Nantahala, North Carolina, US |
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| Usual Difficulty | III+(IV) (for normal flows) |
|---|---|
| Length | 3.1 Miles |
| Avg. Gradient | 100 fpm |
| Name | Range | Difficulty | Updated | Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NANTAHALA RIVER NEAR HEWITT, NC | ||||
| usgs-03505550 | 1000 - 2000 cfs | III+(IV) | 01h08m | 752 cfs (rc= -0.2 ) |
This is a great run either at a creeky level or with a lot of water. The entire run is road scoutable. Please check for wood on your way to the put-in. The put-in is four bridges upstream. Start counting bridges after you pass the commercial put-in. If you start to see large class five looking drops and waterfalls, you've gone too far upstream and reached the Nantahala Cascades. There is a big turnout just before the bridge for shuttle and unloading boats. Please be thoughtful when parking if it is busy. The lot can accommodate many more cars if parked side by side instead of parallel. The Forest Service has been monitoring the lot on busy days so please do your best to keep the lot clean.
This section has been dewatered, although runs after heavy local rain. Check the gauges to determine if it is runnable. To find the level when the flume is releasing, you can check out the Nantahala Cascades gauge. When the flume is not running, you can check the regular Nantahala gauge and get a fairly accurate reading.
Due to amount of water that Duke Energy has been releasing into the riverbed during the Winter 2009/2010, this section has changed character. Usually, a good rain will bring anywhere from 250-500cfs, sometimes 1000cfs for a short period of time. With the releases, the Upper Nantahala is maintaining at 700-1000+cfs.
The beauty with this section is that there are many pull offs so you can choose your own run. If the level is lower than 600cfs, a great run is to go from the fourth bridge to the third bridge. It is a .9 mile long and focuses on the meat of the run. It is feasible to do 3-4 laps on this section with a quick and easy shuttle. After the first mile, you will find that the gradient tapers off and there are two big rapids left before it becomes mostly wave trains to the take out.
To check Duke Energy releases, please go to the following page and click on the message next to Nantahala Lake.
http://www.duke-energy.com/lakes/nantahala/nantahala-lake-levels.asp
Here are a few helpful guidelines you can use.
250-300 cfs: Good first timers' creeking introduction, class III
300-600 cfs: Fun, padded level with eddies, holes avoidable, continuous class III+
600-1000+ cfs: Suggest that you have good class IV river skills, a solid roll and rescue skills. The eddies disappear and this section is continuous with some mean holes. It resembles class IV more than III at this point. Some have said that this level resembles Lower Big Creek.
| Name | Range | Difficulty | Updated | Level | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NANTAHALA RIVER NEAR HEWITT, NC | ||||||||||||
| usgs-03505550 | 1000 - 2000 cfs | III+(IV) | 01h08m | 752 cfs (rc= -0.2 ) | ||||||||
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| When | River/Gauge | Subject | Level | Reporter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 216d15h17m | @Nantahala 2.Upper, Route 1310 Bridge to Hwy. 19 [NC] |
Combat Roll Nantahala falls
|
a good level | user: "standuprayray" |
| 216d15h17m | @Nantahala 2.Upper, Route 1310 Bridge to Hwy. 19 [NC] |
Combat roll Nantahala river
|
a good level | user: "standuprayray" |
| 216d15h17m | @Nantahala 2.Upper, Route 1310 Bridge to Hwy. 19 [NC] |
Nantahala River combatroll
|
a good level | user: "standuprayray" |
| 2y44d12h19m | @Nantahala 2. Route 1310 Bridge to Hwy. 19 [NC] | Account of 12/30/09 | 0.00 ft | n/a |
| 8y335d17h37m | Upper Nantahala [NC] |
Upper Nanty
|
500 cfs | Brad Roberts |
| Mile | Rapid Name | Class | Features (Legend) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Magic Carpet Ride | III+ |  |
| 0.2 | PBJ | III+ | |
| 0.6 | Camp Branch Falls Rapid | III | |
| 0.6 | Jungle Boogie | III | |
| 0.6 | Bridal Veil | III+ | |
| 0.8 | Troll Hole/Fuzzy Bunny | III+ |  |
| 0.9 | S-Turn | III |  |
| 1.0 | The Mank/Fraggle Rock | III+ | |
| 2.0 | Island Rapid | III+ | |
From the put-in to Magic Carpet Ride, it is "choose your own adventure." MCR is the first rapid below the put-in. It offers many options, all of which are viable. At higher flows, it can be run either right or middle. The right tends to be meaty and offers a nice boof at the bottom instead of the slide. At lower flows, there is an actual mossy rock slide that you run into the eddy. After this rapid, you have a wave train into one of the largest rapids on this section, PBJ.
This is the second rapid and probably one of the biggest on the run. From Magic Carpet Ride, you'll head down a big wave train to a blind corner. From an eddy, you can manage to see the top two drops, but not the main drop. There are three drops in this rapid, the top two being much smaller than the last. It is very important to note that the flow levels change how this rapid is run. You should scout this rapid from the pull off and choose your line. It comes up very fast when you're on the water. There is a "fold" in the rapid on the left side, giving the rapid it's name. This fold is either out of water or covered. At levels lower than 400cfs, you can punch the hole in the main drop. Stay well to river right or in the middle of the drop. Higher than 400cfs, the line changes and the difficulty is greater. This is more like a class IV at higher flows. There is a nice tongue on river left. Avoid the hole at higher levels. There is a lot of fun class III boogie down to the next rapid.
