Chattooga River Totally Explained

Everything about The Chattooga River totally explained

The Chattooga River (also spelled Chatooga, Chatuga, and Chautaga, variant name Guinekelokee River) is the main tributary of the Tugaloo River. Its headwaters are located southwest of Cashiers, North Carolina, and it stretches 57 miles or 92km to where it flows through Lake Tugalo and the Tugaloo Dam, then has its confluence with the Tugaloo within Lake Yonah, held back by Yonah Dam. It begins in southern Jackson County, North Carolina, then flows southwestward between northwestern Oconee County, South Carolina and eastern Rabun County, Georgia. The "Chattooga" spelling was approved by the BGN in 1897.
The river was used as a setting for the fictional "Cahulawassee River" in the film Deliverance.
There is also a former mine named the Chattooga River Prospect.

Geographic Significance

The Chattooga River serves as the boundary between Georgia and South Carolina after leaving North Carolina at latitude 35°N.
The Chattooga River wasn't the original boundary line between SC and GA. The treaty of 1816 extended the South Carolina frontier to its current boundary. Prior to 1816 the Chattooga was part of the Cherokee Nation.

Wild and Scenic River

The Chattooga River is protected along a 15,432-acre corridor as a national Wild and Scenic River. 39.8 miles of the river have been designated “wild”, 2.5 miles “scenic,” and 14.6 miles “recreational” for a total of 56.9 miles. The Chattooga also bisects the Ellicott Rock Wilderness which straddles three states (Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina) and three National Forests (the Chattahoochee, Nantahala and Sumter National Forests). Much of the Georgia portion of the river is within the Tallulah Ranger District of the Chattahoochee National Forest.

Tributaries

The river is split into three forks. The North Fork Chattooga River is the main fork, running along the state line, and is officially called just "Chattooga River". The East Fork Chattooga River (sometimes East Prong Chattooga River) runs in from Jackson County, North Carolina and then Oconee County, South Carolina, and is 7 miles or 11km long. The West Fork Chattooga River (variant name Gumekoloke Creek) runs in from Rabun County, Georgia, and is also a variant name for that county's Holcomb Creek, one of its own tributaries.
One of the largest tributaries in the Chattooga basin that flows mainly through private lands is Stekoa Creek. Stekoa Creek flows primarily southeast for approximately 16 miles from its headwaters in Mountain City, Georgia, through Clayton, Georgia, to its mouth at the Chattooga River. The Stekoa Creek Basin is approximately 45 square miles in size.
There are also other small tributaries.

Rafting and Boating

The Chattooga is one of the very few commercially-rafted class V rivers in the Southeast. In the spring, the river is lined with blooming pink and white mountain laurel. Spring is also a great time to go rafting, kayaking, or canoeing on the Chattooga for the higher spring waters. The Chattooga is a free-flowing river (no upstream dam to control the flow) which quickly responds to rainfall or drought conditions. As a drop-pool style river, rapids are followed by calm pools. In the summertime, the water is even warm enough to take a swim in one of these pools.
The Chattooga is separated into several sections with Section 0 starting out near Cashiers. Section III has Class II-IV rapids which rafters and kayakers frequent. Lush rhododendron line the banks. The minimum age requirement to raft this section is 10 years old. Section IV has long been regarded as one of the most challenging rivers to raft or kayak. This section includes Class III-IV+ rapids, including the famous Five Falls. The minimum age requirement to raft Section IV is 13. One famous waterfall is the Bull Sluice, featured in the film Deliverance.
The 1976 Original Management plan, required for Wild & Scenic designation, restricted biking, motorized craft and limited boating to the lower 2/3rds of the river in order to provide private fishing opportunities on a section of a public river. A 2004 appeal to the USFS by American Whitewater seeks to restore boating to the river. A decision is expected to be released by the Forest Service by February 2008.

Geology of the river

Geological forces over millions of years carved out the Chattooga River. The Blue Ridge Mountains where the Chattooga starts are considered old, or ancient, even by geological standards. The rock is mostly sandstones and shales that were laid down approximately 600-750 million years ago. The mountains, a result of continental collision, are over 350 million years old and were probably higher than the Rockies when they were first formed. The erosion power of water and weather at work over millennia wore away the jagged peaks and carved deep narrow valleys in the terrain.
Geologists believe the Chattooga may have made one direction change during its life. Originally, it probably flowed southwesterly into the Chattahoochee riverbed and on to the Gulf of Mexico, but at some point, the Savannah River eroded its northern headland until it intersected the Chattooga and diverted it to the Atlantic.
Today the forces of nature are still at work changing and shaping the Chattooga. Many of the rocks in the riverbed probably fell from the ridge through erosion and those rocks don't necessarily remain where they fall. In times of great downpours, high water and fast currents, rocks can become dislodged and move downstream taking other rocks and debris with them.

Sources

"A Guide to the Chattooga River", Butch Clay, 1995, Chattooga River Publishing

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