Feb. 5 2011 US 19 Downstream Gage- kicking around 10,000cfs or 11.44 feet 36 bridge- just shy of 11
feet We ran from The Bluff to Podbiddy Bridge, 2 solo canoes. The river was running fast, huge
holes in sections, the natural dams were nothing but wash overs, wave trains the role way. Yellow
jacket was practically unrunnable, atleast for a solo 14' canoe looking for a clean line(there was
no such line). 1 canoe portaged, I was not so lucky. Scouted from island in middle before Yellow
Jacket on the left and the "No Namer" on the right. The no namer looked less forgiving, so I siked
myself up, clanked on the on balls of steel, and went for the best line i could find. The river
decided it was gonna take me on its own path. It shot me through 2 shoots that are not there at
around 800cfs, swamped me but i kept it afloat. Unfortunatelyedly I got turned sideways and pinned
on two rocks. Normally this spot is out of the water and covered in river grass. I couldnt manage
to unpin it, so i salvaged my drybag and took a swim to the island about 150-200' away. after
getting my buddies boat and gear across the river to the island, i set up a Z-drag and added all
the muletape(we use it to tie down gear, 1200lb strength) to throwbag, attempted to wade 3x to
boat, never successfully made it, and our rope was looking to come up short. I didnt lose much, it
was free boat, maybe lost $5 in making my seats. we ended up portaging one more rapid that was
river middle on the right side of the island, looked to have a nasty hole and since we were now
tandem paddling i decided we should portage. a little under a mile we hit a nasty wave with a deap
trough that swamped us and took us for a 100yd swim. we dumped the boat and a way we went. 1 mile
of choppy water and to the take out we were. I will attempt to rescue hopefully not a Taco
tomorrow. the saying is true "the river gives the test, and then teaches the lesson". Do not run at
10,000cfs unless you have Creek boat or raft! At the time scouting upstream from the middled i was
thinking Yellow Jacket seemed like a Class IV. From seeing the the shoals downstream from island i
would say a Class V. the "No Name" rapid(falls at current level, small shoot at low level) shall
now be known as "The Michi Rapid" On a second note, me and my paddling partner have created the 10K
Club for the Flint River, more specifically the Bluff to Pobiddy section, If you have ran at or
above this level Post Up and Join the Club Paddler Friends.

Dad and I paddled from Sprewell Bluff to the outfitter @ GA 36 yesterday - the flow was about 2100
CFS on the online gauge. A lot of flat water, but not bony at all - no dragging. There were 2
decent rapids, a few shoals, and a few waves/holes that were surfable. I would rate this river II-
at this level. Also - be wary of the "map" and "directions" tabs for this page - they show the
put-in at the GA 74 bridge. If you put in there, it is about a 20 mile paddle - about 14.5 miles
longer than the paddle down to GA 36 from Sprewell Bluff (which is about 5.5 miles). The outfitter
offers shuttle, but we shuttled ourselves. It was still $5 per vehicle, plus $1 per boat to park at
the outfitter (take-out), and $5 to park at the put-in at Sprewell Bluff. Be careful out there - my
dad got a Staph infection from getting the water in a scrape on his elbow - nasty water.

My brother and I paddled this section of the Flint on 8/13 when the flow was around 150 CFS. I
think the gauge on the GA 36 was at about 6.5. It was okay in parts, but there was definitely a lot
of getting out and dragging the canoe (especially in one part where the river split: we took the
left channel which turned out to be much smaller and a real pain). I wouldn't recommend anyone
doing it at those levels unless you REALLY want to get out there and canoe and you don't mind
hitting some rocks. Edit

Paddled Sprewell Bluff to the outfitter on 3/22, gauge was at about 2100. All this rain certainly
helped, not scrapey at all as some folks who'd been there for Paddle Georgia last year reported.
Several nice spots to play a little but generally suitable for all levels of paddlers.

