Exploratory: Lower Nantahala
October 27, 2007
North Carolina

Since the drought has left me with little better to do than paddle dam release rivers, I decided to get creative with the exploratory runs. One of the few remaining dam release sections that I haven't run yet but is within a reasonable distance of home is the Lower Nantahala, from NOC to the highway 28 bridge.

After a strange experience at the NOC Guest Appreciation Festival involving beer and a costume party/contest in 2005, I had resolved never to go near the Nantahala again on that accursed weekend. Unfortunately I was sick of paddling the Ocoee over and over again so I decided to try to talk several of my usual crew into running the Lower Nantahala even though it meant having a brush with GAF. Eventually I found a couple of victims and we met up to carry off the exploratory run.

After a little difficulty with a ranger by the NOC wave, we managed to get our boats unloaded. Then I took some bad advice and headed down to a private marina on Fontana Lake, just off NC Highway 28, to set a vehicle for the takeout. The advice was bad because we ended up paying a $3 per boat fee to take out there and it was completely unnecessary since we had a pickup truck sufficient to use a primitive and usually submerged public access road that runs down to the water next to the road bridge. Oh well, we'll know next time.

Finally we lugged our boats to the put-in, below Wesser Falls (AKA Greater Wesser, AKA "Worser" Wesser), the soon to be defunct class IV+/V rapid next to the railroad tracks below NOC. It is "soon to be defunct" because NOC plans to dig out the river bed and replace it with an artificial section of Upper Ocoee style class III pool and drop.

Some of the scouting info I received was that there were numerous playspots on the two miles of whitewater before you get to the lake and I can confirm it. This is definitely one of the differences between the Lower Nanty and the normal Gorge section. There were a LOT of playspots.  There were several good spinning holes, numerous stern squirting spots around every corner (something the gorge lacks), and even a couple of holes that were retentive enough and probably deep enough for cartwheeling, though I didn't try to throw any ends on this first run. In one rapid there is a fairly munchy hole that's about 20 feet wide on river left that is excellent except for the need to stay to the right of a rock in the backwash. It's higher quality than anything in the Gorge section.

The fall colors are really coming into force right now and the scenery was great. There are few signs of civilization down there in contrast to the normal Nantahala Gorge and the run greatly resembles the Little Tennessee, especially once you get close enough to the lake that you can see the false shorelines that lead up to the forest. The weather was perfect, warm in the sun but cool in the shade and we drank in the wilderness feeling and played to exhaustion.

Most of the rapids on the Lower are class I+, with an emphasis on wave trains, just like the Nantahala Gorge. There are a few class II rapids and one solid II or even II+ near the end, just before you get to the lake. There's a really sweet-looking wave-hole in this rapid and some good eddy access but it was big enough that I chickened out on trying to surf it. On the Ocoee it would be a medium sized playspot probably. Looks like good front surfing and maybe some wave moves for those sufficiently skilled. Somebody else needs to be the first one to flip over in it:-)

After this we dropped into the lake and had to paddle about 1.5 or 2 miles of flatwater, which wasn't very much fun. The mitigating factor is that the 2.5 miles of whitewater before we got there is much better than you think and there are long continuous stretches of I+ to II with lots of surfing opportunities. In order to justify the lake paddle, I recommend putting in a mile or two above NOC, portaging Greater Wesser, and then continuing on down to the lake. That will give you a better whitewater to flatwater ratio and also class III Nantahala Falls. Still, despite the flatwater, I would say that it was worth paddling just for the scenery and the exploration, with a little playboating thrown in for good measure.