Johnnies Creek,
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|
1. Upper Upper - CR 43 to CR 47
| Usual Difficulty |
III-IV (may vary with level) |
(RM) Tombstone
(RM) TombstonePhoto of John Stephan by Rob Maxwell @ -6
Gauge Information
River Description
Upper Johnnie's Creek 5/4/2002
RangerRob
If you look at AW's description of
Upper Johnnies Creek in Little River Canyon
in AL, it describes it as a 6-mile, 2-3 run that starts off at Hwy 176. This description is very
inaccurate! The class 2-3 section is from the first bridge upstream to the regular put-in for the
canyon run. If you put-in on HWY 176 you'll find a very different run than is described in AW's web
site.
Last Saturday, I took a group to run "something" in AL. We finally ended up at LRC @ 3.5'. I
decided to check the creeks. Johnnies was at -2", so I decided to check out the upper section,
since the group wasn't as strong as I'd like to run regular Johnnies. We put in on the first
crossing of Johnnies Creek's headwaters on HWY 176. (I now refer to this as the Upper Upper Put-In)
The creek, very quickly, drops into a class 3 - 4 gorge that was very continuous and nicely
technical. A little tougher then "Teddy" Bear Creek. One rapid of note, we named "In Memory Of #3"
-- for all you race fans.
The rapid was a creek-wide boulder pile/ledge drop that dropped about 5 feet. Six feet from the
base of the drop was a semi-truck size wall of a boulder that was almost river wide - starting from
river right. The right side of this boulder had a sieve, similar to Fist on the Russell Fork. The
only way to run it was hard left, with a strong boof then an immediate correction to the left, in
order to avoid pitoning into the boulder. The boulder didn't appear to be undercut, other then the
sieve on the right. A few who ran it had to brace off the wall and the current pushed them out to
the pool below.
At a certain point the gradient eased and we -- believe it or not -- found a lake in the middle of
Johnnies creek!!! Yes it is an honest lake. It's Lick Skillet Lake and has been there for 20 years.
I think it's a private lake, and all roads leading to the lake are private. The owners didn't seem
to mind us paddling across the lake and didn't seem to have a problem knowing we were going to
portage and/or run the dam. Its about a two mile paddle from the creek to the dam.
The dam is 1/2 earthen levy and 1/2 slide to keep the lake level consistent. Its about 30 feet high
and the slide is about 50 feet long. You'd assume it would have an "Oceana" effect when running it,
but the concrete was rough, so you don't go any faster then about 3 miles per hour.
After that Johnnies is the class 2-3 that AW mentions and we came to the first bridge upstream of
the regular put-in. From there, it continues to be mostly class 2 with one or two class 3's. Most
of the stuff below the dam is small wave train and rock avoidance. The few class III's are actually
II+ or III-. The creek is very narrow and I'm sure would pick up the occasional stainer from time
to time.
StreamTeam Status: Not Verified
Last Updated: 2006-01-03 10:53:28
No rapids entered. If you know names, and locations of the rapids please contact and advise the StreamTeam member for this run. 
User Comments
wall of the culvert on Hwy 176. Best seen from river left. The step in the culvert is 0". The step
is always wet, so I was unable to paint negative numbers. I ran Upper Johnnies at -6" once. It was
very low (ELF). I would assume -2" would be a more reasonable low, maybe even 0".
I know some people will ask "why put a gage on Upper Johnnies when there's one on the Lower section
already?" Two reasons: When Upper Johnnies is running a hole starts to form around the Lower
Johnnies gage, making it inaccurate at lower water levels and useless at higher. AND, between Upper
and Lower Johnnies is a lake. The level of the lake will affect the reading of the lower gage vs
the upper. It will also smooth out the rise and fall of the lower Johnnies level, whereas the upper
section will still spike and drop quicker like a normal small drainage creek