As suspected, the Tellico gauge shows two crests from Sunday. I knew this would be true from sleeping through two distinct periods of heavy rain by the Hiwassee, which is very close to the Tellico area. Fortunately we got done grilling before it started.
With the level in the blue on AW (too high) for the Middle Tellico, some of us headed to the Lower Tellico instead, something that's been on my to-do list for a while. A couple of guys had creek boats so they were brave enough to launch at Turkey Creek on the Middle T. They came down looking excited with eyes wide and admitted that they really couldn't recognize most of the rapids due to the high level. Fast, big stuff. Waves were too big to see upcoming holes and ledges and a couple of churning-tumblings were taken but no swims. We looked at Crack-In-The-Rock from the road and quickly determined that the normal rocks defining the crack were completely underwater. Two great V-shaped seems had formed with water pouring in from all points. The guys ran it without even realizing what it was.
Most of us waited at Oosterneck for the braver souls to come downstream and I received permission from the owner of the drive-in restaurant along the river to set a car there. Please buy some food from them. They make milk shakes with scoops of ice cream and real milk. We scouted the lower section from the road extensively and I thought to myself, "Not too bad, mostly class II." The drop by the bridge looked a little three-ish to me but I was sure I saw a line down the right side.
Well, it didn't take long to figure out that when you are down in the water, there's quite a bit more gradient on the lower than it appears from the road. We ran several drops blindly. You just couldn't see anything beyond the horizon line. Waves were much bigger than they appeared from the highway. Controlled descent was difficult because of the lack of eddies at that level. Most of the eddies were washed out and the river was up into the bushes, which meant that often you just paddled into the bushes and grabbed onto a branch so you could look downstream. A couple of paddlers decided to take off after running a II+ or III- that had a big curler that swung around to the right off a pillow against a boulder, and behind another giant boulder so that you couldn't see what you were getting ready to run until about 3 seconds before you got there. The first couple of drops were definitely interesting. Then it started to pour rain again, cutting downstream visibility to about 30 meters or so.
Steve Givens and myself insisted on getting out and scouting a couple of the drops on foot. Everything went fairly well although we did end up punching a couple of holes of sufficient size that it was questionable to be doing it in a playboat. Deep vertical power strokes and a couple of braces were needed. Fortunately we dodged most of the bad holes. Augie got a little SCUD side surf action in a pour-over while the rest of us watched grinning. He finally worked his way out and said, "Yeah! I meant to do that," in the way that only Augie can.
Finally we came up on the bridge rapid and it became apparent that I had greatly underestimated the gradient of that drop. The river bed drops off there about 8 or 10 feet in the distance of 100 yards or less (if not more, it seems like the river is waaay down there). If the Tellico is around 4' on the internet gauge, do NOT run this thing on the left. There are a series of big churning holes that are on the high end of what one might encounter at, say, Grumpy's Ledge on the Ocoee . . . big spitting, tumbling holes that are surrounded and followed by shallow ledges and rocks! Bad, ugly stuff. Steve, Stacey, and myself got out to scout it and watched Steve Smyth and Augie Westerfield run it down the right. It was apparent that they were getting a little slowed by shallow rocks and sticky pour-overs. A few boofs later they did get to the bottom but those of us in playboats decided to walk it. After putting back on it was easy Nantahala stuff down to the cars. There is one more big drop below the drive-in resturant but upstream of the KOA for those of you who want to run every last drop.
I love running a new river, or a piece of a river that is new to me. There is an expedition or exploratory aspect to the adventure. That said, it would have been nice to have had someone along who had paddled it before. It also would have been nice if I had brought my creek boat since it was my first time down and there were more sizable holes than expected.
We successfully scouted our way down but I would have to say that with the water at that level, the Lower Tellico is not to be underestimated. It was probably only a bit more difficult than the Nantahala, but the unfamiliarity of the run definitely upped the tension and the difficulty. I guess I would compare it to the Pigeon Gorge. Some of the drops are blind and there is nothing that can be done about it unless you claw your way up to the road to scout on foot. A couple of the drops near the beginning were making me think I was on the Ocoee (or the upper half of the Middle Tellico for that matter).
In all, I would definitely say that you need to come ready for class III on the Lower if the level is too high for the Middle. One other thing worth mentioning is that once I get to know this section more, it will definitely be worth bringing the playboat. Generally I have considered the Tellico to be worthless for playboating but there are numerous good breaking waves and holes on the lower at this level, some of medium size, much smaller than Hell Hole but much bigger than Staging Eddy. Most would be catch-on the fly but some have good eddy access. There are also a few terminal side-surf holes that should be avoided. The riverbed is much wider here than in the Middle or Upper and the Tellico becomes much less of a creek and much more of a River. I give it a thumbs up, it's worth a run once in a while. Next time we get a good rain storm and it's too high to paddle farther up in the gorge, go check it out.
Allen Pogue
Other adventurers: Lois Newton, Augie Westerfield, Steve Givens, Steve Smyth, Anne Robinson, Stacey ? (sorry, don't know your last name)
