Wildcat Creek Trip Report
Posted: Thu Dec 10, 2009 7:51 pm
I finally got to run Wildcat Creek yesterday. This could be a good run for ALF if we get a high water day. It rocks. I am amazed that this isn't a more sought after run. You feel like you are in a real wilderness area even though you are only about 5 miles from the Tellico. To get to the put-in you turn on Furnace Road across from the Tellico Beach Burger Drive-In and go to the suggested put-in on the AW site. It is a horrible muddy hike and just 1/4 mile back on the same road there is a pull-off that we used with a trail that took us down to the creek. It is a great trail and about 1 mile hike to the creek but it's downhill all the way.
Once you are on the creek it is beautiful. It feels like one of the most secluded runs in the area. The whitewater reminded me of Island Creek but the run is twice as long and just a little tougher. It is really a class V quality experience due to the wilderness and beauty of the run combined with the hike-in but the whitewater is easy class IV. You just have to be on the lookout for wood. We had 4 wood portages.
The real highlight of the run is the micro gorge 1/3 mile below the put-in. It is one of the coolest rapids in Tennessee. It feels like something out of CO or British Columbia. The creek gets 100% walled in. There is a 4ft entrance drop and then the creek winds through a walled in micro gorge and the exit is only 3 ft wide! The entire creek goes through the 3ft wide exit. A kayaker in our group got a 2 point pin in the exit of the gorge and created a 4 boat pile-up while i was in the one micro eddy in the micro-gorge looking on! It was great. Eventually the guy that was pinned flipped over and all 4 of them flushed through the exit. Below the gorge the action keeps up for a mile or more then the creek mellows to class II but it picks back up to III-IV right before the confluence with the Tellico culminating in one bigger 8 ft drop (the toughest rapid on the creek). I highly recommend anyone check this run out on a high water day. Wildcat Creek is probably the best run in the entire Tellico watershed (Turkey Creek might give it a run for it's money if it weren't for all the wood...)
The only drawback is that it rarely runs. You really need a ton of water. The Tellico peaked yesterday at 9.0 ft and was probably 7ft and dropping when we put on Wildcat Creek. I would call the level low-medium. Perfect for a first time run when you are on the lookout for wood. I re-watched the paddlesnake video last night and it looked like we had about 3" or 4" more water than they had. I would call the level in the paddlesnake video minimum. 5ft and dropping on the tellico would be ELF. You really need a lot of water for this run. 7ft was great. I know people that have hiked off due to high water and ended up spending the night on the creek when the tellico was 11 ft so the range is small. You really want 6-10 ft on the Tellico
Once you are on the creek it is beautiful. It feels like one of the most secluded runs in the area. The whitewater reminded me of Island Creek but the run is twice as long and just a little tougher. It is really a class V quality experience due to the wilderness and beauty of the run combined with the hike-in but the whitewater is easy class IV. You just have to be on the lookout for wood. We had 4 wood portages.
The real highlight of the run is the micro gorge 1/3 mile below the put-in. It is one of the coolest rapids in Tennessee. It feels like something out of CO or British Columbia. The creek gets 100% walled in. There is a 4ft entrance drop and then the creek winds through a walled in micro gorge and the exit is only 3 ft wide! The entire creek goes through the 3ft wide exit. A kayaker in our group got a 2 point pin in the exit of the gorge and created a 4 boat pile-up while i was in the one micro eddy in the micro-gorge looking on! It was great. Eventually the guy that was pinned flipped over and all 4 of them flushed through the exit. Below the gorge the action keeps up for a mile or more then the creek mellows to class II but it picks back up to III-IV right before the confluence with the Tellico culminating in one bigger 8 ft drop (the toughest rapid on the creek). I highly recommend anyone check this run out on a high water day. Wildcat Creek is probably the best run in the entire Tellico watershed (Turkey Creek might give it a run for it's money if it weren't for all the wood...)
The only drawback is that it rarely runs. You really need a ton of water. The Tellico peaked yesterday at 9.0 ft and was probably 7ft and dropping when we put on Wildcat Creek. I would call the level low-medium. Perfect for a first time run when you are on the lookout for wood. I re-watched the paddlesnake video last night and it looked like we had about 3" or 4" more water than they had. I would call the level in the paddlesnake video minimum. 5ft and dropping on the tellico would be ELF. You really need a lot of water for this run. 7ft was great. I know people that have hiked off due to high water and ended up spending the night on the creek when the tellico was 11 ft so the range is small. You really want 6-10 ft on the Tellico
