WCP Online Newsletter

Tallulah Fall 2004
by harrison metzger (email)

Contributed 11/11/2004  Responses:  0

On Saturday, Nov. 6, I got to run the Tallulah for the first time. I realize I am a little late here, since the Tallulah has had whitewater releases since November, 1997 when American Whitewater first negotiated them. At that time, Chris Bell wrote an article for this newsleter titled Tallulahhh!. After finally running it, I agree wholeheartedly.
I have been intrigued by the Tallulah largely because it is one watershed over from the Chattooga, where I learned to paddle during the 1970s. Years ago as a teenager I hiked into the gorge. It had been dry except for a trickle since the early 1900s, with the exception of the rare dam release, such as when scenes from Deliverance were filmed there. The Tallulah, you might recall, is where Burt Reynolds got his thigh turned into ground beef and where Jon Voight scales the cliff to shoot the sodomizing hillbilly in the throat with a bow and arrow. But I digress.
Yes, I wanted to run the Tallulah, but I am a pretty conservative when it comes to trying out challenging new runs. You might say I like them well probed....In this case, seven years and hundreds of boaters worth of probes. The carnage in multiple rapids featured on the Paddlesnake videos and first- and second-hand injury reports from the river had me concerned.
After awhile, I started talking to boaters much less experienced than I who had run the Tallulah and survived. They said things like "you won't have any problem," "You'll love it," and my personal favorite, "You're good to go!"
Next step was to find someone in a similar craft as mine (OC1) to show me the lines. Not really necessary since I have paddled many runs first time as the only canoe among many kayaks, but reassuring nonetheless. Especially when I enlisted as my guide David "Pyscho" Simpson, southeastern whitewater open boating legend and one of the finest canoeists on the planet. We were also joined by WCP and AW members Lee Belknap and Cathy Cody (K-1), fellow open boater Pat Glazier and his kayaking friend Beth, and my frequent paddling partner, Stephen Janes, C-1.
We met at noon, a highly civilized hour, and about 12:45 p.m. we headed down the steps. I have heard different numbers for how many steps there are, 400, 500, 600. I think I counted about 500. For the Tallulah unitiated, the steps are there to protect a rare trillium that grows on the walls of Tallulah Gorge, one of the steepest, deepest gorges in the Southeast.
About 15 minutes after I started down, I stood on the wooden platform at the base of Hurricane Falls, just a few feet upstream of the first rapid, Last Step.
Suffering from a bad cold and a hernia, I didn't feel too good when I got to the bottom, and several of my friends made helpful comments, like "Harrison, man, you OK? you look gripped." Once in my boat, I found the first rapids is like running one of the Five Falls with no warmup. I had a little trouble with it (ie. I flipped and missed a roll). But as I dragged myself up on rock I looked upstream to see Stephen pinned on a rock in his Cascade. David and I ran upstream with throw bags, but Stephen was pinned across the river, near the river right cliff that the river slams into. Fortunately there were some very brave kayakers on the other shore who set up a tethered rescue. One of them jumped out, shoved Stephen's boat free, allowing him to wash down the rapids.
I am happy to say that early bit of carnage was the last trouble we had all day. The rest of the run was so wonderful, so unbelievably scenic and exciting that words fail me. It is, quite simply, one of the most dramatic places I have ever paddled. The water is comparatively warm, coming off the top of the lake upstream. The weather was clear and sunny, alternating between high 70s in the sun and 60s in the shadows.
Counting that first rapid, the Tallulah packs 17 named rapids into less than two miles, dropping hundreds of feet between awesome granite walls. Of these, a dozen are rated Class IV, IV+ or V, with the two Vs being the famous Oceana and Bridal Veil Falls.
Although David has run Oceana countless times, he opted not to this day. He will be a new daddy soon and didn't want to risk getting beat up..."I want to be able to hold that baby with both arms." I'm also a new dad and it didn't take me long to decide that making my boat and body into a missile and slamming into a submerged rock ledge and exploding whitewater "Thing" was not for me, at least not on my first run. We all carried.
Turns out my friends advice about the Tallulah was right on. It was good to go, and a lot of fun for boaters with class IV skills. Often described a a creek run, the Tallulah is a pushy, big creek with plenty of H20, even at Saturday's 500 cfs release level. The day we ran it it was 550, and it was very well padded with a few sticky holes. I can only imagine how they might get quite grabby at Sunday's 700 cfs release. A few highlights:
Gauntlet A pushy, Gaulesque rock garden that leads almost to the lip of
Bridal Veil A big rock slide with a huge, recirculating hole at its base. Usually run on the far left, that line was blocked that Saturday by a jagged boulder that had peeled off the wall of the gorge. Later in the day, an unaware playboater reportedly went down that side, slammed into it and dislodged the offending rock into the deep pool below. Word is now it is good to go.

Zoom Flume Too cool. Has to be run to believed.

Lynch's Wrench aka Ticket Puncher boof the 5-foot ledge off the left and get ready for a ride through the diagonal holes below.
Amplitheater A sloping bedrock rapid with a strong hole below the granite ledge. You can miss the meat of it on the right.

Tom's Brain Buster Aptly named. Stay right, right, right and do not flip in the crazy crosscurrents and rocky holes.

Road to Aintry Another long ledge rapid with a grabby hole near the bottom. Paddle hard or prepare to be surfed.
That's just a few of the rapids. If you are thinking of running the Tallulah for the first time I highly recommend you visit the AW page, complete with detailed rapid descriptions and photos, at http://www.americanwhitewater.org/rivers/id/506/
I know one thing. I won't wait seven years to run the Tallulah again. One run and you will see why it has become a Southeastern classic. Even if you don't want to paddle the gorge, the trip is worth it just to look down in there, and for the boater-friendly atmosphere as hosted by American Whitewater, Tallulah Falls State Park and NOC, which provides free shuttles. AW is always looking for volunteers. For more information on the river or the Nov. 20 Tallulah whitewater festival, The Thing, visit: http://www.americanwhitewater.org/rivers/id/506/ And if you haven't done it, JOIN AW NOW.