I paddled from Sprewell bluff to Highway 36 yesterday. The height at Carsonville was <1.5 ft. I
was in a tandem fiberglass lake canoe...it was more of a fishing trip. It was painfully low.
Basically alternating between flatwater to pulling a canoe over rocks back to flatwater. Maybe two
rapids that were runnable in a canoe. 3 or 4 in a whitewater boat. Not worth it as a paddle for
fun...great fishing trip though. If you're willing to pull your canoe over some rocks you can
definitely pull in quite a few shoal bass. I wouldn't go back unless I was fishing or the water was
higher. Edit

any comments,from hiway 74 to the bluff? Edit

<br>
Ran the Flint River, GA 36 Bridge to Lazar Creek take-out, twice on<br>
Saturday, 1/31, with Sean McKinnon and Adam Gordon. First run we put on at<br>
about 11:20 AM, second run at about 1:40 PM EST. First run was 8'2" and the<br>
second run was 8'1.5" on the GA Hwy 36 Bridge. The river was dropping.<br>
Impression, we could have used a little more water. There was a little bit<br>
of play out there, but another half a foot more and there would have been<br>
much more play and I am sure our river trips would have taken longer with<br>
the extra play. All rapids at this level, except Yellow Jacket Shoals, were<br>
class II. Yellow Jacket at this level was class III-. At higher water<br>
levels the Yellow Jacket Shoals section transforms into class IV and even<br>
before flood stage it becomes class V. If my memory serves me right, it is<br>
class IV at 10' on the GA 36 Bridge and class V at 11', but I want to get<br>
more runs to confirm this and get a better idea where the transition points<br>
are. 7.5' at the GA 36 Bridge is getting pretty close to a minimum run, but<br>
all rapids are still passable. This run gets fairly wide in places where<br>
you can not see all the possible routes from upstream without doing some<br>
paddling back and forth across the river.<br>
<br>
Depending on road conditions and how much water is in the mud holes when you<br>
get down closer to the Flint River, taking out at the Lazar Creek take-out<br>
may require 4 wheel drive, but it does save 2.5 miles of flatwater paddling<br>
that you get if you take-out at Pobiddy Rd instead. This wildlife<br>
management road comes down along the Flint River south of Lazar Creek on the<br>
river right side. The road was completely washed out and impassable about a<br>
1/4 mile south of Lazar Creek, but this road is following the Flint River<br>
there and you can just make your own take-out along through there with a<br>
little extra effort. Susan Gordon was very gracious to provide shuttle for<br>
us on both runs. Thanks a bunch Susan!<br>
<br>
Knowing from Susan Gordon that the level was 8.5'+ on Friday and correlating<br>
to the downstream Flint River gauge at US80/US19 at<br>
http://ga.waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?site_no=02347500 , the US80/US19 Bridge<br>
gauge was at 4'2" and 4'1.5" feet when we were putting on at the 8'2" and<br>
8'1.5" GA 36 Bridge levels, and the US80/US19 Bridge gauge was approximately<br>
5' when the GA 36 Bridge gauge was 8.5'+. The US80/US19 Bridge gauge is<br>
about 20 river miles south of the GA 36 Bridge and major tributaries of<br>
Potato, Lazar and Swift Creek along with a number of other smaller<br>
tributaries dump into the Flint river between the GA 36 and US80/US19<br>
bridges that can make a correlation between the GA 36 Bridge gauge and<br>
US80/US19 Bridge gauge to fluctuate.<br>
<br>
Enjoyed paddling again as always with you Sean and Adam and thanks again<br>
Susan for the shuttle,<br>
<br>
Mark Hicks <><<br>

from Adam87 on Boatertalk:<br>
Sprewell Bluff State park..in Thomaston...... I just paddled it this weekend. when the Flint gets
flooded, it makes some pretty nice waves and holes.The hole i was referring to is at the state
park, i just hiked up a path about an eighth of a mile and saw it and put in......it has a nice
eddy up above it that you can paddle back up to easily and up further past the hole there is some
bigger water features that i didn't attempt. When ever the flint gets up to 10 feet or so it makes
a fun ride.<br>

From Adam87 on Boatertalk:<br>
<br>I live south of atlanta (about 70 miles) and i paddle the flint river often. Whenever it
is flooded(like this week it was at 10 1/2 feet) it creates this hole that has about a 3 to 4 foot
wave behind it and is about 20 feet wide it was plenty deep enough to throw all the moves( i hit a
rock once the whole day). I found this little hole more enjoyable than callahan's ledge on the
upper ocoee. also, there is yellow jacket shoals. This is a pretty fun section to paddle that can
quickly turn into a class 4 or higher when the water rises(i haven't paddled it yet when it was up
that high , but it is supposed to be a pretty technical part).<br>