Rains earlier in the week meant that Georgia's Etowah River would be runnable last Sunday for our group of 11 from Chattanooga, Birmingham, and various points in rural Georgia. Everyone converged on the muddy launch below the northernmost highway 9 bridge over the Etowah (northernmost being emphasized as this was a point of confusion). After you get away from the bridge, the small river descends into wooded ravines with only a few houses to interrupt the views for 6 miles.

Initially you have flat water for a little while, punctuated by class I riffles, before you come up on the first good horizon line, Chuck Shoals. It provided a little excitement and some good play in the holes at the bottom. This early section proved to be a good preview of the river. It is a pool and drop run with lengthy flat pools in between most of the drops, which range in difficulty from class I to II, except for class IV Etowah Falls.

Only two paddlers had run the Etowah before and they weren't in the lead for most of the day, which adds some fun to the run. For those in the lead, it is a personal first descent. Each drop is carefully boat scouted and then lines are picked. You hesitate as you approach, straightening up in your kayak to try to see as much as possible before going over the lip. Some of the drops are ledgy, others are boulder gardens that could be quite interesting at higher levels.

Fortuitously, early in the trip a frisbee was found and removed from a strainer. This enlivened the long flatwater pools between drops. First it was boys vs. girls and then degraded into a game of "Smack-the-Back-of-the-Helmet-of-the-Unsuspecting-Paddler." Incredibly, a second, lamer frisbee was eventually rescued from another strainer and added to the squadron. That's one frisbee-eating-strainer-ridden river.

After a few class I and class II drops, we stopped at the "Warning Ledge" to play a bit before taking out above class IV Etowah Falls for lunch. The approach is a long flat pool and is obvious to anyone awake. I was reminded of something Joddy Collins told us when I was at my first paddle school. "If you are looking at a horizon line and you see mist ahead, you get your @55 out of the boat and scout!" It's a big drop. We lounged around and took our time, taking a good long look at the falls as we ate lunch.

Augie Westerfield at first thought he saw a line on far river right, but later decided to follow the conventional boof line just left of center. This rapid is class IV mostly due to the fact that almost all of the landing zones are piles of jagged rocks. I think the boof line was no more than 3 feet wide at the most. Any right or left would likely have broken plastic or bone. Augie and Steve Smyth eventually ran it, despite the fact that it was well below the recommended minimum level. Both executed perfect boof technique off the upper lip, landed nearly flat on the second shelf below, and autoboofed off that shelf into the pool. Neither felt any impact of boat on rock so apparently if you hit the line it's good to go below 300 cfs. Four more paddlers joined them for the good class II ledge below which offers a small submarine move in the hole at the bottom. I got sucked down till the water was to my chest, flipped, and picked up some battle scars on my right knuckle before rolling. Here is what happens to you: http://www.americanwhitewater.org/photos/archive/8196.jpg (no that's not me in the photo) Good fun!

Below the falls the action picks up (relatively speaking) and paddlers must traverse a number of boulder gardens in the II- to II range. I think these would be excellent with twice as much water in the river bed. At the level we were seeing, there were no worries and everybody made it through. A good bit of flatwater on the day meant that everyone was glad to finally see the bridge ahead and the takeout next to it.

The group drove a few miles down the road to Dawsonville to enjoy dinner at a small Mexican Restaurant, El Rios, just off Highway 9. They have decent Mexican food, good personality, and a little hole-in-the-wall charm.

Beer can be ordered by the mega-liter or something:

If you order a more modest quantity, you get these cool beer-boots:

Here is the smiling group at the end of the day (sans author):

Left to right, Artie Green, Debbie McRae, Pamela ? (Carrie's Friend), Steve Smyth, Carrie Smyth, Kathy Lancaster, Shawn Lancaster, Augie Westerfield, Betsy Westerfield, and Lois Newton.

Sorry for the poor quality of the photos, as you might guess, they were taken with a phone camera.

All in all I really enjoyed this float, and I think most of the group would agree with me. This section of the Etowah belongs in the same category with other beautiful wilderness floats like the Upper Toccoa and Clear Creek (TN), which puts it in very good company. It exceeded my expectations. In difficulty it rates as more difficult than the Toccoa but less difficult than Clear Creek, except for Etowah Falls. You may consider this a big thumbs up! Won't you join us next time?