You will know you are here by Camp Branch Falls coming out of the mountain on river right. There is a big eddy at the top of this rapid. At lower flows, the main line is to make kind of an 'S'. Start in the middle, boof a small pourover rock, work your way right to slide down the slanted rock into fluffy water. At higher flows, you can run the middle line or the wave train on the right. The boof on the left is not spectacular, but doable. You'll have to work your way back right for the next rapid.
This is a three drop rapid after Camp Branch Falls Rapid. There is a fun slot move at the entrance either on the right or left. Eddy out to boat scout Bridal Veil.
This rapid should be run down the middle. Beware of the many rocks in this rapid, especially near the top an on the left side. There is boofing potential here. Stay middle and in the center of the wave trains. There is a big eddy on river right to catch. At lower creeky flows, this is a very manky rapid. At higher flows, it is padded out and a lot of fun. From here you have boogie and boofing until you reach Troll Hole/Fuzzy Bunny under the bridge.
This is the rapid at the third bridge. There are many eddies upstream to catch before running this rapid. A tree on river right, above the drop, is a caution. It used to be possible to go under this tree, but it has become a hazard instead of a help. At lower levels, go around the tree, stay in the main flow on the right and boof off the flake on the right side of the drop. At higher levels, dig in and go through the hole or a nice tongue appears in place of the hole. Be careful of the bridge pilings at higher levels.
This is the rapid after the 3rd bridge. Enter in the middle or top left and follow the current around the 'S'.
After a little class III boogie, you'll get to a manky, rocky rapid. With lower water, this rapid is just plain un-fun. At higher flows, there is a very bad hole that forms in the middle of the rapid on river left. You can scout this from your vehicle or park and choose your line. You can either run left and move your way right to avoid the hole or you can run the right line although it has more wave holes at higher levels. This rapid is long and involves maneuvering. At lower flows, it is a class III+, but at higher flows, a IV. This rapid ends after the rock wall on river right. There is almost a mile of boogie before the last big rapid. There are a lot of wave holes to play in at higher flows.
This is the last real rapid worth mentioning on the Upper Nantahala. After a mile of boogie, you'll reach a calm spot. At flows 600cfs and below, you will see the giant rock in the top part of the rapid and at higher flows, it will be covered. The top part of the rapid is a ride on the tongue and moving right to miss the rock. For the next part of the rapid, stay center, moving back into the flow as the water merges from the other side of the island. Keep right angle and stay on the right side of the wave train and you'll be fine. Be very careful here as there are several trees down after the drop on river left that can be hazardous.
reach
state
reachlink
2.Upper, Route 1310 Bridge to Hwy. 19 , Nantahala North Carolina, US (mobile)
User Comments
running at the same level as the lower NAnty every time there is a release on the lower. However,
the water doesn't enter above the Upper Nanty. It comes in at the lower put-in. This needs to be
corrected. Upper only runs when Cascades has water. Upper ran last winter, but no more water on a
daily basis.
estimate this run. It is top heavy, the upper mile is continuous Class 4, the bottom 2 miles while
still continuous are more Class 3-3+. One thing to look out for in the first 1\2 mile or so around
a bend, is a pretty narrow pushy section with decent sized waves and ledge holes, with a nasty hole
at the bottom right. You run a rapid just downstream from the put in, followed by a short moving
pool. Once you enter the next rapid start working yourself left, make sure you dig to punch the
holes. If you stay left and don't get knocked off course you should miss the bottom right hole.
small creek. There are not a lot of larger eddies, and the big ones are still a little difficult to
catch due to the flows. Leland's book ranks this as only a small step up from the gorge section.
However, that ranking is at around 250-425cfs. At 1000 (which is what these special releases have
been around) it is much more difficult. 3.3 miles in 25 minutes, that includes us just floating
through a lot of the easier parts.
yesterday with just shy of 1000 cfs which was a great level. At lower levels you would not be able
to raft this section due to the rocks but it would probbaly be possible at the level it was
yesterday. I would compare the harder rapids to the boogie water on the cheoah. It is a very narrow
section and very continuous, we had several swims and it took 1/2 a mile or more to stop the boats.
On the second and third runs there was no swims and it took 27 min to run this section. Lots of fun
at lower levels to but it was a blast with more water. Edit
is raft-friendly, or too tight and only suitable for kayaks/canoes. Any info would be very
appreciated. It's pretty tight, but they say they are releasing during November. Edit
rapid that's not far downstream of the big ledge rapid that's under the first bridge, as you paddle
down. The real hazard is that you really can't see it from the water, and it's not too visible from
the road, although that's how we spotted it. There's a sharp rock rising maybe three feet out of
the water with a 3 foot wide clean slot/drop on the river left side of it, against the left wall,
and the straighter drop with the wood on its river right side. The road is on river right. It's
messy enough to create a bad broach/pin, although it's close enough to the river right bank for
rescuers to maybe even wade in and help.. But it's dangerous for the unwary and could ruin your
day. Edit