Wolf Creek flows east off of Lookout Mountain, one drainage south of where Little River exits the mountain and makes its way into Wiess Lake. Just like Little River itself, Wolf Creek also now ends up in Wiess Lake, but historically, before the lake was built, it would have been a tributary that confluenced with the Little prior to Little River’s confluence with the Coosa.
This short, 1.7 mile run, starts out as a mostly flat, meandering stream through farmlands for about a half a mile before a massive horizonline indicates the arrival at a huge monstrosity of a rapid that begins the whitewater section. Although the big drop does get run in its entirety occasionally, more conservative boaters can slide into the second half and still enjoy the less dangerous part of this twisting, bedrock flume. Below the big drop there is about a mile of quality boulder gardens before the creek flattens back out in the last 0.2 miles before the take-out bridge.
There are two Wolf Creeks in the area, so to avoid confusion, this one is often referred to as “Wolf outside the canyon”, or just “Wolf Outside” as opposed to “Wolf inside the canyon” which flows steeply into Little River Canyon on river right about half way down the Upper Two section. Wolf Outside is also a step down in difficulty in comparison, being mostly Class IV, except the obviously huge Class V option of running the big drop from the top.
This run can be a great option for paddlers arriving in the
area to run Johnnies Creek and finding it on the high side. Anytime Johnnies
Creek is over 2” on the painted paddlers gauge it is very likely Wolf Outside
is running… and it is a short, 5 minute drive away.
Until Next Time...
-adam
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