C-Forum

I'm planning a dip South this spring and I've heard of an area called the Obed- Emory watershed in Tennessee. Is anyone familiar with this area?

Hi, Jim. I am not familiar with the Obed-Emory, but have hard plenty of good things about it and I want to throw out a paddling offer to you. The James in Richmond is on the way south to that area, so if your plans take you this way, you have a place to stay and some nice class2-3+ (possibly class4 with higher water) for you to paddle if you like.

Let me know if you want to take advantage of this.

KNeal

Check out the web site:

www.nps.gov/obed

or Search on Obed Wild and Scenic River.
The ranger station is located in Wartburg, Tennessee

River runs include:
1. Clear Creek, Daddy's Creek which flow into the Obed and Emory.
2. Big South Fork is near by also


Local Canoe Clubs:

Chota and East Tennessee Whitewater have web sites connected to American Whitewater and CFS info.


Runs are class 2-4 with a few fives. What flows are natural so take this into account. I can say that the East Tennessee Whitewater CLub in very safey conscious, not as familiar with Chota.

Regards,
Chuck/Tennessee

Thanks Neal for the invite. I will be crossing through Garret County MD. on both ends of this trip if I go so there is little chance I will get East of 81 unless there is something down near Roanoke (sp?) that would be a quick detour. I do go down to DC often at other times of the year, so I am interested in a possible trip down to the James.
Chuck, I like the geography of Daddies Creek. I checked it out via the AW site.

till next
Jim

I will be going to the Obed/Emory two weekends in February. I know the area and the rivers well. I hope to be paddling with Chuck, Joe, Matt, Jason, James, and Paul all c-1 paddlers.
The confirmed weekend will be the Film Fest weekend and the other is up in the air.
If the water is good in the spring I will definitely be good to go.

Mr or Ms Kelly-Rand

If you get a chance to paddle with Bernie take advantage. He knows his stuff and his plateau rivers.

I had toe surgery and am laid up 'til April probably and besides wer are probably going to be unavailable until May, except for some mid week runs on the Little, due to baseball season.

Regards,

Chuck ( joe's dad)

I live near the Obed/Emory watershed (Cookeville, TN).

There is something for every paddler here, ranging from I-II to V. Most of the
runs are drop/pool. Everything is natural flow, and so is very dependent on
rainfall. Other watersheds are close by (Big South Fork and Caney Fork are
within an hour, and the Tellico/Smokies are within 2 hours). Monte Smith
wrote a guidebook several years ago that is a fairly good description (the
exception, in my opinion, is that he vastly overrates Crab Orchard). The town
of Wartburg is fairly close to most of the runs.

Almost everything is quite remote. This makes shuttles kinda long. The
scenery in the gorges is spectacular. The water quality is excellent.

You mention Daddy's Creek. It is probably the best run in the watershed. You'll
need at least 1.7 on the bridge gauge for this to be much fun. Above 3 feet, it
gets really gnarly. The major problem with Daddy's is that it is closed (to
paddlers, anyway) during February and March. The closure also makes it
difficult to do the main Obed run. Oh, and Daddy's Creek is not really a
creek-like. It's more like a big-water river.

Clear Creek is probably the most-paddled section. From Lilly Bridge to Nemo
is the most fun -- it's II-III (Wooten's Folly may be a IV) at moderate water
levels. It's I-II farther up in the watershed.

The best stream (though technically not in the Obed/Emory watershed) that is
likely to be running is the Upper Caney Fork. It has one class V, and numerous
IIIs and IVs.

It takes a lot of rain to get on some of the more challenging runs (like Little
Clear Creek, Lower Island, or East Fork Obey).