The Chattooga River separates Georgia from South Carolina, at least part of the way. The Chattooga River is at the junction of US 76 and the Chattooga River, 8 miles east of Clayton. I didn't know anything about the except it's 10.7 miles long and runs along the Chattooga River. I didn't know anything about the Chattooga River either. As I was driving to the head though, I saw an outfitter for river raft trips so thought there might be some interesting rapids or something along the way.
The has no blazes. I walked around the parking lot a couple of times and then picked a likely looking path. I also took a GPS position. If the stayed beside the river, even I shouldn't be able to get lost. However...
The I was on led along the river and was pretty well defined. Like everywhere else on the east coast, the river was down considerably. It didn't seem to have enough water to make rafting or kayaking interesting. An open canoe would provide a little excitement though.
The river is dotted with lots of large boulders at this level. In 15 minutes I came to a nice natural dam. Two ledges drop a total of five feet or so within thirty feet funneling down into a five foot wide chute. It would be pretty awesome with normal water levels. An open canoe would/should not go down through these waters at any level.
The river has more than its share of nice sandy beaches and the low water is causing lots of shoals to appear. Campsites are spaced along the river too. The only wildlife I saw on this day was a single blue heron.
The had risen about 75 feet above the river and I watched two, six man rafts pass by. I'll be going on a rafting trip at the first opportunity. Except I won't go unless most/much of the trip is big water. I'm not interested in anything under class IV-V. If I don't barf up my lunch, I'll want my money back.
One section of the along the river had old signs of beaver. Many larger trees along that section had been chewed through halfway on the side away from the river. Smaller trees had been sawn through. All of the marks were pretty old, nothing recent.
By 10:15am I came to a small fork in the . I choose the fork on the right because it was closer to the river. The kept rising and getting narrower and more precarious. I was on a very steep slope, going higher. Rhododendrons began encroaching on the , jabbing and poking me from every direction and snagging onto the daypack, trying to tear it off my back as I passed.
I finally decided that maybe, just maybe, this wasn't the after all. Turn back to the fork in the and take the other ? Not bloody likely. Real men never admit they might not be on the right .
One of the reason I stopped is, I'm now on a very steep slope 100 feet above the river and another 50-75 feet below the apparent top of the slope. Since I really couldn't go forward anymore, logic told me the shortest distance to where I wanted to go was straight up.
And that's what it seemed like, straight up. I'd take a couple of steps, making extensive use of the walking stick and pulling myself up on anything that came to hand. Then I'd stop and rest and plan my next couple of moves so there was always a tree to grab or prop myself against to keep from sliding all the way down into the river. It reminded me of the old days when I was rock climbing. I'd plan a move or two, test it out if I could and then execute it, rest, plan, test and execute.
It took me about 15 minutes to climb the 50-75 feet to the top of the hill. After doing so I felt I deserved a hard earned break.
I couldn't find a on the hill anywhere and my attitude was deteriorating rapidly. Reversing direction I started working my way downward, looking to pick the up again. I was careful to keep a tree directly below me. If I slipped and started sliding down the slope I wanted something to break my slide.
In a couple of minutes I saw the sun shining on what looked to be a flat spot. It was the and I worked my way down to a 4-5 foot little bluff just above it. I sat down, figuring I would be safer scooting my way down on my butt than trying to step my way down. Good theory. As soon as my butt settled on the ground, my feet slipped out from under me and I slid over the bluff, catching a couple of rhododendrons in the crotch. Ouch!
When I was able to straighten up I saw I was at the fork in the again where I had gotten into trouble before. I started up the left hand fork this time. It was steep because I was heading back to where I had just been. This started getting narrower too. I didn't have any legs left by that time and the old attitude was pretty much shot too, so called it quits.
A short distance on the way back I found some nice rocks below a small dam and a small chute. Another early lunch wouldn't hurt. I'm allowed.
As I sat there relaxing, five more rafts came down the river, twisting and turning in every direction like bumper cars. I was surprised at the number of young girls in the 8-12 year range. Some boys, a woman in her 60's and some men. A little while later seven more rafts came down making a total of 14 on a Tuesday when I thought there wouldn't be any.
On the way down the I came across the seven rafts stopping for lunch. A little farther down the river, the other five rafts had just finished lunch and were just launching. I thought if I hurried a little I might get to the dam in case they decided to run it.
I made it a few minutes before they did. Twenty people, mostly teenagers, were swimming and playing below the dam. I thought the rafters were going to carry around the dam but then realized it was the leaders carrying throw ropes and rescue gear below the dam. The rafters lined up on some rocks as the leaders pointed out the route they would take and then they started down, one by one.
The first raft got sideways going into the three foot drop. They landed badly and a guy in front got flipped out. The guide also came halfway out but she managed to stay in but lost her paddle. Everyone else got down safely, even the little ones. The littlest one didn't go, the 60 year old woman, who was actually a man, didn't go nor did a chubby little guy. Everyone else did. And they only lost 1 1/2 so that was pretty good.