Winter and Spring in the southeast are an absolute joy for anyone who loves creeking. This year especially we have been blessed with repeated rains that have brought up the water levels in our creeks time and time again. There is something special about the urgent nature of rain-fed creeking that adds an extra component to these seasons that is somehow different than Summer and Fall when our paddling trips are more easily planned. Our trips to take advantage of western snowmelt are easy to plan, as are the dam released runs that carry us through the late summer and fall. However, when the rains come, especially the unexpected ones, information must be evaluated and decisions must be made quickly to maximize each rain event and catch the goods.
Below: Two shot sequence of Dave running some boulder gnar. Photo by Matt Wallace...
On a recent week in May, the “chance of thundershowers”, predicted to bring us up to an inch of rain, hammered down with three inches of rain just in time for the weekend. While the rest of the southeast was up early driving to Bear Creek in Georgia, Matt Wallace, Dave Levitt and I were on the opposite side of Lookout Mountain trying to find the elusive put-in for Allen Creek. Despite being so close to so many other popular runs, this rarely run creek still remains mostly obscure in the southeast paddling community.
Below: Matt walking and Dave scraping through the brush in the uppper watershed...
Unable to find the preferred trail that would have allowed us to put on just above the best section of the creek, we parked near the top of the watershed and began hiking downstream, bushwhacking through mountain laurel and greenbrier at every step. The creek was slowing getting larger as tributaries came in and eventually we began to paddle some sections as water levels and the numerous trees across the river would allow. After a couple hours of making our way downstream I had almost convinced myself we had been following a tributary of Allen Creek, but not Allen Creek itself. However, the creek was becoming more and more runnable, with slide sequences that were actually fun when we weren’t getting poked in the eye with overhanging branches.
Below: Dave runs one of many scrapy slide series in the upper watershed...
Below: Dave on one of the few bedrock rapids in the boulder garden section...
The slides got steeper and faster and suddenly Matt and Dave disappeared off the face of the earth and into the unknown ahead of me. I managed to catch a micro eddy on the slides leading into the blind drop and climbed out to make sure all was well. Upon reaching an outcropping of rock where I could see the whole drop, I saw Dave and Matt standing on the rocks at the bottom laughing and waving for me to join them.
Below: Dave finishing the last of the boulder garden rapids...
I’m not sure if their laughter and joy was because of how much fun the drop, “Asleep at the Wheel”, was or because they were glad to know we were on Allen Creek, but a turning point had been reached in the day. From then on the creek was fun and our smiles were permanent as we made our way downstream, past the confluence with Dougherty Creek and into the boulder garden section. Lots of boofs and surprisingly few strainers took us though the boulder gardens and on to the take-out where the miserable slog through the upper watershed was almost forgotten as we talked about how impressed we were with the quality of such an unpopular run.
Below: Matt in the boulder gardens...
You can see video from the few rapids we filmed on Allen Creek and a quick teaser from Fallingwater Creek which we ran the following day here.
Until Next Time...
-adam
Below: Matt testing his FNA Helmet...
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